Good news: Thank you for your Hunger advocacy!

Great news!

And thank you from Arizona Food Bank Network.

Arizona’s Fiscal Year 2026 state budget passed on Friday, June 27 and was signed by Governor Hobbs on Saturday, June 28, and… it includes $3.8 million for Reduced Price school meals and a one-time, $2 million appropriation for Double Up Food Bucks! The funding was included as a one-time item—i.e., not ongoing, as we’d hoped—but this is still cause for celebration – and it only happened because of all of you and your hard work! It was a particularly demanding legislative session, especially the budget negotiations, so seeing funding for school meals receive bipartisan support is a big accomplishment. We should all be proud of this great work, especially the School Nutrition Association of Arizona (SNAAZ) and all the partners and parents who talked to lawmakers about the importance of this funding over the past year.

There were some additional wins for food security in the FY-26 budget, including continued funding for SUN Bucks (Summer EBT).

This was a huge win this legislative session, and it would not have been possible without you! Thank you for using your voice. It mattered and we are so grateful.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again for all that you did to get school meals funding across the finish line – and to feed kids in need every day!

 —Ashley St. Thomas and your friends at AzFBN.