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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

For Many Illinois School Kids, Hunger Doesn't Take Summer Vacation

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014   

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - For thousands of Illinois school children, summer means a vacation from school, but it can also mean missing nutritious meals that are part of their school day.

Signe Anderson, Senior Child Nutrition Policy Analyst for the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), says the summer of 2013 marked the first major increase in 10 years in the number of low-income children able to eat summer meals. The meals are provided as part of the federally-funded Summer Nutrition Programs.

"During the economic downturn, a lot of schools shut their doors and no longer offered summer school," says Anderson. "So along with that, summer meals disappeared because meal programs are often set up in conjunction with summer school programs."

According to statistics compiled by FRAC, Illinois ranked 27th last year among states providing summer nutrition programs, compared to a ranking of 29th the year before. More than 750,000 low-income Illinois school children are taking advantage of these summer programs during school vacation.

FRAC says Illinois saw an increase of more than 36 percent between 2012 and 2013 in the number of low-income school children getting summer meals through federal supplemental programs. Anderson says parks and recreation programs are another way to help get children the nutrition they need in the summer.

"Kids are often in parks and enjoying the outdoors, and ideally you want them outside and active in a safe space," says Anderson. "Working with parks and recreation departments has also been a good avenue, along with area YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs."

According to Anderson, these supplemental nutrition programs also help draw children into educational, enrichment and recreational activities that keep them engaged, learning, and safe during school vacation.


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