Delaware joins 43 other states, territories, and tribes participating in the launch of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children.
The new, permanent program aims to address food insecurity during the summer months when kids are out of school.
Families will receive $120 per eligible child in the beginning of summer to help supplement the cost of groceries over the 3 month period.
The benefit amount is subject to change on a year-to-year basis to account for inflation.
Delaware’s Dept. of Health and Social Services anticipates around 80,000 Delaware children will qualify for Summer EBT this year.
Division of Social Services policy chief Jessica Horn says children who are eligible for free or reduced cost school lunches through an application, or receiving SNAP, TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), or Medicaid will be automatically enrolled.
“Households who do not meet those qualifications will have to fill out a Summer EBT application,” she explained. “So that will mostly be children who attend schools where everyone receives free and reduced priced meals, and school meal applications aren’t required. Those children, if they’re not receiving SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid, their families would have to apply to determine eligibility for Summer EBT.”
Benefits, in the form of a pre-loaded card, will be issued towards the end of May.
Summer EBT will work in tandem with other feeding programs, such as the Summer Food Service Program. It will not replace any existing program.
“An important thing to note is that children can participate in Summer EBT and also continue to participate in other feeding programs during the summer. So it’s an extra benefit to families during the summer months,” said Horn.
The Summer EBT program is based on USDA's Summer EBT for Children demonstration projects and Pandemic EBT, which proved to be effective in improving diet quality and reducing child hunger.
Delaware participated in one of the demonstration projects in 2012, as well as the Pandemic EBT program.
“We saw with P-EBT, which was a similar program, that families really depended and relied on those food assistance benefits to supplement their budgets. Especially during the summer when other programs may not be as easily available to them, like if they have to travel to get to a summer feeding site,” Horn explained. “This is a benefit that goes directly to households and they can spend it to purchase groceries as they normally would. It’s just an extra increase to their budget.”
The Summer EBT program was launched this year as a result of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which required the US Secretary of Agriculture to establish a permanent summer electronic benefits transfer for children program.
The USDA encourages families to participate in all summer nutrition programs available to them.
