Appleseed¹s incredible new initiative: ensuring that all elementary school children in high-poverty New Mexico public schools get a nutritious breakfast served in the classroom after the day has begun.

Wonderful New Mexico Appleseed friends and supporters,

I wish you the happiest of New Years and write to tell you about New Mexico 

Appleseed¹s incredible new initiative: ensuring that all elementary school children in high-poverty New Mexico public schools get a nutritious breakfast 

served in the classroom after the day has begun.  School breakfast, especially when served after the bell, is an essential tool to ensure poor children are fed 

and ready to learn. Bus schedules, parent schedules, and even a lack of understanding about the importance of breakfast all act as genuine barriers to 

children arriving at school with enough nutritional fuel to pay attention and behave in class.  When school breakfast is offered before the bell in the 

cafeteria, around 38% of children eat it. When it is offered during the first few minutes of class, as many as 98% of children eat it.  When schools offer 

breakfast after the bell, teachers can teach and students can learn.  Grades and attendance go up and discipline referrals go down.

In our quest to help end children¹s hunger through policy advocacy, New Mexico Appleseed is working in the 2011 New Mexico legislative session to save existing 

state school breakfast funding for high-poverty elementary schools and require that schools with at least 85% of children on free or reduced price meals use 

that funding to serve all children free breakfast after the bell rings. In addition, New Mexico Appleseed painstakingly crafted and tested a formula to 

distribute the state school breakfast subsidy of 1.9 million dollars. Under our formula, the 1.9 million dollars will bring in approximately 15.5 million 

dollars in federal reimbursements to the state and feed 54,000 poor children breakfast every morning.

This is what Appleseed does best: evidence-based policy recommendations with maximum impact.  I hope you take a moment to look at the report and join us in 

our efforts to help our poorest children start school with full stomachs and leave with full minds.

A special thank you to those of you who sent donations, designated through United Way, or gave pro bono time to make New Mexico Appleseed what it is.

We hope you keep supporting us and we hope we make you proud.

Best,

Jenny

--

Jennifer Ramo

Executive Director

New Mexico Appleseed

(505)903-3086=

Elementary_school_breakfast.pdf