What is the Child Nutrition Act?
In 1946, Congress passed and President Harry S. Truman signed into law the National School Lunch Act as a "measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation's children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities."
The Child Nutrition Act (CNA) was signed into law in 1966. The act grew out of Congress' recognition of the basic fact that all children deserve to have enough nutritious food to eat, and what's more, that children's health and academic success depend upon it.
The CNA's core child nutrition programs include the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the Special Milk Program, the Summer Food Service Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
In 2010, as our country faces increasing numbers of overweight and obese children, as well as increasing levels of hunger, the CNA reauthorization is of the utmost importance. We have an opportunity to modernize and improve the efficacy of these programs, reaching more children and building a healthier future for all of us - something that cannot be accomplished without a robustly funded reauthorization and a commitment from Congress to make significant changes to these programs' ability to procure and provide nutritious foods.
Ask Congress to reauthorize and expand funding for the Child Nutrition Act so that all children have access to healthy, safe and nutritious school meals.
