New Options to Combat Summer Hunger
Summer hunger impacts too many children when they lose access to nutritious school meals. But thanks to bipartisan action by Congress last year, NREA is excited to share information about two powerful new tools to fight hunger and better meet the nutritional needs of children during the summer months.
One new option starting this summer allows States to provide “grab and go” meals or meal delivery to eligible children in certain rural areas rather than using the traditional program structure which requires service in group, on-site settings. Although States, school districts, and community-based organizations have made incredible efforts to reach children, and there are many important benefits to supervised, in-person meal service, there are some rural communities and families whom face barriers accessing traditional summer meal programs due to a variety of barriers, such as lack of consistent transportation to feeding sites.
Congress also created – for the first time – a permanent, nationwide “Summer EBT” program, through which States, Territories, and Tribes can provide benefits for low-income households with children to purchase food over the summer, starting in summer 2024. Rigorous evaluations of Summer EBT demonstrations have found that the benefit reduced very low food security among children by one-third, and improved participating children’s diets during the summer. Summer food benefits can be a game-changer for struggling families facing higher food costs, and families will spend them at local retailers, bringing additional food dollars into your local economies.
Summer EBT and non-congregate meals will complement, not replace, the congregate summer meals model where kids eat meals at a site. It is important to deploy all available tools to ensure no child goes hungry in the summer and NREA encourages you to engage early, to rethink how you serve low-income children during the summer, and to prioritize this historic opportunity.
Over the next few months, NREA will be working closely with USDA to learn more about the program and what members can do to support this effort.
