A statewide nonprofit is calling on Alabamians to lobby for support around a federal program that gives summer food assistance to low-income families with school age children.
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program, or Summer EBT, would provide $120 in SNAP benefits for eligible families to buy food. Each family would receive a pre-loaded debit card of $40 for three months during the summer.
Governor Kay Ivey says cost concerns are why the state opted out of the federal initiative this year. The Alabama House of Representatives last week tabled an amendment that would have set aside money for the program.
State Rep. Danny Garrett, the chairman of the House budget-writing committee, told representatives that he wants to learn more about what is required of the state before appropriating funds.
Supporters with the organization Alabama Arise, a nonprofit that advocates for Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty, say the federal program is important because for many kids, the only meals they get are the ones from school. Members are calling on lawmakers to fund the Summer EBT program for 2025 during the final days of this year’s legislative session.
“It impacts nearly half a million Alabama children,” said LaTrell Clifford Wood, a hunger policy advocate at Alabama Arise. “By not participating in this program for summer 2024, we're going to see over half a million Alabama children who would have been eligible to receive benefits go without summer meals.”
Alabama is the fifth poorest state in the nation, with 17% of adults and 23% of children (1 out of 4) facing food insecurity, or lack of regular access to enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life. That information comes from the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).
The department advises, for those with low or no income, rent or mortgage and medicine are usually covered first, leaving little for the food budget and other, more flexible expenses.
Meantime, Arise reports Summer EBT could help feed over half a million kids in the state. The federal program requires an initial appropriation of $15 million, but the organization says that would be an investment.
A fact sheet from the organization says that the funding could come from wither the Education Trust Fund or the General Fund. The cost for the program would also decrease over the years.
“What we're doing in Alabama Arise [is], we're saying to the legislature, ‘If we have all of this money for corporate tax breaks, we do have the money to feed our children.’ So, they need to take the steps to make this appropriation before half a million of our children go hungry in summer 2025, said Clifford Wood.
She continued to say Arise is calling on residents of the Yellow Hammer State to support Summer EBT by contacting legislators and voice support for the program.
“We’re at the point in the legislature where legislators are making decisions surrounding the budget for fiscal year 2025,” said Clifford Wood. “By reaching out to your legislators, and just saying this is a program that our children need, we're making sure that we're speaking up for people that don't get to participate in the voting process.”
More information on the federal Summer EBT program can be found here.
