San Diego Hunger Coalition Endorses Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021
/U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) of the 49th congressional district representing North County San Diego and South Orange County, along with Sen. Murray (D-WA), and Rep. Hayes (D-CT), introduced the Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021. The Stop Child Hunger Act establishes a permanent, nationwide EBT program to ensure children who rely on school meals do not go hungry during school breaks and closures.
Pre-COVID, half of all public school students - over 250,000 children -- were enrolled in the Free & Reduced Price Meal Program. When schools close, whether for a scheduled school closure like summer or an unscheduled school closure like a pandemic or wildfire, families often struggle to ensure their children have the nutritious food they need to learn, grow, and thrive. For kids who rely on school meals for consistent nutrition, missed meals mean setbacks in physical health, emotional health, and academic fulfillment.
COVID-19 forced schools into distanced learning, causing millions of children nationwide to lose access to free and reduced-price school meals. As a result, food insecurity increased most dramatically among families with school-age kids. In San Diego County alone, food insecurity rose from 1 in 5 children to 2 in 5 children since the start of the pandemic. The Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program, introduced in 2020, was quickly recognized by families and anti-hunger advocates as the most direct and effective way to close the child meal gap during times of school closures.
The rise in food insecurity while school is out of session is not unique to the pandemic. Food insecurity among children increases every summer when schools close their doors, with students of color disproportionately affected. With this knowledge, the Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021 was introduced to build upon the success from the P-EBT program, establishing a permanent nutrition program for eligible children when they are out of school.
“This pandemic exposed how serious the child hunger crisis is when kids aren’t being fed at school, and we must do more to fill the void so every child has the nutrition they need to grow and thrive year-round,” said Rep. Levin. “Our Stop Child Hunger Act will ensure that eligible families have the benefits they need to put food on the table and replace meals that kids would typically receive at school, building off programs we know work well."
The Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021 will ensure that:
Pandemic-EBT is converted from a pilot into a permanent, nationwide program.
When schools are closed for more than 5 days, EBT benefits are authorized for eligible households with balance worth the daily value of school lunch and breakfast up to a maximum of $123 a month per child.
This includes summer and winter school breaks.
Benefit cards can be used to purchase food from stores that accept CalFresh.
San Diego Hunger Coalition proudly endorses the Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021, with CEO Anahid Brakke stating, “No child should ever have to experience the devastating impacts of hunger or malnutrition. Yet every summer, we see parents struggling to put enough food on the table when school meals aren’t available. The Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021 offers an easy, practical solution: give parents with very low incomes a little extra money on an EBT card when school is out, so they can purchase more healthy food for their kids. The funds are spent in local grocery stores, parents can buy what their kids will eat and, most importantly, children don’t have to worry about getting enough to eat during school breaks. I commend Congressman Levin for listening to the voices of his district and applying the lessons learned from this devastating pandemic to make lasting change to end childhood hunger.”
