Good morning Chair Kunesh and Members of the Committee:
My name is Diana Cutts. I am a pediatrician and the Chair of Pediatrics at Hennepin Healthcare, where I’ve been privileged to be a part of the care of many hundreds of children and families for over 30 years. As a clinician, I see patients in our Children’s Growth and Nutrition Clinic, caring for children who are not growing well. As a researcher I am a principal investigator with Children’s HealthWatch, a national organization that studies the impact of food insecurity and other hardships for children and their families. I’m the parent of 4 adult children and grandmother of 3 perfect children, the oldest of which is a kindergartner who has breakfast and lunch at school with his friends. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today, talking from all those identities, about the profound impact of the Free School Meals Program, a program which plays a crucial role in addressing food insecurity by ensuring that all school-aged children in Minnesota have access, without stigma, to free, nutritious breakfast and lunch.
I hope you all had a good breakfast this morning, because research shows that individuals are more likely to have better focus, retain information, and be more positive in their social interactions if they’ve had breakfast, compared to individuals who skip breakfast. For school-aged children, the data shows that adequate meals translate into improved academic performance and decreased absences, fewer visits to the nurses’ office, and less need for disciplinary action. If we had more time, I’d repeat that last sentence for those of you who may not have had breakfast.
The Free School Meals Program bridges critical gaps in access to healthy food across our state, and its positive impact is undeniable. Its continuation allows all children to reap the benefits of the substantial resources dedicated to their education, because their engines to learn are guaranteed to have the fuel needed for maximal learning and socializing power.
I have seen firsthand how hunger affects my patients, often creating barriers to their physical health, mental health, and academic success. I’ve cared for many children with iron deficiency anemia, poor weight gain, and sometimes misdiagnoses of behavioral or attention problems who are without adequate and consistent access to healthy food. And I see that the social stresses that create this situation are on the upswing, while the future of food assistance programs to address them are uncertain.
Providing children with breakfast and lunch each day is a simple but powerful step – with infrastructure in place and fully operational – toward ensuring children have the foundation for a healthy future, which ensures a better future for all of us. Healthy children are more likely to become healthy adults, and the Free School Meals Program is a crucial part of supporting that transition. This is an investment we can take pride in continuing to fully support.
Thank you.