LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas is participating in a federal program to provide summer meals for children while they are not in school.
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program allows families to purchase food for families whose children qualify for the National School Lunch Program. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an announcement on Tuesday that the program will provide $120 in benefits for each eligible child during the summer.
The EBT program has been in the news lately as governors of other red states opted out enrolling in the program by its Jan. 1 deadline, citing administrative costs, or in one case, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen reportedly saying that the state was opting out of the federal program because “I don’t believe in welfare.”
Sanders said that Arkansas had opted into the program to respond to food insecurity in the state, especially among children.
The program will be jointly administered in the state by the Arkansas Department of Human Services and the Department of Education. The agencies will develop a plan to be in place by this summer.
