summer ebt

Summer is tough to enjoy when you’re hungry. It’s a hard reality that many kids from low-income households face when school is out and the weather turns sunny. To help close the summer feeding gap, the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer demonstration offers a new model to do just that.

Without the daily nutrition provided by the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program, many families facing poverty are also experiencing its most difficult symptom: hunger. USDA has several tools to help solve this problem, with the newest addition being the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children demonstration project, commonly referred to as Summer EBT.

When school lets out, millions of children look forward to camps, pools, and blockbuster movies.  However, many children will also experience hunger.  When school is in session, low-income students receive free or reduced-price school meals that help families stretch their food budget.  When the school year ends, those school meals are no longer available to those students and some families will struggle to fill this gap.

We here at the USDA have been working hard to reduce childhood hunger when school is out.  One way we are accomplishing this goal is through the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) for Children demonstration project.  The project, funded by Congress in 2010, has shown clear results in reducing very low food security among children, the most severe form of childhood hunger.  A rigorous evaluation indicated that Summer EBT for Children: