Gov. Jim Pillen’s administration has decided Nebraska won’ participate in a new national child nutrition program that could have delivered an estimated $18 million dollars in grocery-buying benefits next summer to kids and their families.
Food banks and other advocates have been trying for months to persuade the governor to opt into the Summer EBT program, which has a January 1st application deadline.
When questioned by the Nebraska Examiner about the decision, Pillen spokeswoman Laura Strimple appeared to imply the governor didn’t think the new program was needed.
Strimple said free meals continue to be available to young during the summer through the USDA and summer camp programs, schools, and community centers.
Strimple said “In addition to in-person meals, those locations offer recreational, educational and other enrichment opportunities, as well as resources, that are of added benefit to kids and important for their development.”
Nebraska Appleseed food and nutrition access manager Eric Savaiano says the nonprofit was “deeply disappointed” and found the decision “difficult to understand” because it means “more families will struggle with food insecurity” next summer.
Appleseed estimates 150,000 Nebraska kids would have benefited if the state had opted into the new program, which differs from the pandemic-era program by requiring states to now pick up a portion of administrative costs.
The cost to Nebraska would be about $300,000 annually, leading Savaiano to ask “how can spending a mere $300,000 in state funds and receiving $18 million, a 60-fold return on investment, not make financial sense?”
He adds, “If it’s an ideological issue, how can deciding economically disadvantaged children are better off going hungry make moral sense?”