JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – President Joe Biden recently unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, and part of his proposal includes investing billions of dollars in nutrition assistance for children.
The plan calls for making the summer pandemic EBT program permanent and expanding school meal programs.
“We need to make sure our children are getting adequate nutrition and have access to food,” Colleen Rodriguez, CEO of Jewish Family and Community Services, said Saturday on “The Morning Show.”
Rodriguez said a majority of the people they serve are children, including students who are food insecure at George Washington Carver Elementary School.
“We average about 7,000 people a year that we feed,” Rodriguez said. “And then during the pandemic, Washington Carver reached out to us. They have about 180 students and they realized they were not eating when they were going home and over the weekends.”
If the plan is passed, Rodriguez said it will help families and children who are food insecure in Jacksonville.
“They will still be eligible for food at school, but that when they go home, their families are able to provide healthy meals, meals at night, on the weekend. You don’t have to think of spring break and Christmas break and summer break,” Rodriguez said.
This is just one part of Biden’s plan. It includes several other proposals that he says will help families, but some Republicans are against the plan arguing it includes more taxing and more spending.