State Rep. Imani Barnes continues push for free school meals
Georgia State Representative Imani Barnes, a Democrat from Tucker, continues to advocate for passage of House Bill 60. Barnes’s legislation would provide free meals for Georgia’s qualifying public school students.
According to FeedingAmerica.org, 461,000 children are struggling with food insecurity in Georgia. Plus, almost 47% of households currently receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have children.
“My legislation, HB 60, the Healthy Start Act would establish a legal requirement to provide nutritious school breakfast and school lunch to our most vulnerable children, while prioritizing the use of our Georgia Grown Agriculture,” Barnes said during a press conference Tuesday. “ The data speaks for itself. Consider the facts, hunger impacts academic performance. Skipping meals affects your cognitive function, and school meals provide student outcomes. When children eat breakfast at school, they perform better on important tests.”
Georgia State Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes, a Democrat from Lawrenceville, is introducing corresponding legislation in the Senate. She says as more families turn to food banks just to get by, every family that is food insecure must rely on the State’s help.
“Last month, Georgia leaders made the wrong choice for our state,” says Parkes. “The state chose to opt out of a national program that would have helped low income parents feed their kids over the summer. A program funded by the federal government that most other states said yes to. But Georgia said no. Georgia said no to helping more than 800,000 children get the food they need when school isn’t in session. Georgia said no to struggling parents who can’t afford eggs.”
U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, a Republican from Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, criticized children for relying on free lunches in January.
“Before I was even 13 years old, I was picking berries in the field, before child labor laws that precluded that. I was a paperboy, and when I was in high school, I worked my entire way through,” McCormick said. “You’re telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King, McDonald’s, during the summer, should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work? I think we need to have a top-down review.”
CAU advocates for key issues facing the AUC and Georgia’s HBCUs inside the Gold Dome
Georgia’s 2025 Legislative Session is nearing the halfway point and the stakes are being raised inside the State Capitol. Clark Atlanta University President, Dr. George T. French, led a delegation to the Gold Dome on Tuesday to discuss several topics. Among the action items, they pushed lawmakers for more support of the CAU Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development Center.
“The state has traditionally supported it,” said French. “We’re looking for continued support of public safety on our campus. Those are the two primary areas that we would look for continued support from the government.”
Joining French and CAU at the State Capitol was the Interim President of Savannah State University, Cynthia Robinson Alexander. French said today was the most successful day at the Capitol they’ve had in years.
“We had our students speak to several representatives, including the House and Senators,” French explains. “Then, [Lieutenant Governor] Burt Jones presented me with a special proclamation and resolution today along with State Senator Nan Orrock. It’s been a great day for my students to see how our government works and to see how we can influence policy.”
Democrats push for Medicaid expansion to address Georgia’s Black maternal mortality crisis
Georgia’s maternal mortality rates are nearly twice the national average. Tuesday, House Democrats once again championed Medicaid expansion in order to address this disturbing trend in the state.
“Because our state has refused to expand Medicaid, it leads to health care deserts,” says Dr. Jasmine Clark, a State Representative from Lilburn. “Hospitals are closing, and over half of our counties do not have OB-GYN or pediatricians. If Georgia were to expand Medicaid, approximately 229,000 women in the state would become eligible for coverage. Of those 229,000 women, 40% of them are likely Black women. That equates to almost 100,000 Black women in the state of Georgia who would gain access to a doctor who would gain access to health care.”
In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control reported that the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 49.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. That is twice the rate for Whites and three times the rates for Hispanics. Also, it is nearly four times the rates for Asian-American and Pacific Islander women. Plus, Black women also have the highest infant mortality rate, at 10.55 deaths per 1,000 live births.
“We will continue to put our emphasis back on the state to do the right thing by not only expanding Medicaid, but helping us reduce the number of black maternal deaths,” says State Representative Kim Schofield, a Democrat from Atlanta. “The time has long passed and we are begging. We’re now in a posture of ‘we are expecting you to do something’, and we are expecting this state to do it now.”
