A group of parents and advocates is calling on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to fulfill a campaign promise to expand free school lunches to all students in the city, says the New York Daily News.
Though de Blasio advocated for universal free lunches during a September 2013 campaign stop, he has not allotted funding for the project in his 2016 budget. He said he has withdrawn support based on mixed results from a pilot program in the city’s middle schools, reports the Daily News.
“All the city’s wonderful education initiatives will fall flat if children are going through the day hungry,” said Liz Accles, executive director of Community Food Advocates, who is organizing the free-lunch push. “Children have trouble concentrating if they’re not eating.”
Check out the full story via the New York Daily News.