School News

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 June 2018 01:47

Early Results Show Dramatic Increase In Student Participation Among Those Receiving Free And Reduced-Rate Meals

Looking to increase student participation in their school breakfast programs, West Mifflin Area High School and South Allegheny Middle/Senior High School closed out the academic year by implementing a new “Grab and Go” Breakfast Model in preparation for the 2018-19 academic year.

Innovative practices like the “Grab and Go” breakfast cart have dramatically increased student participation, especially for those who qualify for free or reduced-rate school meals. Early results from West Mifflin Area High School and South Allegheny Middle High School are impressive. West Mifflin High School saw an increase from 153 to 193 students and South Allegheny Middle High School went up from 186 to 235 students.

Allies for Children advocated at the state level for the importance of school breakfast. In the 2020 Blueprint “Setting the Table: A Blueprint for a Hunger Free Pennsylvania”, Governor Wolf established a goal of having all schools in Pennsylvania serve at least 60% of their free and reduced priced population of students both breakfast and lunch. This means having at least 60 students who qualify for free and reduced price meals eat school breakfast for every 100 eating school lunch.

Now available in five school districts, the Allies of Children pilot program is funded by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. Allies for Children worked with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to help implement the initiative.

“We all learned growing up that ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.’ This is especially true for our middle and high school age students who quality for free or reduced price meals at school,” says Patrick Down, executive director, Allies for Children. “This pilot program is successfully combating food insecurity and leading to better health, better test scores, and improved dietary intake.”