Presented in partnership with the Boeing Company and Communities in Schools San Antonio, your Chamber recently hosted a virtual event, Food for Thought: Food Insecurity’s Impact on Children’s Education. Moderated by Tyler Schroeder, Senior Manager State & Local Government Operations for the Boeing Company, the event was streamed live and then uploaded to the San Antonio Chamber’s YouTube channel.
The Boeing Company has expanded its charitable giving to include addressing food insecurity and saw this event as an opportunity to facilitate a collaborative dialogue and tackle this crisis. The event included a discussion with US Representative Joaquin Castro; Dr. Mike Villarreal, the Director of UTSA’s Urban Education Institute; and Jessica Weaver, the CEO for Communities in Schools San Antonio.
Dr. Villarreal provided highlights from his research on the short-term and long-term impacts of food insecurity on our community’s schoolchildren. Across the region and in all school districts, 26% of households sometimes or often experienced food insecurity. Of all high school students surveyed, 20% reported experiencing food insecurity – the majority of those students never turned in assignments during distance learning. The message is clear that students who are struggling to access food are not able to focus on success in school.
Congressman Castro provided an overview of his Feeding Hungry Students in Schools Act that was based on legislation by Texas Representative Diego Bernal. The legislation would make it easier for schools to set up food pantries by receiving, storing, and distributing food donations from charitable organizations. It is gratifying to see a model of innovative problem solving from Texas being scaled at the national level.
Jessica Weaver explained how Communities in Schools San Antonio (CISSA) has gone beyond the school walls to meet the basic needs of students and provide much-needed support during these trying times. CISSA works hard to make sure barriers to academic success are removed including establishing food pantries and distributing food to students’ homes.
The Boeing Company is so pleased by the work of Communities in Schools and recognizes the need for a collaborative approach to a problem impacting every part of society here in San Antonio. Boeing wants to be part of the solution to curb the harmful effects of food insecurity. That is why during the virtual event they announced their commitment to invest $100,000 in Communities in Schools to help CIS expand their food program with support for pop-up food pantries, weekend meal kits, and district-based food pantries. It is their hope that with this investment, CIS and Boeing will be able to address food insecurity in more than 100 schools and reach more than 3,500 students.
