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Very worrying piece in the @washingtonpost tdy about kids missing out on food with school closures. The piece missed an important part of the puzzle though. Check out my thread:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-meals-spring-break/2020/04/06/c8ecf3a4-7825-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-meals-spring-break/2020/04/06/c8ecf3a4-7825-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html
Schools and communities have stepped up to feed kids who are missing out on school meals. Their efforts are amazing, but just can't reach the need. That story is all on point there. There's another option to feed school kids that wasn't mentioned.
20 days ago Families First gave states the ability to replace the value of school meals via a SNAP-like benefit or a debit card so that families could buy food to serve at home. It's called Pandemic- EBT or P-EBT. But, where is it? https://frac.org/research/resource-library/pandemic-ebt
https://frac.org/research/resource-library/pandemic-ebt
States have asked @USDANutrition for the option and there's been no word. This is concerning and it's having an impact. We're asking school food workers, teachers, and families with kids to take risks to ensure kids eat when there's a safer alternative that can scale.
Time to approve P-EBT solutions or shed some light on what the problems are so we can address them immediately. 3 weeks is too long to wait to eat. https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/usda-states-must-act-swiftly-to-deliver-food-assistance-allowed-by-families
