No Kid Left Hungry
No child should ever go hungry, or malnourished, in a our beautiful state.
- 1-in-5 Texas kids experience hunger. These stats are even worst for Texas' Latino and Black populations, where hunger is 1-in-4 and 1-in-3 respectively.
- Even though Texas is a breadbasket, Texas leads the nation in hunger.
- Adding insult to injury, the quality and nutrition of the school meals in Texas ranks at near bottom.
Hunger isn't just about eating enough volume of food. It's about getting the right nutrition too. Clayton cofounded the Killeen Creators, a community garden that put troubled kids to work caretaking for the gardens. Those kids saw vast improvements to their health, mental wellbeing, grades, and everything else.
The Texas Agriculture Commissioner has the authority to fix much of this. Instead of trying to feed kids, our current Texas Ag Commissioner rather play politics with them.
Clayton's plan to ensure no kid is left hungry:
- Free meals for all children.
- Remove harmful chemicals from foods. Remove highly processed foods from schools to return to healthy foods in schools.
- Turn all school grounds into community gardens where kids, and their families, can harvest their own foods (for both at school and at home). Work with community farmers to put on educational classes in the gardens to teach the kids about growing food (this can help get young folks back into agriculture).
- Pass rules to require all food served in Texas public schools come from Texas farmers (exceptions can be made for ingredients or products that cannot be grown in Texas).
- Allow certified non-profits to use the school kitchens to prepare foods for kids when they are at home or not at school.
Both with his authority as Agriculture Commissioner and with working with other relevant agencies, Clayton will fight to achieve this. Sign this petition if you support his values of no kid left hungry.