Arleen Ramos-Szatmary, the coordinator of School Nutrition Programs at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, recently sent a letter to participants in the national school lunch and/or school breakfast programs highlighting a new program that seeks to address food insecurity.
In her letter, she notes that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 included authorization for a new, permanent, nationwide program called Summer EBT, which seeks to address food insecurity by providing grocery-buying benefits to low-income families with school-aged children during the summer months.
The NJDA Division of Food and Nutrition is working in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Human Services, the New Jersey Department of Education and the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate on this groundbreaking initiative, which will be implemented this summer.
“Encouraging families to complete free and reduced-price school meal applications, along with ensuring information accuracy, are very important to Summer EBT,” she writes.
Program participants are encouraged to refer to the USDA Summer EBT website for additional information.
She added that the NJDA looks forward to collaborating with participating districts and schools to provide valuable assistance to food insecure families when school is out for the summer.