Education
BY ELLE BENT
Texas opts out of summer food program
Put into perspective
Texas is one of nine states with the highest food insecurity rates, but several Austin-area counties are faring better.
implement a new program and the need for new appropriations from the Legislature.” Part of this problem includes a current strain on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits, causing many eligible Texans to wait up to six months to receive benefits. “People don’t stop eating because they’re not enrolled in SNAP,” said Celia Cole, CEO of nonprofit Feeding Texas. “They show up at the food bank.” In Texas, a fifth of children experience food insecurity, meaning that they do not always have reliable access to meals, according to Feeding Texas.
For some students, the transition into summer break comes with an uncertainty—access to consistent meals. Summer of 2024 will be the first that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will implement the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program, or Summer EBT, in which families will receive $40 per eligible child monthly to supplement the cost of food during summer break. However, Texas is one of 15 states that did not implement the program for 2024. Thomas Vasquez, a press officer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said Texas could not successfully launch the program this year due to “current resource constraints at the state agencies, the level of effort needed to
Food insecurity rates:
Texas
20%
Travis County
16%
Williamson County
16%
Hays County
15%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
SOURCE: EVERY TEXAS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
What's next?
Diving in deeper
While the Summer EBT program is an appealing program for Texans, it is also a challenging program to run, Cole said. It only reaches about 10% of kids who participate in free or reduced-price lunch programs during the school year. “The main reason for that low participation is just the challenge of kids getting to those sites in the summer months,” Cole said. Additionally, only about 4.6% of students who participated in lunch programs during the 2021-22 school year in Texas benefited from summer food service, according to a 2023 report by nonprofit Food Research and Action Center. Another barrier to success with the program is getting three entities to collaborate, Cole said.
The HHSC will continue to work with stakeholders in order to implement the program in Texas, officials said. Feeding Texas will also keep advocating for the program’s implementation and gathering the resources needed for it. Summer hunger programs Families can find additional assistance here: • Backpack Friends www.backpackfriends.com • Round Rock Area Service Center www.rrasc.org
“Good nutrition is critical to keeping kids nourished and making sure they’re ready to go back to school ... in the fall,” Cole said. School districts and the Texas Department of Agriculture offer programs to help families during the summer.
• Circle of Hope Community Center https://circleofhopecc.org • Texas Department of Agriculture
Summer Meal Programs www.summerfood.org
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