Alfond’s bill to fight child hunger wins bipartisan support

Posted: March 01, 2016 | Health and Human Services, Senator Alfond
Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, at the Bangor High School cafeteria in 2014.

Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, at the Bangor High School cafeteria in 2014.

AUGUSTA — A bill by Senate Democratic Leader Justin Alfond to streamline needless bureaucracy and improve access to anti-hunger programs for  Mainers, including hundreds of thousands of hungry children, won bipartisan support from the Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday.

The bill, LD 1472, would improve administration in Maine of the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, or CACFP,  by improving and simplifying the program’s complex application and moving the program’s administration online.

It was endorsed 5-4 by the Committee, with Rep. Karen Vachon, R-Scarborough, joining Sen. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, Rep. Scott Hamman, D-South Portland, Rep. Christine Burstein, D-Lincolnville, and House Chairman Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook.

“I was pleased this bill won the support of lawmakers from both parties,” said Sen. Alfond, D-Portland. “I’m optimistic that my colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives will recognize the need to do everything we can to reduce barriers between hungry Mainers and healthy, nutritious food.”

CACFP provides funding so that home daycares, adult day cares, child care centers, emergency shelters and at-risk afterschool programs can provide nutritious meals. It is one of several proven anti-hunger programs by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Navigating through the 40-page, multi-part application is unnecessarily complicated and confusing, especially for small providers such as day cares and after-school programs. More than $50 million in federal funding for anti-hunger programs through CACFP is sitting on the table because of low utilization by eligible providers in Maine.

Roughly half of Maine’s K-12 students are “food insecure,” the federal term used to designate hunger. Maine ranks 12th in the nation and 1st in New England for food insecurity, and is one of the few states in the country where hunger is growing.

The bill now heads to the Senate.

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