Indiana’s Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA) submitted the required Letter of Intent to the US Department of Agriculture to begin the process of implementing a Summer EBT program in late December!
Much thanks where thanks is due: Governor Holcomb; FSSA administrators; Indiana Department of Education, the secondary agency responsible; Kate Howe and Indy Hunger Network for partnering to reach out and gather more than 40 signatory organizations on the letter we sent to the Governor; and all of the organizations who signed on to that support letter.
Procedurally, FSSA must submit a state plan to USDA by February 15th, with the target date of releasing benefits early in the summer.
Much work needs to be done between now and then, however, for Indiana to set up an application system for children not already enrolled in Free & Reduced Lunch. Those eligible students will come from Community Eligibility Program schools that already receive free meals school or district wide but would not have submitted a Free & Reduced application–the permanent Summer EBT program has different rules than Pandemic EBT where all CEP students received a benefit card without application.
Keep an eye out for updates from FSSA on the implementation and enrollment for Summer EBT, we’ll share more as the program takes shape as well.
