BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
Here’s some food for thought: for students, free lunch ends when school does. For the millions of children who rely on subsidized cafeteria meals during the year, nothing automatically fills that gap in June. On July 1, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that $189 million in Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer funds had already reached nearly 1.6 million low-income children across the state, with roughly $240 million projected to reach around 2 million kids before the season is out.
A USDA demonstration project found that summer food benefits cut the share of children experiencing very low food security by one-third. Summer hunger doesn’t get much coverage. That number suggests it probably should.
How New York’s Summer EBT program works
Each eligible child gets $120 on an EBT card that works like SNAP at authorized grocery stores and farmers markets. Families already enrolled in SNAP, Public Assistance, or Medicaid get it automatically, with no application. Families not automatically enrolled have until September 8, 2026 to apply online at ny.gov/SummerEBT.
Important to note: the $120 expires 122 days after it’s issued, and any unused balance disappears once that window closes. Families should use it soon after the card arrives. To qualify, a child must attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program and meet the income thresholds for free or reduced-price meals.
What child hunger advocates are saying
Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, named the core problem: children who get school meals during the year “don’t receive government-funded food at summer meals sites when schools are closed.” Richard R. Buery Jr., CEO of Robin Hood, described summer as a time when “school meals disappear and budgets are stretched thin” for low-income families across the state. Both were making the same basic point: the gap is structural, and it opens every year on the same date.
The EBT spending also moves through neighborhoods. No Kid Hungry New York Director Rachel Sabella noted that the dollars “strengthen local economies by allowing recipients to spend them at neighborhood grocery stores, farmers markets, and other local businesses.” Assemblymember Maritza Davila, chair of the Assembly Social Services Committee, described families already “struggling with the rising cost of everything in their lives from housing, medical care and especially food costs,” with summer adding more weight to that load.
A state commitment as federal nutrition cuts loom
Federal nutrition programs are facing Republican-backed cuts in Congress. Senator Charles Schumer called federal funding for hungry children “more critical than ever,” citing reductions he said are already taking effect. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who pushed to make the federal Summer EBT program permanent, described New York’s program as a direct response to that federal retreat.
New York’s FY27 budget went well beyond the EBT rollout. Hochul secured $51 million for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, $15 million to expand it to regional food banks and pantries, and $55 million for the Nourish NY program, plus $395 million to continue Universal Free School Meals through fiscal year 2027. Kate Breslin of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy cited a Federal Reserve Bank of New York finding of “a remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among households with young children.” Families who haven’t received their benefits yet have until September 8, 2026, to apply.
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