Sen. Seminara Wants Answers on Delay of Summer Food Aid
July 1, 2024CT lawmakers want answers on delay in summer federal food aid
Hartford Courant
After thousands of families learned that highly-anticipated federal food assistance will not arrive until August, the Connecticut Department of Social Services has pointed to “coordination” challenges as the culprit delaying the summertime food insecurity program.
Families of 273,000 children in the state expected to receive an extra $120 per child this week through the Summer Electronic Benefits for Children Program — a new federal grocery benefit designed to keep students who receive free and reduced-price meals during the school year fed during the summer months.
But on Saturday, June 22 — a day before the $120 deposits were set to arrive — DSS announced that “unexpected delays” pushed back the start of the $32.8 million program. Families would not receive disbursements until “early August.”
After days of silence on what caused the delay, DSS Deputy Director of Communications Christine Stuart told the Courant Friday that the program presented a significant administrative undertaking and that expungement and qualification rules differed from previous programs, such as Pandemic EBT.
“Summer EBT is a brand new program and with any program of this size it took a lot of coordination with several state agencies. That coordination took us longer than anticipated and while we worked hard to minimize the impact on our clients, we recognize that we were unsuccessful in that effort,” Stuart said in a statement.
“DSS fully recognizes that this process did not unfold as it should, and the commissioner apologizes to the families who are impacted by the delay,” Stuart added. “Right now, DSS is working tirelessly with our internal and external partners to accelerate the process as quickly as we can in order to get these much needed benefits to Connecticut families.”
Stuart did not comment on why the department did not alert families about program delays until the day before the anticipated disbursements.
The department’s explanation came after the public and state senators pressured DSS for answers.
On Tuesday, Sen. Lisa Seminara, the ranking member of the Human Services Committee wrote a letter to DSS Commissioner Andrea Reeves to request more specifics regarding the delay, notification efforts and future rollout dates.
“As one frustrated state resident observed, ‘How much of a summer program is it, if it is not during the summer’?” Seminara wrote.
In a joint statement Thursday, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and Sen. Matt Lesser, said they wanted “a more detailed explanation” from the department.
“Families expecting these benefits during the summer will be unable to access them until their children will already be preparing for the new school year,” the senators said.
“Delays and issues happen, but the lack of explanation surrounding this change does not answer our constituents’ questions. The last-minute announcement will have a detrimental effect for thousands of families and will increase food insecurity across our communities,” they added. “Summer programs need to be active during the summer, not near the end of it – we hope the Department of Social Services can provide more information regarding this delay and find ways to help the families who may struggle in its absence.”
According to Stuart, Connecticut received the federal money required for the program in May after becoming the “first state in the Northeast region” to have its plan for operations and management approved on April 29.
Stuart said “Connecticut submitted its letter of intent to operate Summer EBT on December 28th, ahead of the Jan. 1 deadline,” and “Submitted its initial plan for operations and management on February 15.”
After DSS announced the delay Sunday, mothers across the state expressed that they had already bought groceries and prepared their household budgets around the expectation that the $120 would arrive.
Alexis Ellison questioned “what good” the money would do in August when so many families depended on the funds to make it through the summer.
On Friday Ellison said she still had questions.
“I am having a hard time figuring out why Connecticut is so behind,” Ellison said. “Connecticut should have all this put into action way before the deposit date on (June 23).”
Ellison said she was slated to receive $360 in Summer EBT for her three boys, but her oldest turns 19 at the end of July. She is worried the delay will make him inelligble for the program.
“Having all three boys home for the summer has already put a strain on our pockets,” Ellison said. “My boys are very active in sports and need the extra calories. Forty dollars per child (per month) barely buy two things at BJ’s or Costco.”
Ellison said her family lives paycheck to paycheck.
She said she is unable to work and has been fighting Social Security for disability benefits since October of last year.
She said that recently they made the decision to forgo car insurance in order to buy food.
“Families are going to go broke trying to feed their children this summer,” Ellison said.
“They had six months to get everything in order for the money to be deposited to the people,” Ellison said. “What is Lamont doing with the money?”
