The Colorado Fair Share Education Fund finds the number of suburban students enrolled in assisted lunch programs grew 11 percent between 2006 and 2013. Colorado suburbs saw a 10 percent increase.
The advocacy group says the number of students enrolled in those programs is a good indicator of poverty and food insecurity.
The release has Aurora Councilwoman Molly Markert urging policy makers to adjust to the new reality.
Suburbanites "don't think of childhood hunger as something we need to do anything about because somebody else has taken care of it." she says. "It's in Denver, it's in the rural areas, it's not here."
Nationally, amost half of the new additions to free and reduced lunch programs came from suburbs and about a quarter came from cities, the organization says.
