On June 25th, 2019, First Focus Campaign for Children wrote a letter to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Susan Davis (D-CA) in support of their Stop Summer Hunger Act of 2019 (S. 1941/H.R. 3378.)
Excerpt from the Letter: First Focus Campaign for Children knows it will take a multi-pronged approach to ensure that these children have enough to eat during the summer months. This includes strengthening and expanding summer meal sites so that they are accessible to more children, extending the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program so that families can purchase additional food for their children during the summer, and, where appropriate, establishing non-congregate models to fill in the gaps.
The Stop Child Summer Hunger Act of 2019 takes the important step of making this comprehensive package a reality by making the Summer EBT program available to all families with children eligible for free and reduced price lunch. Summer EBT has already proven to reduce very low child food security by 33 percent. Meanwhile, a recent landmark study by the National Academy of Sciences estimates that making Summer EBT available to all eligible school-age children, in concert with overall increases to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, could reduce child poverty by 18 percent. We applaud this legislation and look forward to the process of Child Nutrition Reauthorization as an opportunity to incorporate it into a comprehensive package that closes the summer hunger gap.