Resource Library

Starting in Summer 2024, eligible families will receive money on an EBT card to purchase groceries at approved stores during the summer months through the new, permanent, federal Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) Program. 37 states, Washington DC, all US territories, and 3 Tribes will be participating in 2024. Discover the research behind Summer EBT in FRAC’s new fact sheet. 

This summer, 37 states, the District of Columbia, all five U.S. territories, and three Tribes, will participate in the new nationwide Summer EBT Program. Families will receive $120 in federally funded grocery benefits on an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card for each school-age child who is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. By implementing the program, these states, territories, and Tribes, are helping to reduce summer hunger, so children can return to school well-nourished and ready to learn. Dive into the data on Summer EBT in FRAC’s new 2024 Program Impact fact sheet. 

Intended to help WIC partners spread awareness about the new WIC food packages and promote the fruit and vegetable increases, FRAC’s 2024 WIC Food Packages Outreach Toolkit offers customizable social media posts, graphics, and print materials for you to share.

FRAC and the Southern Economic Advancement Project teamed up to provide this guide for advocates to the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) Program. Find key information on implementation, including flexibilities and aid that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing to states to ease the administration burden. 

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) empowers program participants to make choices about what food is right for them. Through SNAP, people with lived experience of hunger and poverty can make decisions for themselves and their families, and use their purchasing power to make those decisions without shame or stigma. Learn why protecting SNAP choice is so urgent in FRAC’s latest research brief. 

School meals are an important tool for combatting childhood food insecurity, yet far too many children missed out on the nutrition they need for their health and learning with the expiration of the pandemic-era nationwide waivers that allowed schools to offer school meals to all students at no charge, according to FRAC’s latest report. Learn more in The Reach of School Breakfast and Lunch During the 2022–2023 School Year.

Congress must adhere to bipartisan and public support to preserve consumer choice for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the FY 2024 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, the upcoming Farm Bill, and any other legislative vehicles. Learn more about preserving consumer choice in SNAP in FRAC’s latest-one pager. 

School lunch participation in the five states that implemented Healthy School Meals for All policies during the 2022–2023 school year increased compared to prepandemic participation levels. Learn more in FRAC’s latest report, The State of Healthy School Meals for All: California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Vermont Lead the Way.

The bipartisan 2018 Farm Bill directed USDA to update the Thrifty Food Plan. The resulting update in 2021 was the first in the plan’s history and led to a necessary and long overdue increase in SNAP benefits. Learn why the Thrifty Food Plan adjustment should be protected from efforts to eliminate or weaken it in the 2024 Farm Bill and in other legislation in FRAC’s new one-pager, Continuing the Thrifty Food Plan Adjustment Is Good for Everyone. 

FRAC’s Food Fuels Futures: Expanded SNAP Eligibility Reduces Hunger Among College Students research brief — informed by interviews with college students — sets forth reasons why SNAP student eligibility expansions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were so vital to college students and why decision-makers should build on these lessons and eliminate the “work-to-eat rule” so that more college students can focus on learning rather than being distracted by hunger. 

Leveraging CACFP for Farm to Early Care and Education: Growing Wins Across Early Childhood and Food System Sectors aims to assist states in combatting child hunger by exploring options to boost the Child and Adult Care Food Program by leveraging Farm to Early Care and Education (Farm to ECE). 

The permanent, nationwide Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) Program is set to begin in summer 2024. On December 29, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released their Interim Final Rule (IFR) outlining program requirements and processes. Check out FRAC’s new resource for an in-depth summary of the IFR. 

States can now apply to participate in the Medicaid Direct Certification Demonstration Project and bring the same benefits of direct certification to children, families, and schools through Medicaid. The deadline for state RFP applications is January 15, 2024. Learn more in FRAC’s new fact sheet. 

The Summer EBT Program would reduce summer hunger in your state or territory. Learn more about the benefits of Summer EBT to your state or territory in our new Summer EBT State Fact Sheets. 

By providing benefits to purchase food, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is vital to supporting the nutrition, health, and well-being of people experiencing homelessness. New temporary SNAP time limit exemptions went into effect September 1 — including for people experiencing homelessness — pursuant to the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act. Ensuring that the time limit exemptions for the newly exempt people experiencing homelessness are implemented effectively is an important strategy to improve their access to SNAP. Learn more in this new fact sheet from FRAC, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Opportunity Starts at Home.