Summer can mean food insecurity for some families who rely on schools to provide their children with healthy meals. This summer, a new federal program to provide extra grocery benefits to certain households was supposed to help, but in Connecticut those benefits were delayed by a month.
Summer EBT, Connecticut’s version of the federal SUN Bucks program, gives qualifying households a one-time $120 benefit per child, and can be used to buy any SNAP-eligible food. The new grocery benefit was approved by Congress in December 2022 through the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The program is available across most of the United States.
In Connecticut, the state Department of Social Services initially said the program would begin June 23, shortly after schools dismissed, but the benefits were deposited to eligible families over one month later on July 28.
In an August statement, the Department of Social Services blamed “contracting and internal data processing deadlines” for the delay.
“Our vendor manages a majority of the other states participating in this process, like us, for the very first time,” said Christine Stuart, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services. “Frequent and clear communication is key, especially when implementing a program with multiple states and a single vendor that serves them.”
DSS has safeguards to ensure those won’t happen again, Stuart said, and the agency will work so that come 2025, SUN Bucks will be distributed in June.
Meanwhile, food insecurity is on the rise in Connecticut, according to Feeding America’s latest nationwide report. The number of Connecticut children not having enough to eat increased from one in eight in 2021, to one in six in 2022, the report found.
Many Connecticut kids will be automatically enrolled in SUN Bucks. That includes those already enrolled in SNAP, or the National School Lunch Program. These funds could be issued as a separate card, or added to an pre-existing SNAP account, and are available for use for up to four months after funds are distributed.
DSS estimates that the SUN Bucks program could benefit at least 300,000 children in the state.
Anyone with a child who may be eligible but hasn’t been enrolled can apply for benefits until Saturday, Aug. 31. More information is available by going on the DSS website, or calling 1-844-503-6871.
