CT delayed in giving out summer grocery benefit for kids

Implementation of a new program that aims to combat food insecurity by offering more grocery aid to the families of 273,000 children is delayed and won’t begin until August, the state Department of Social Services announced.

Congress established the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program, or SUN Bucks , through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 to offer eligible families a one-time payment of $120 per child in additional food assistance. Food insecurity often worsens for kids during the summer when they don’t have access to meals at school.

“Kids that are in school, they’re used to getting, one, two, sometimes three meals per day,” said Jason Jakubowski, president and chief executive officer at the Connecticut Foodshare. “School’s out and it drops down to zero overnight. Literally overnight.”

Jakubowksi said while it’s disappointing that Connecticut’s program will be delayed, he’s glad to see that “Congress finally listened,” to reports of increased food insecurity during the summer months.

“The truth is June, July, August are the three hardest months of the year for people facing food insecurity, and this program is a tremendous step forward,” Jakubowski said.

Over the last 30 days, Connecticut’s 211 system has received more than 17,700 calls from people who need help with food, according to online data . Most of them were for help buying food.

Connecticut got its $32.7 million federal allocation for the program, which is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in May.

Initially, the state expected to give out the benefits Sunday, but then announced that the program implementation would be pushed to later in the summer.

The delay won’t affect existing food benefits, DSS Deputy Communications Director Christine Stuart said in an emailed statement.

Stuart did not respond to questions about what caused the delay.

“Summer EBT is a brand new program that has not launched yet and DSS is preparing to begin this summer,” Stuart said. “It will be an additional grocery assistance program to benefit families with children while school is out during the summer months.”

More than 460,000 Connecticut residents struggle with food insecurity , and more than 112,000 of those are children, according to estimates from Feeding America. People of color are disproportionately likely to experience food insecurity.

Connecticut families qualify for the summer program if they already receive certain food benefits or if their household income is less than 185% of the federal poverty level, according to the DSS website.

More families struggle to make ends meet as the cost of necessities such as housing and food go up, said Lisa Tepper Bates, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of Connecticut.

“While the rate of inflation has slowed, those increases in not only the cost of food and the cost of housing and the cost of basics across the board have really taken a bite out of the family budget,” Tepper Bates said.

Not all states are participating in the program, and others including Massachusetts also won’t officially launch the program until later in the summer. Massachusetts’ is set to start in July.

Connecticut was the first state in the Northeast to get the plans for the program approved.

In 2011, Connecticut had a similar pilot program for rural communities. The new one is statewide, Stuart said.

Resources for families experiencing food insecurity can be found online at ctfoodshare.org or by calling 211.