Three students from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service worked with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance (AHRA) to complete an assessment of the organization’s publicly funded school breakfast program, Arkansas Meals for Achievement (AMFA). Part of the comprehensive No Kid Hungry campaign, AMFA currently provides free breakfast to children in 32 public schools around the state.
The Alliance and its partners started No Kid Hungry, which includes a focus on school breakfast, summer, and after school feeding programs, and cooking and food purchasing instruction in 2010 with the goal of ending childhood hunger. Today, Arkansas has improved from first in the nation in childhood food insecurity to seventh. The campaign has made some progress in the fight against hunger; this research project is aimed at furthering that progress.
Clinton School students Abigail Bi (Kunming, Yunnan Province, China) Amber Jackson (Little Rock, Arkansas) and Olajumoke Joyce Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) conducted surveys and interviews with parents and school staff in six participant schools in order to examine the effects of the AMFA program on student access to breakfast. Through an analysis of 250 questionnaires and six interviews, Bi, Jackson, and Ajayi identified beneficial changes in student health, nutrition, and behavior as well as methods and costs of food delivery following program implementation in primary, middle, and secondary schools.
“We’re very encouraged from the early responses we’re getting from students, teachers and administrators in our Arkansas Meals for Achievement pilot program schools,” said Vivian Nicholson, breakfast program director for the Arkansas No Kid Hungry campaign. “They tell us that the whole tone of their schools has changed for the better since they made breakfast part of the school day. Tardy students are a thing of the past, discipline is much improved and school nurses don’t have children in their offices complaining of headaches and tummy aches. It’s an amazing program and we’re very proud to be part of it.”
Bi, Jackson, and Ajayi bring previous nonprofit and research experience to this project and say they have enjoyed working with AHRA to find solutions for hungry children in Arkansas.
About the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, lead partner in Arkansas for the No Kid Hungry campaign, is a non-profit collaborative network of more than 480 hunger relief organizations across Arkansas. Founding members include the Arkansas Foodbank in Little Rock, the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas in Jonesboro, Harvest Texarkana Regional Food Bank in Texarkana, Food Bank of North Central Arkansas in Norfork, Northwest Arkansas Food Bank in Bethel Heights and River Valley Regional Food Bank in Fort Smith. The Alliance is dedicated to reducing hunger through direct relief, education and advocacy. For details on hunger relief programs and donor and volunteer opportunities, visit www.arhungeralliance.org
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