The Roundup: Black Panthers Had It Right — Feed All Kids
From the Editor
What's up, South End?
I hope y'all had a good week. I want to start today's newsletter with a little bit of Seattle history.
In 1969, the Black Panther Party launched the Free Breakfast for School Children Program. It first launched in Oakland, but as I'm sure y'all know, the Black Panthers also had a presence here in Seattle. In fact, the first chapter of the Black Panther Party outside of California set up shop in the Central District.
A little-known fact about the free breakfast program in Seattle is that it also served white and Asian children. A well-known fact, and perhaps why the legacy of this program is so revered, is that the Black Panthers stepping up to feed kids in urban neighborhoods is what pressured the U.S. government to start feeding schoolchildren nationwide.
So, I was absolutely shocked last week when City Council President Joy Hollingsworth, a Black woman representing the Central District, proposed an amendment to not feed schoolchildren citywide.
Last week, Erica C. Barnett reported that Mayor Katie Wilson proposed using funds from the voter-approved Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy to implement universal free meals for all Seattle Public Schools students, starting in September. Then, once the Millionaires Tax kicks in in two years, that statewide funding would continue the free food program.
Council President Hollingsworth then introduced an amendment, co-sponsored by Councilmember Dionne Foster (a District 2 resident), that would halt universal free meals for at least a year, and instead use means-tested vouchers to provide gift cards for low-income students to receive free meals on holiday breaks and weekends.
Unfortunately, Hollingsworth wasn't available for an interview in time to be quoted here. Foster did make time, and she explained that this amendment was intended to feed students while remaining fiscally responsible.
"[The amendment] would take the resources for the first year of the program from the mayor's proposal, and it would put those along with additional dollars into a program that's designed to provide gift cards to our students who have the most need or have the most food insecurity," said Foster. "We would be able to do that across the six years of the levy, as opposed to one or two years."
According to Foster, the amendment would only delay free meals for all. The universal free meals would still kick in the following school year, and then, if the Millionaires Tax isn't repealed in November, that funding would take over in two years as planned.
I went to City Hall to speak with Mayor Katie Wilson, and she doubled down on her idea that we can start universal free meals this September — with or without the Millionaires Tax.
"We believe that we can definitely continue to pay for this program if we need to through the [FEPP] levy cost and risk fund," said Wilson. "With a levy of this size, there's a 2.5% cost and risk fund, which is basically held back as reserves, and then there's another 2% to 3% that we expect on the basis of the previous levy and other levies to be underspent. Altogether, that's like $9 or $10 million a year."
Sometimes with local politics in Seattle, it feels like we're splitting hairs. In this case, on the surface, it looks like we can have free meals for all now, or we can have it in 2027.
Here's where I take issue. Why must we nickel-and-dime the programs that are intended to help our kids?
I'm not arguing against fiscal responsibility. I do, however, question when politicians do and do not lean into this idea. For example, where was the sense of responsible spending last year when the City Council voted to approve the new contract for the Seattle Police Department?
In the past 10 years, cops have cost taxpayers nearly $60 million in lawsuits, yet Hollingsworth, along with the Council, approved a police union contract that, according to Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, "Doesn't strengthen civilian oversight. It doesn't make it easier to remove officers who cause harm and violate public trusts … this contract asks Seattle taxpayers to invest more in policing without requiring more accountability in return."
Is giving officers raises across the board, without any effort to improve accountability and deter future costly lawsuits, fiscally responsible?
Speaking with Mayor Wilson, it was clear that her belief is that if we start this program now, we create the expectation to keep it going. And with or without the Millionaires Tax (which political analysts I spoke with expect to survive), she's committed to continuing.
Axios reported this week that new federal data suggests prices in Seattle are up 4.5% last month compared to a year earlier. We can't expect the City Council to control inflation, but it can do things like provide meals to students citywide that ease its impacts.
And it's not only low-income families that are affected.
I asked Foster about the families who don't qualify for free and reduced lunch, who are still facing food insecurity. This nation has an epidemic of the working poor. Should these children miss free meals for a year, or potentially more, if we have the means to provide them?
"Through community eligibility, we have — and I don't have the numbers right in front of me — I think 49 schools that have universal free school lunches because more than 40% of their students are income-eligible for free and reduced school lunch," said Foster.
She said it's important to acknowledge that in the areas with the highest needs, free meals are available. Which is true, and appreciated, but also didn't answer the question asked.
If we provide free meals for all students, we don't have to worry about the gaps. Or separate our students into pools of who does and does not have a voucher — which lands heavy on me as a person who remembers the stigma of the free lunch card from back in my day.
Bottom line: The Black Panthers had it right in the '60s. If we can feed all kids, regardless of race and class, we should.
The Roundup Rundown
We've been talking about data centers for a while now, but I've realized a lot of people still don't know what they are or what they do.
If that's you, then you're in luck: Contributor Connor Nash went on a private tour of a data center in Tukwila.
Are the traffic medians in Ballard nicer than the ones in the South End?
I'll admit, I don't spend much time in Ballard. Or in the north end in general. But South End resident Jillian Altizer noticed traffic medians up north seem to be getting better treatment than the ones along Rainier Avenue South.
Local photographer Susan Fried has a knack for always being where the action is.
Over the past few weeks, as World Cup fever descended into Seattle, Susan has been snapping photos at watch parties around the city. And, of course, in the South End.
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This is an abbreviated version of The Roundup newsletter. To get the entire newsletter, including a weekly list of events to check out and my shout-out to South End Gems, subscribe here. See you next week!
Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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