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Fight Hunger through Increased Access to Food
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 Policymakers
should support Children's Hunger Alliance's efforts to provide all children with access to nutritious meals through
continued state funding and collaborative partnerships.
The Ohio General Assembly awarded funds toChildren's Hunger Alliance in FY 04-05 and FY 06-07 through our partnership
with the Ohio Department of Education. The state also expanded its support of the agency by allocating a portion
of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services -- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds for Children
HungerAlliance's effort to expand child nutrition programs. Our success in expanding child nutrition programs in
Ohio can be attributed to the increased state funding Children's Hunger Alliance has received and our collaborative
partnerships with policymakers. Implementing the following recommendations will allow Children's Hunger Alliance
to continue expanding child nutrition programs so that we can reach all of Ohio's low-income children:
- Support the partnership between Children's Hunger Alliance and both the Ohio Department of Education and the
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.Children's Hunger Alliance has a proven track record of success and,
with previous funding, we have worked to increase the number of children who have access to school breakfast by
75,000. This represents an average increase of over 8% when prior yearly gains only averaged 2.5%.
- Policymakers should partner with Children's Hunger Alliance to host a community meeting in which school administrators,
local officials, members of the faith-based community and advocates can be educated on USDA child nutrition programs
and how they can be implemented within their district.
 Ohio
policymakers should work to improve the "direct certification" process so that all eligible children
receivefree school meals.
Any child participating in the Food Stamp Program or receiving cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance
to Needy Families (TANF) block grant, is automatically eligible for free school meals through the process of "direct
certification." Thanks to recent federal legislation, this process is required in each state to help ensure
that those children most in need of food assistance get the benefit of free school meals. Direct certification
provides two critical benefits. First, more needy children will have access to free school meals 320 without the
hassle of burdensome paperwork. Second, school districts face less paperwork. Despite these benefits, there are
barriers to the process which result in failure to capture 100% of eligible children. A national study found that
in school districts where direct certification has been implemented, at least two in five children who could be
directly certified were missed.13 Further, Ohio has room for much needed
improvement in the implementation of direct certification as only 31.1% of eligible children are approved -- ranking
Ohio last in the nation.14 Direct certification is implemented through
a matching process in which student enrollment data is cross-referenced with food stamp/TANFapplication data. Improvements
to this system and implementation of the following recommendations will ensure that all eligible children are directly
certified for free school meals.
Require the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the Ohio Department of Education
and local school districts to create a compatible data-sharing system for direct certification.
Policymakers should require that this system be in place by the 2008-2009 school year and that the process should
be regularly evaluated for its effectiveness. To do so all school districtsshould supply a detailed evaluation
to the legislature by July1, 2009. Each successive year, school districts should update the State Board of Education
on both the direct certification process and the number of children certified. Implementation of this requirement
will guarantee that all eligible children are certified for free school meals.
- Require that school districts update their student enrollment information at a minimum of twice peryear. Currently,
school districts typically conduct theapproval process at the start of the school year. However, many families
face deteriorating financial circumstances throughout the winter months causing children to becomeeligible during
the course of the school year. In fact, at the national level roughly three million families with children were
enrolled in food stamps between October and July. 15 Unfortunately, at the present time school districts are only
required to identify children for direct certificationone time per year. By increasing the number of times duringthe
school year that direct certification is processed 320 a practice several states have implemented 320 more children
who go on food stamps or cash assistance during the schoolyear will be reached.
 Policymakers
should focus on the needs of pre-schoolaged children by expanding their access to USDA mealprograms.
Significant progress has been made in expandingmeal access to school-aged children through the National SchoolLunch
Program, the School Breakfast Program and the SummerFood Service Program. However, realizing the importance ofgood
nutrition from an early age, Ohio policymakers should takesteps toward ensuring that children ages 1-5 in low-income
FamilyChild Care homes receive the nutritious meals they deserve.
- Require all publicly funded child care providers -- both Type B and Parent Provider Inspected -- to offerUSDA
snack and meal program. As of December 2005, there were 10,989 certified family child care providers in Ohio. Currently,
only 4,864 of those providers receive federalreimbursement through USDA snack and meal programs. Implementation
of this policy would assure that all certifiedchild care homes are subject to monitoring for basic healthand safety
requirements and would provide over 15,000 additional children in family child care homes with nutritioussnacks
and meals, while also bringing in over $22,000,000 infederal dollars to support the local economy.
- Support legislation requiring that all family child care providers are licensed by the state. Implementing
this recommendation would ensure that all children in Family Child Care homes receive the care 320 and nutrition
320 that they need to live healthy, productive lives.
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