Providing Meals for Low Income Students 1

10/17/2022
Terry Brenner
Super Intendent
Grand Forks Public Schools
2400 47th Ave S
Grand Forks, ND 58201

Dear Grand Forks Public Schools,

Enclosed is my proposal for an after-school meal program for the K-12 schools in our
community. I am pleased to present my proposal and hope to hear from you.

Children all over our community are suffering from hunger every single day. For a student to
fully excel in the classroom, a full nutritious meal is needed every night to prepare them for
their next day of learning. When students are not getting the nutrients, they need there is not
only a negative effect on their physical health but also their emotional and mental health.
These setbacks not only affect the student as an individual but can also influence the entire
classroom. Providing students with a chance to fuel their body during after school hours, will
allow every classroom to reach their full potential.

To implement the after-school meal program, I am requesting $130,000 grant to begin this
program. This grant will get the program started and provide students with take home meals
for 4 weeks. After the 4-week period, we will reassess our plan and makes the changes needed.
We will also take into consideration the benefits this plan has imposed on classrooms
throughout our community. During these 4 week we will spread the word of our program
throughout the community and respectfully ask for donations and volunteers to help continue
our program after the 4 weeks are over.

Thank you for your consideration and I greatly appreciate the time you have spent reviewing
this proposal. Please contact me at jada.steen@und.edu for further questions.

Sincerely,

Jada Steen
Principal Investigator
University of North Dakota
Providing Meals for Low Income Students 2

Providing Meals for Low Income Students

Submitted to: Grand Forks Public Schools
Proposed by: Jada Steen
October 27, 2022
Providing Meals for Low Income Students 3

Abstract
Poverty rates are still very relevant in the community that we live in. It is crucial to
understand the affects these rates have on the children in our community, especially in the
education system. As research shows there is a prominent correlation between a student’s diet
and their academic performance. When low-income families are not providing their children
with nutritious meals every night, their brain and bodies are not fueled for another day of
learning. This results in low test scores and slow-moving classrooms that will have many
setbacks. These setbacks could also involve behavioral issues, as studies show that behavioral
issues can stem from lack of nutrients. In hopes of resolving this issue we are requesting
$130,000 to begin a program that provides low-income students will nutritious meals to take
home. Not only do we hope to see a positive change in the students, but also in our
community. Coming together as a community, whether its volunteering or donating, will make
our community a healthier place.

Introduction and Background

Have you ever wondered how a student’s diet outside of the classroom affects their
academic performance and behavior? Children all over the world experience hunger and
inefficient diets. The nutrients a student needs to excel in the classroom may be provided to
them during the school day but how about after? What foods are students eating to fuel their
bodies for the next 7-hour school day? Low-income families all over the United States struggle
every day to ensure their children are getting a nutritious dinner once they get home from a
long day at school. Some families struggle to afford the expense of buying fresh healthy meals.
Others don’t have the time to make their children meals due to late hours of working to make
money to support their family. No matter what problems these families are facing, this is an
issue that needs to be acknowledged.
For a student to excel in the classroom, they need to fuel their bodies with nutrients
every day. Your body need nutrients to not only stay healthy and fight sicknesses, but also to
give your body and brain energy to prepare you for learning. We know that students in US
public schools are provided with healthy meals during lunch and breakfast, but we do not know
what they are fed at home. This is unfair to the students of low-income families as they are
experiencing a disadvantage and set back in their academic achievement.
This issue does not only affect the students of low-income families, but it can also create
a disadvantage to the students who are being provided with healthy full meals at home. When
addressing a problem, it is important to acknowledge how it also affects the whole population.
Teachers address how well their students are learning certain topics through different tests and
evaluations. When it appears that a classroom is not fully understanding the curriculum, a
teacher will slow down the learning in her classroom. These low scores could potentially be
coming from students who don’t have the brain energy to keep up with the learning due to
their lack of nutrients provided to them in their home. When these students are slowing down
the learning in a classroom it is disrupting the potential of other students and their academic
achievement in that grade level. These setbacks could lead to implications to all types of
students as they move along in their educational experience.

Proposed Program and Desired Outcomes

Providing Meals for Low Income Students 4

I am proposing a program that provides students in need with after school meals to
bring home. This program would include healthy bagged meals that are prepared by a
committee at the beginning of every week. Student’s will be able to stop into a designated
room at the end of every school day to grab their to go meals. This plan allows for students to
have easy access to these meals without bringing attention to their need for these meals.
Students need a full healthy dinner every night to reach their full academic achievement.
Students all over our community are experiencing a disadvantage to other students when they
are not given the proper nutrients, they need in their out of school lives. In return, this program
will create healthier students mentally, physically, and emotionally. Students will come to class
every day with a brain and body that is fueled for their school day. Along with the increase of
health of the students in our community, comes an increase in behavior. When behavior is
improved in a classroom, other students and staff will benefit as well.

Literature Review
Methodology
Research Questions:
1. How do schools support the health of low-income students?
2. How does a student’s eating habits affect their learning?
3. How does a student’s diet outside of school affect their academic achievement?
4. What is the correlation between one’s diet and their mental health?
My search criteria for my research included various key terms that would lead me to factual
unbiased information. I included key terms like child hunger, low income in US, and diets and
their effect on learning/behavior in hopes of finding research that would lead me to the effect
of students not getting enough nutrients they need at home. This research led me to more key
terms that I wanted to continue to include like education barriers and academic achievement. I
then expanded my research to target more of the correlation between student diets and
academic progress. It was important that I kept my research unbiased and found articles that
agreed and disagreed to build a conversation between them. My next search strategy was
finding data information that related to data of child hunger in the United States. I wanted to
know what the key known factors were and how that related to my research.
For inclusion, the article I was researching had to some sort of data or factual evidence
that supported their arguments. I wanted to find articles that showed the data from research
done on academic scores improving from healthy meals. If it did not include that, I looked for a
scale that related to academic scores and poverty. My criteria for inclusion also included that
the article related to schools in the United States. In my research I excluded any blog posts that
were strictly the author voicing their opinion. I did this to stray away from bias of parents with
school age children. I wanted to keep my research reliable, so I made sure all my articles used
data from experiments done in the recent years.
Impact on Health
Students of low-income families aren’t getting the nutrients they need to exceed in their
learning. After speaking with Mara Nash, a student teacher in a 1st grade classroom, it was
brought to my attention that this issue does not only occur outside of school. Mara expressed
that she noticed a problem in her classroom. She said that “Some students are not able to bring
a snack to school for class snack time.” Her concerns were not only that “students left without a
Providing Meals for Low Income Students 5

snack felt left out” but also that “it doesn’t give them the chance to refuel and get ready to
continue learning for the day.” This is not just a health concern but also an emotional barrier
for students that feel like they “don’t fit in” because of the lack of food provided to them. In an
article posted by the Healthy Eating Advisory Service, many arguments were brought up that
correlated with Mara’s concerns. In this article it was stated that “what children eat can affect
not only their physical health but also their mood, mental health and learning.” (Service, 2020,
p.1) This article went on to argue how important it is for schools to have a key role in
influencing healthy diets as students are spending 5 days a week in a classroom.
Eating Habits
Not only is it important for schools to enforce healthy eating habits but it Is also crucial
for these habits to be enforced at home. In an article written by Amber Waves, a writer for the
USDA, she expressed her concerns of low-income families being able to afford a healthy diet.
Amber stated the problem that “Low-income households tend to eat less nutritious diets than
other households.” (Waves, 2008, p.2) Fresh fruits and vegetables tend to be more expensive
than processed meals that are fast and easy. When families have a low income, they tend to
buy cheaper foods that can be made faster. Children are not getting the nutrients they need
buy eating processed foods. These foods tend to be high in sodium and fat and low in vitamins
and minerals. In more extreme cases some children may not have the option of any meal once
they leave school. Allison Weber came out with an article speaking on the harsh side effect of
children who experience hunger. Research shows that “children from families who are not sure
where their next meal may come from are more likely to have lower math scores and repeat a
grade, among other challenges.” (Weber, 2018, p.4) Allison later went into talking about how
this not only affects the student in their current education but can also affect them later in life
as they “enter the workforce as adults.” This statement shows the affect this issue can create
long term in a community.
Impact on Academics
Child hunger is a main factor is the range of testing in the school system. Testing is
required in every school to be a guide to curriculums that are set for each grade level in public
schools. Peter W. Cookson explains in his article about “Deep Poverty and the Struggle for
Educational Equity” that “As much as 20% of the gap in test scores could be explained by
maturational lags in the frontal and temporal lobes.” (Cookson, 2022, p.7) These parts of your
brain are responsible in processing the auditory information and encoding memory. Learning in
a classroom is all about hearing information and then storing that knowledge for later use in
assignments and testing. For your brain to process properly you need well-nourished meals.
Child hunger and lack of nutrients outside of school would be a possible explanation for the
large gap in test scores.
Individuals in a community may argue that all these issues have already been resolved
through low priced meal plans that are offered in communities all over the US. An article done
by a group of doctors done during the pandemic showed the significance of child hunger and
how it goes far beyond relying on families to purchase meal plans to fuel their children. The
article wrote by the New England Journal of Medicine shows us that during the pandemic,
“Record numbers of Americans, including one in four families with school-age children, don’t
have reliable access to food.” (Poole, 2021, p.2) These numbers may be high due to other
factors involving covid, but it also helps us realize how many children in the US are being fed
Providing Meals for Low Income Students 6

while they are at their homes. This article shows us how a pandemic had to happen for many
Americans to realize the crisis of child hungry that is still relevant today.

Program Objective #1- Starting Healthy Eating Habits at Young Age

The main purpose of this program is to provide low-income students with nutritious meals
to prepare their body for the next school day. Allowing students to have access to meals every
night will not only help them succeed in the classroom but will also show them how important
it is to fuel their bodies. This will create healthy eating habits that will benefit the student far
beyond the classroom. Having good eating habits is beneficial in many different aspects of life.
Starting these healthy eating habits now, will lead these students into a healthier lifestyle as
they grow into adults. You are taught many different life lessons during your educational
experience, and the importance of healthy eating should be one of them.
Program Objective #2- Raise Awareness to the Guardians
This program may be providing students with healthy meals during the week, but what
about during the weekends and holidays? This program will not only allow the students to see a
difference in their bodies and performance, but it will also allow the guardians of these
students to see a change. We know eating habits have a direct correlation with behavior. While
these students are nourishing their bodies every night during the week, there moods and
behavior will also be improving. Seeing this change in their children, will influence guardians to
make a change in their meals at home during the weekends and holidays. Whether it is cutting
back on unneeded expenses in their budget so they can spend money on providing meals for
their children, or beginning to buy healthier food options, changes will be made in most
families. This objective not only allows us to see the positive affect this plan has on the
students, but also how it can influence guardians to improve their household diets.

Evaluation
The goal of this program is to see an improvement in classroom learning and
development. To evaluate how successful this program is progressing, we will analyze test
scores throughout the 4-week period. We will use this as our metric to show success of our
program. If overall test scores are increasing throughout the school district, we will continue
this program with donations that are being collected during the 4-week period. To make
improvements to any meals or the flow of our program we will hand out surveys by week 3
asking what improvements can be made to the program. This survey will reach all families that
have signed up for our program. Another survey will be distributed to the teachers at our
school district, asking them to analyze any changes they have seen in their classroom since the
program began. These surveys will allow us to make any changes needed to the program to
make it as efficient and effective as possible.

Budget
My budget for the program is based on an 8 week start plan that will get the program started.
These 4 weeks will allow us to put the program into action and then proceed to evaluate and
critique the plan later. My budget is also based on an estimate that 15% of the approximate
8,000 students in the Grand Forks Public Schools will sign up for this meal program.
(censusreporter.org)
Providing Meals for Low Income Students 7

Expense Cost
Food (5 meals a week, $5 a meal) $120,000
Supplies (paper bags, Ziplock’s, utensils) $10,000
Total: $130,000

Communication Plan
To spread the word of this program an email will be sent to all families in Grand Forks
Public Schools. This email will consist of a detailed description of the program along with a sign-
up link to apply to the program. For families who do not have accessibly to internet or emails, a
letter will also be sent out with the same detailed description. This letter will also consist of a
sign-up sheet that you will be able to bring into the school or mail back to the school. Having
both options will account for all families and the different availabilities these families have.

Key Personnel
Jada Steen is progressing in her second year at the University of North Dakota. After a
year of finding what interested her the most, she has declared her major in accounting. Jada
recognized her passion for math at a young age as it was the subject, she found herself
excelling in. Growing up Jada enjoyed helping at her grandparent’s restaurant. The experience
she had working at a restaurant helped her realize her desire to work in the business field. With
her work experience in the restaurant, coaching softball, and nannying she has valued her
patience, dedication, and passion for what she believes in. Jada has always loved helping
others, especially ones in need. Throughout her childhood, Jada was always intrigued and
curious in how adults manage their finances. Her curiosity led her to where she is today as an
accounting student. She hopes to continue her path in accounting and pursue a CPA.

Concluding Remarks
A change needs to be made in our community. Students cannot continue to go unfed or
malnourished. This is not only unfair to them but also to the community. This issue is affecting
every classroom and their ability to excel. This program can go far beyond the improvement of
test scores. It can start habits that will stick with these students for a lifetime. It will bring
awareness to students, guardians, and educators throughout the community on the importance
of living a healthy lifestyle. The long-term goal of this program is to build a healthy well-
educated community. By putting this program into action, this goal can be accomplished.
Providing Meals for Low Income Students 8

References

Crookston, P. W. (2022, August 31). A world of hardship: Deep poverty and the struggle for
educational equity. Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from
https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/covid-deep-poverty-struggle-education-equity

Poole, Fleishhacker, S. E., & Bleich, S. N. (2021). Addressing Child Hunger When School Is
Closed — Considerations during the Pandemic and Beyond. The New England Journal of
Medicine, 384(10), e35–e35. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2033629

Service, H. E. A. (2020, September 10). The link between food, mood and learning outcomes.
Healthy Together Victoria. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from
https://heas.health.vic.gov.au/schools/classroom/food-mood-and-learning

U.S. Census Bureau (2020). American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved from
Census Reporter profile page for Grand Forks Public Schools District 1, ND from
http://censusreporter.org/profiles/97000US3808130-grand-forks-public-school-district-1-
nd/

Waves, A. (n.d.). (2008, November 1). Can low-income Americans afford a healthy diet? USDA
ERS - Can Low-Income Americans Afford a Healthy Diet? Retrieved September 23, 2022,
from https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2008/november/can-low-income-americans-
afford-a-healthy-diet/

Weber, A. (2019, August 8). Help kids facing hunger This school year. Feeding America.
Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-blog/help-
kids-facing-hunger-this

Personal Interview: Mara Nash