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House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has announced the appointment of Jeremy Everett, M.Div. ’01, director of the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University, to the National Commission on Hunger.
Established by Congress in January 2014, the National Commission on Hunger is charged with providing policy recommendations to Congress regarding programs and funds to combat domestic hunger and food insecurity. The Commission also will develop recommendations to encourage public-private partnerships, faith-based sector engagement and community initiatives to reduce the need for government nutrition assistance programs, while protecting the safety net for the most vulnerable members of society.

In conjunction with National School Breakfast Week (March 3-7, 2014), the Texas Hunger Initiative, based out of the Baylor University School of Social Work, has released the second edition of its Texas School Breakfast Report Card, demonstrating what participation in school breakfast programs looks like across the state. Designed with school administrators and nutrition personnel in mind, the Texas School Breakfast Report Card provides an introduction to child hunger in Texas while also laying out pragmatic models for breakfast distribution in schools, a breakdown of associated benefits, success stories and suggested goals for school officials trying to create a healthy, hunger-free learning environment.

"The Austin school district is missing out on a healthy helping of federal funding because fewer than one out of two eligible students eats free breakfast each morning.
The federal government has long paid school districts for free or reduced-price meals, including breakfast, that they serve to students. But while other districts are expanding their programs and passing along the bill to the federal government, Austin has seen a net drop in the number of students eating breakfast at school -- something research has shown boosts academic performance, deters discipline problems and helps fight obesity. Austin landed in the bottom 12 of the 87 districts studied in the School Breakfast Scorecard, released annually by the Food Research and Action Center."

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/austin-lags-behind-other-districts-in-providing-fe/ndPkx/

To view the full piece, download the articlehere.

The Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University received a $3.5 million Community Partnership Program contract from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to expand access to food and health care for low-income Texas families.

The Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University has been awarded a $3.5 million contract from the state to expand a community outreach program designed to improve access to state food and health care benefits.

WACO, Texas (March 18, 2013) - The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) at Baylor University has received a $3.5 million Community Partnership Program (CPP) contract from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) that will allow THI to develop an innovative statewide public-private partnership to expand access to food and health care for low-income Texas families through community-based research and programmatic activities. The contract is renewable for up to five years.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) is facing cuts on at least two different fronts over the next year. The new Ryan budget, introduced last Monday, includes $135 billion cuts to the program over the next ten years. But even if Ryan's proposed cuts do not make it into a final budget deal, SNAP funding will automatically decline in early 2014, thanks to the expiration of a stimulus package provision which increased food stamp money

How Serving More For Less Pays Off.

The Texas Hunger Initiative will host a screening of "Food Stamped" a film that documents one family's attempt to eat healthy and survive on a food stamp budget. The screening will take place on Thursday, September 29th at noon at the Baylor School of Social Work. A panel discussion with Jessica Davila and Sonia White from CitySquare, a poverty focused non-profit in Dallas, will follow. The event is open to all interested community members.