FNS Documents & Resources

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is extending for 120 days the public comment period on the interim final rule, “Establishing the Summer EBT Program and Rural Non-Congregate Option in the Summer Meal Programs.” 

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) as a permanent federal food assistance entitlement program beginning in summer 2024. Summer EBT has been tested through evaluations of demonstration projects since 2011. With pending implementation of this new program, this is an appropriate time to reflect on what USDA, FNS research has learned through more than a decade of study.

To address summer hunger, Congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2022 creating a permanent benefit program, called Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT), and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to-reach, rural communities.

There are new tools to address summer hunger, including Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT), and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to-reach, rural communities.

There are new tools to address summer hunger, including Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to-reach, rural communities.

To address summer hunger, Congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2022 creating a permanent benefit program, called Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT), and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to reach, rural communities.

There are new tools to address summer hunger, including Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT), and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to-reach, rural communities.

There are new tools to address summer hunger, including Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT), and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to-reach, rural communities.