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We Can Tackle Hunger and Joblessness at the Same Time

Bolstering the National School Lunch Program is central to Andrés’ vision. In the 2019 book The Labor of Lunch, Jennifer Gaddis, a professor of civil society and community studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, traces the modern-day school lunch program to WPA-era efforts to feed hungry kids and boost family incomes by hiring women to cook school lunches. By 1941, Gaddis writes, the WPA employed more than 64,000 workers who churned out 6 million school lunches a day, feeding one in four schoolkids.