Cherokee Nation
Good News! SUN Bucks is Available in Your Location
- Website: Summer EBT Program
- Hotline: 539-234-3265 or 800-256-0671 ext. 5275
- Email: wicsebtc@cherokee.org
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This memo establishes a nationwide waiver to support access to nutritious meals and snacks while minimizing potential exposure to COVID–19, in response to the COVID–19 Child Nutrition Response Act. This waiver applies to afterschool snacks in the National School Lunch Program and at-risk afterschool meals and snacks in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2021 — The COVID-19 public health and economic crisis is bigger than any other we've seen in our lifetimes — while the pandemic has forced the U.S. economy into crisis, millions of Americans are struggling with food insecurity, unemployment, and falling behind on housing payments. Hunger has increased throughout the pandemic, with as many as 30 million adults and 12 million children living in a household where they may not always get enough to eat.
Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding disparities in food insecurity. Black and Latino adults are more than twice as likely as white adults to report that their households did not get enough to eat.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Biden-Harris administration are committed to ensuring that all struggling families can get the nutritious food they need.
In good times and tough times, USDA's nutrition assistance programs are among the most far-reaching, powerful tools available to ensure that all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or background, have access to healthy, affordable food. USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides low-income Americans with access to healthy groceries. Approximately 43 million Americans rely on this program to feed themselves and their families. USDA and the Biden-Harris administration are working to strengthen this vital program by:
American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico receive a block grant in lieu of participation in SNAP. In December, Congress provided an additional $614 million to address increasing needs for nutrition assistance in these territories. President Biden called on Congress to provide these U.S. territories with an additional $1 billion in funding to support families hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, nearly 22 million students relied on free or reduced-price school meals to get the nutrition they need to grow and learn. When schools closed in March 2020, school nutrition professionals across the country worked tirelessly to make sure these children had access to meals despite unprecedented challenges. USDA is working with our state partners to address these challenges by:
Further, USDA has made it easier for states to establish a Pandemic-EBT program for this school year by issuing new P-EBT guidance to help states leverage their available data and resources to best serve children and families. Through improved guidance and extensive, one-on-one technical assistance, USDA is speeding up the process for state approvals. As of today, USDA has approved P-EBT plans for 22 states and territories this school year, which will provide over $10.0 billion to over 11.4 million children.
The Biden-Harris Administration is calling for additional support for this vital program through the American Rescue Plan which would extend Pandemic-EBT beyond September until the end of the pandemic, provide Pandemic-EBT benefits to families during the summer months in addition to the school year, and include children under 6 from the territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, more commonly known as WIC, provides tailored nutrition assistance and breastfeeding support to new moms, infants and children for their first five years of life. Strengthening WIC, and introducing more eligible families to its benefits and services, has proven to drive better health for infants and support more nutritious diets and better health care for children, all while producing higher academic achievement for students.
Unfortunately, the share of eligible families participating in WIC has declined over the past decade; about half of eligible low-income individuals weren't enrolled in 2017. The number of WIC participants continued falling at the end of 2019, and while it rebounded in some areas during the pandemic, it remained lower than the previous year even as the number of children living in households facing food hardship increased dramatically.
We believe that connecting more eligible women and young children to WIC is one of the tools to reduce stark racial disparities in maternal and child health. As part of the American Rescue Plan, President Biden has called on Congress to make a significant investment in WIC, and supports the current plan which includes:
To provide additional support for individuals over 18 who are not usually eligible for USDA's child nutrition programs, USDA is working to:
Food banks are one of USDA's most important partners in responding to the rise in food insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. USDA is committed to doing much more to support our non-profit food bank network throughout the pandemic, and ensure that they have the resources to meet the growing demand for food assistance. Across all of our nutrition assistance programs, USDA is looking for ways to remove barriers and make it easier for qualified applicants to receive assistance through programs like SNAP, WIC and P-EBT, which should ease the demand currently shouldered by our food bank partners. To further support the states and food banks that make up the network for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), USDA is:
USDA is moving quickly to deploy the emergency resources and new flexibilities Congress has provided in the end of year COVID relief package. We recognize that recovery from the pandemic will take time, effort, and great perseverance from all of us. We will stay focused each day on this critical mission because hungry families cannot afford to wait. USDA stands ready to work with Congress to deliver to American communities the urgent support and relief they need.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
CACFP is a food program that helps emergency shelters serve healthy meals to children and young people experiencing homelessness. CACFP meals help ensure equitable access to nutritious food for better health.
The ongoing infant formula shortage due to supply chain issues, which worsened due to a major formula recall in February 2022, has left many CACFP operators concerned about access to formula and their options for safely feeding infants in their care.
This memorandum provides a reminder overview of options available under current program policy and regulation for connecting children and adult survivors, who have evacuated from areas subject to major disaster and emergency declarations, and may be staying in shelters, with child nutrition program benefits.
This memorandum supersedes SP 25-2012, CACFP 12-2012, SFSP 10-2012, Disaster Response and provides an overview of ways state agencies, school food authorities participating can respond to situations resulting from damage or disruptions due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and flood as well as other exceptional emergency situations or man-made disasters. Allows state agencies to designate any appropriate facility, which is providing meals to displaced families who are being temporarily housed elsewhere, as a CACFP emergency shelter during a natural disaster or other emergency situation.
This memorandum provides guidance for state agencies to use regarding the participation of emergency shelters which serve homeless children and their families in the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program.
This policy memorandum is the result of activities undertaken to plan a government-wide response to a potential human pandemic and addresses the operation of its USDA food programs during a major pandemic event.