Number of low-income students grows in Twin Cities suburbs

Teachers at Apple Valley's Greenleaf Elementary School started noticing some of their students acting strangely around the weekends.

When Fridays arrived, the kids seemed nervous, and a few were saving extra crackers and other bits of food to take home. When they returned Monday morning, many devoured their breakfasts.

"We started to notice hunger in our school community was a real problem," Principal Michelle deKam Palmieri told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The number of Greenleaf students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a federal indicator of poverty, has jumped 380 percent in the past decade. In 2005, just 8 percent of the school's students were considered low-income; last year, 36 percent — 331 students — qualified for subsidized meals.

"Childhood hunger has been more of a silent issue here," deKam Palmieri said. "I think more people are now aware that it is happening in homes right down the street."

In 2013, Greenleaf began collecting food donations from staff and the community to send home with students after classes let out Fridays — and became a model for how the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district addresses student hunger on the weekends.

Minnesota enjoys one of the nation's lowest poverty rates — 11.5 percent of residents, compared with the national average of 15.5 percent, according to U.S. census data — but the number of poor is on the rise in the Twin Cities suburbs.

Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools still have the state's largest concentrations of low-income students at about 68 percent for the districts combined, but Greenleaf and similar schools are an example of how poverty has grown in the suburbs.

A Pioneer Press analysis of enrollment data found the number of low-income students in the suburbs of the seven-county metro area climbed 64 percent from 2005 to 2015. Now, nearly 130,000 suburban students, or 33 percent, qualify for free or reduced-price meals, up from 20 percent a decade ago.

Much of that suburban growth is not just in such core inner suburbs as Bloomington and Richfield. It's farther out, too, in Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, South Washington County, Mounds View and similar outer-ring suburbs, where the number of low-income students has increased by 65 percent or more.

Allison Liuzzi, a researcher at the Minnesota Compass Project, which studies quality-of-life issues for the Wilder Foundation, a local nonprofit social services organization, said the latest census data paints a more vivid picture of suburban poverty.

Minneapolis and St. Paul might have the highest concentrations of low-income families, but 52 percent of the metro's low-income families — and 54 percent of its poor children — call the suburbs home.

"It was between 2009 and 2010 when we saw those (trend) lines cross," Liuzzi said. "We have seen issues like poverty push out into the inner-ring suburbs and now the outer-ring suburbs."

Liuzzi said the increasing number of suburban poor is likely due to a mix of residents leaving urban areas, newcomers moving in from out of state and a recent influx of immigrants.

Across Minnesota, minorities are disproportionately affected by poverty, Liuzzi said. About 41 percent of the state's black children are poor; 23 percent of Asian children; 28 percent Hispanic children; and 8 percent of white children.

State test scores show low-income students typically score proficient on achievement tests at rates 20 percentage points below state averages. At Greenleaf, it was clear to deKam Palmieri and her staff that something had to be done to make sure students and their families didn't have empty stomachs on the weekends.

"It really affects their learning," she said.

The "backpack" program the school started in 2013 was successful in getting donated food home each Friday, but it was difficult for staff to maintain. They also worried the food they were able to collect wasn't as nutritious as it should be.

In 2014, Greenleaf connected with the Sheridan Story. The Minneapolis nonprofit specializes in solving the logistical challenges Greenleaf was having collecting food and getting it to needy students and families.

"It was like a dream come true," deKam Palmieri said.

Rob Williams, the group's executive director, said Sheridan was born in 2010 out of the need for weekend meals at Sheridan Elementary in Northeast Minneapolis. The organization began as a project of the Mill City Church, which met Sundays in the school's cafeteria.

In the spring of 2013, Sheridan branched out to other schools. Since then, its efforts have grown rapidly. The group now serves 60 mostly metro schools, sending home about 3,400 bags of food each weekend.

"I really view food insecurity not as a supply problem, but as a distribution problem," Williams said. "We have plenty of food; it is not in the homes of children who need it."

Sheridan tackles the difficult job of connecting churches, charities and civic organizations that want to help with the schools that need it.

Essentially, the charities send donations that help Sheridan buy food, pack it and ship it to schools. Local community volunteers distribute the bags of food discreetly each Friday to students who sign up.

Each bag contains canned meats, fruits and vegetables, along with boxes of pasta, rice and beans. Williams said the combo ensures students have "nutritious and substantial" meals over the weekend.

Federal rules stipulate that students qualify for free or reduced-priced meals if their families make less than 180 percent of the poverty line, which is $24,250 for a family of four. Sheridan's weekend food programs are charitably funded, and there are no income rules for recipients.

The program has been a big success at Greenleaf since it began in 2014. This year, about 100 students had signed up by the third week of school.

Over the summer break, district Superintendent Jane Berenz met with leaders of local faith and civic groups in hopes of expanding the Sheridan program to more district schools.

When the groups' leaders asked how they could help, Berenz responded: "Feed our children."

Ten district schools will provide weekend meals to needy students this year, and that number is expected to grow.

Three local church congregations help fund the weekend food program at Greenleaf. On a Friday in early October, members of Chapel Hill, Christus Victor and Lily of the Valley A.M.E. spent the morning distributing bags of food to students' classrooms.

Jillian Hubers and Lucita Lepisto volunteered for the project because they have children at Greenleaf. Hubers also attended the school as a child.

Like many suburban residents, Hubers and Lepisto were surprised to learn about the number of community families in need. Both saw the program as a chance to form connections with their school and neighbors.

"This needs to be a broad effort," Lepisto said. "The neighborhood needs to be aware of the need. This is where we live."

Last year, 38 percent of the state's 842,062 students qualified for subsidized meals, paid for with a mix of state and federal funds. In 2005, 30 percent of Minnesota students qualified.

The growing number of low-income students in Minnesota schools has prompted some action from state lawmakers.

During the 2014 legislative session, lawmakers approved $3.5 million in new spending to guarantee hot lunches for students even if they couldn't afford to pay. The legislation was introduced after a Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid report found 15 percent of districts were refusing meals to students without money. About half of Minnesota's districts were giving students a less nutritious meal if they couldn't afford a hot lunch.

This year, Gov. Mark Dayton asked the Legislature to provide breakfast to every student in kindergarten through third grade who wanted one, but the proposal was not included in the final $17 billion education budget.

The Sheridan Story is just one example of how schools across the metro are addressing the growth of student poverty and the hunger that often comes with it. Districts across the state have started similar weekend food programs, expanded access to state and federally funded breakfasts and even opened food shelves in their school buildings.

School leaders say many students remain in need.

Williams' group expects to expand from 60 to 80 schools by next year and will distribute about half a million food items this school year. While Sheridan already reaches 3,400 students, Williams estimates there are 100,000 Twin Cities students who live in homes where there is not enough food.

It costs Sheridan $130 to send a bag of food home with a student every weekend of the school year, Williams said. To work in more schools and reach more students, Sheridan needs more groups to sponsor schools and more volunteers.

Williams said word-of-mouth is typically the most powerful way to get the message out.

"The only way that someone would know about food insecurity in their communities is either if they see it or someone tells you about it," Williams said.

An AP Exchange feature by Christopher Magan, St Paul Pioneer Press.