Your zip code should not determine your opportunity for success.

At-Large D.C. Councilmember Christine Henderson is proposing a bill to enact universal free meals in D.C. public, charter and participating private schools. The bill would provide free breakfast, lunch, and snacks free for all students regardless of income level. During the pandemic, the federal government expanded the Free and Reduced-price Meals program to be more flexible, allowing all kids the opportunity to eat meals at school, but that expansion and its funding were canceled abruptly in September of last year. Henderson said it left a lot of students who were on the margin of qualifying for the program hungry. "They don't qualify for free and reduced lunch, but their families are still being stretched too much to pay," Henderson explained