The National Council on School Lunch Participation investigated the National School Lunch Program in the late 1960’s, estimating that fewer than two million of the 60 million children eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were receiving those meals, and concluding that “the school lunch program in fact [operated] for the benefit of the middle class” and contributed to racial discrimination and neglect of poor communities. New legislation resulting from the Council’s advocacy helped to establish stronger national standards of eligibility for free and reduced-price meals.