Educational Leadership

regularly throughout the year (Coleman-Jensen, Nord, Andrews, & Carlson, 2012; DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2012).

Children are especially hard hit: More than 16;million U.S. children— 21. 9;percent of the population—live in households struggling to put food on the table. That’s one of every five kids.;And more than 7;million children suffer deep poverty. More families today rely on food stamps (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) than in past years, and 47;percent of SNAP participants are children under 18 (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2012).

Over;helmingly, teachers across the
United States told us childhood hunger
remains a serious obstacle to learning.

That’s a lot of statistics, but the picture they paint is simple: One-fifth of U.S. children struggle with hunger. And the faces of those hungry children are familiar to most of us. They’re kids we see living in our neighborhoods, playing on our Little League teams, and trying to learn in our classrooms.

food banks now receive donations from food banks.

Today, more than 46;million Americans— 15;percent of the population—live below the poverty line of $23,050 for a family of four. Of those, 20. 4;million live in “deep poverty” (income of less than $11,500 a year for a family of four). Poverty coupled with financial setbacks like unemployment, medical emergencies, or other crises means that more than 50;million people in this country struggle to afford enough nutritious food

A Battle That Can Be Won

Combating childhood hunger in the United States is a battle that can be won. We have enough food. We even have food and nutrition programs to make that food available to families who can’t afford it. The trick is cutting through barriers to allow more kids to access these programs and raising awareness of hunger. Share Our Strength works to increase awareness of the spread of hunger throughout the United States—and of programs families can turn to. Many of those programs are based in schools, and there is much school leaders and teachers can do to connect hungry children with programs that provide food.