Hunger in Oklahoma was the focus of an “Oklahoma Watch-Out” public forum, featuring Hunger Free Oklahoma Executive Director Chris Bernard; Katie Fitzgerald, CEO of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, and Leon Hill, Oklahoma City Public Schools executive director of operations services.
Among other issues, the panelists talked about the effects of food insecurity on children and seniors, whether schools should be filling the role of feeding children, and what kinds of support food banks value most of all. Also discussed were the need for food providers to coordinate their efforts and how stigma and lack of awareness of programs pose barriers to access to nutritional food.
The forum also broke news: that Oklahoma City Public Schools, the state’s largest school district, is taking steps to reach a goal of providing three free meals a day to all of its students.
The 2016-2017 Oklahoma Watch-Out series is sponsored by:
Oklahoma Watch hosts “Oklahoma Watch-Out” forums as part of its mission to encourage civil discussion of important public policy issues. The opinions expressed at our forums do not necessarily represent those of Oklahoma Watch or its funders or sponsors.
