How the Central Texas Food Bank could use summer food benefits
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Texas food banks are asking state lawmakers to approve a budget with federal benefits to ensure low-income students still have access to food over the summer break.
Why it matters: 1 in 5 Central Texas children face food insecurity, according to the Central Texas Food Bank, which provided nearly 60,000 meals to children across the region last summer.
- The eligible students would typically get free lunches during the school year.
The big picture: 1 in 6 Texas households is food insecure, and an estimated 3.75 million Texas students are eligible for a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that would give them money to buy food during the summer.
- Texas was among 13 states that did not accept the federal money last year, the program's first year.
- A Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) spokesperson told the Texas Tribune last year that there wasn't enough time to set up the program.
- State officials have already missed a Jan. 1 deadline but still have a chance to opt in by March 1 to take part this summer.
Driving the news: Feeding Texas is lobbying state lawmakers to direct HHSC to accept the federal money.
How it works: Texas could receive $450 million in federal funding for the program, which would give $120 in benefits to every qualifying student.
- It would cost about $110 million to launch the program; the state would pay half.
Zoom in: Roughly 272,000 Central Texas children are eligible to receive the summer food money, equaling more than $32.6 million in federal funds.
- More than 93,000 Travis County children are eligible, along with 20,000 low-income children in Hays County and over 35,000 in Williamson County.
Between the lines: The Central Texas Food Bank currently offers its own program to give free meals to children in the summer, but many families are unable to take part in the program because they lack transportation to the meal sites, a spokesperson for the food bank told Axios.
- Opting into the federal funding would allow the food bank to expand the program, especially in rural parts of the region.
Threat level: Demand at Central Texas Food Bank locations has remained high as grocery prices have skyrocketed as pandemic relief programs have ended.