GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Monday traveled to Kids' Food Basket in Grand Rapids to discuss food insecurity among children in the state.
"We have partnerships with the incredible agricultural community in the state, with our grocers, as well as farmers market," Whitmer said. "Our goal is to make healthy food more accessible and affordable for people."
In Kent County, nationwide non-profit Feeding America estimates 11.9 percent of children are food insecure. In some neighboring counties, that rate is even larger, up to almost 15 percent in Montcalm and almost 17 percent in Newaygo.
"We decided not to go wider, but to go deeper and just focus in on the children in Western Michigan because that number that you just mentioned is what keeps us up at night," Rodney Savage, Kids' Food Basket Director of Engagement, Equity and Inclusion, said. "But it's also the number that gets us up in the morning and so we've got to go to work because we've got work to do. It's going to take a community of people, as [Kids' Food Basket Vice President of Communications and Community Engagement Kim Moore] talked about - coming together to collaborate to deal with this with food insecurity in Western Michigan."
In February, Whitmer released a $79 billion budget proposal that would include $160 million to fund a free breakfast and lunch initiative for all public school children that the governor's office says will help combat food insecurity.
Legislators provided an update Monday on budget negotiations as they hope to tackle this issue soon.
"We're gonna dive in immediately after our spring recess, which is happening right now," State Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said. "In fact, the chair of the subcommittee on K-12 appropriations will be in town next week, or the week after."
"We're seeing very significant amount of interest in ensuring that this line item happens," Brinks said. "So, we'll we'll hear what he has to say."
This year's discussions are still ongoing so it's unclear what all will make it into the final state budget, with one Republican lawmaker last month even referring to the budget as a "smoke and mirrors proposal."
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