The Summer EBT program ensures that qualifying families whose children receive free and reduced school lunches during the school year will receive $40 per child in federally-funded, pre-loaded SNAP / EBT cards for every month of summer break. The program launched in 2024.
Summer EBT is a state administered program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issues guidelines for program implementation and reporting. Several states decided not to implement the program, citing the administrative burden.
In the South, where child hunger rates are among the highest in the nation, the need for Summer EBT is particularly urgent in the states —Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida— that chose not to participate for summer of 2024. So, SEAP partnered with the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) to create a summer EBT resource aimed at educating states on the resources USDA provides to ease the administrative burden of implementing Summer EBT with the goal of all southern states opting in for 2025.
Since the report was published, Alabama has opted into the Summer EBT program, and Mississippi food access advocates have formed a coalition that works to implement summer EBT in their state as well.
