Summer EBT food assistance program: Which states do not participate?

According to the American School Nutrition Association, more than 95,000 educational institutions serve school lunches to 28.5 million students every day, including 18.9 million free lunches and 1.1 million reduced-price lunches. . Unfortunately, when the summer holidays arrive, access to such food is lost, wreaking havoc on the neediest families.

For this reason, the Biden Administration has approved new economic relief for low-income families who struggle to put food on their tables every day. This new aid runs under the name Summer EBT and is a variation of the already existing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program is intended to guarantee food for low-income students during the summer vacations.

“No child in this country should go hungry. They certainly shouldn’t go hungry because they lose access to nutritious school meals during the summer months,” said Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, to the Associated Press.

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What states do not participate?

Although the program aims to offer economic assistance to more than 30 million children in the United States, the truth is that not all states enter the program. This is because many of them already have similar relief. Only 35 states are eligible for the program:

American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are also eligible. As for the states that are not participating in the Summer EBT program, these are:

Summer EBT food assistance program: Who Qualifies and what are the amounts?

As for the amounts, the Department notes that eligible families could receive an average of $40 per eligible child over a three-month period. Thus, at the end of the summer, the Families would have benefited from an average payment of $120 for child feeding.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Summer EBT will operate similarly to SNAP coupons. Aid amounts will be issued to an EBT debit card, with admission into selected supermarkets, shops and markets on wheels.

Since the program is intended for families with children who already receive free or reduced-price school lunches, the income of households wishing to apply must be within the 185% poverty line of the country ($55,500 dollars a year),according to the USDA. However, there are families that earn 130% of the federal poverty line and are eligible for free lunches.