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USDA proposes rules to expand access to free school lunches

Mar 29, 2023
The agency wants to help more school districts cover the costs of universal free meals.
Universal free meals kept a lot of kids from going hungry at the height of the pandemic, said the Urban Institute's Emily Gutierrez.
Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

What lunch shaming tells us about how we think about poor people

Mar 10, 2020
The way we talk about poverty and the the people living in it could be getting in the way of solving inequality. One example? Lunch shaming.
Cafeteria workers prepare lunches for school children at the Normandie Avenue Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles.
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Image

School districts address lunch shaming

Sep 1, 2017
This year, districts must have formal policies for handling unpaid bills.
Students at a Chicago elementary school dig into a salad bar in the school's lunchroom.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Lunch shaming is on its way out of schools

Aug 11, 2017
Local school policies address how to deal with unpaid meal charges.
Adriene Hill/Marketplace