Abstract
In the spring of 2020, 55 million school-age children were not in school and tens of millions lost access to school-based nutrition assistance programs. To alleviate the effects of lost daily school meals and to help households with children meet their nutritional needs, Congress authorized a new program, Pandemic EBT, which provides families with a voucher to purchase groceries for an amount equal in value to the school meals missed from the start of school closures to the end of the 2019–20 school year. We find that Pandemic EBT reduced food hardship experienced by low-income families with children and lifted at least 2.7-3.9 million children out of hunger.
Authors
Abigail Pitts
Research Analyst
- Northwestern University
Krista Ruffini
Assistant Professor
- McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
@KristaRuffini
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
Nonresident Senior Fellow
- Economic Studies, The Hamilton Project
@dwschanz
Related Content
Public Health
An update on the effect of Pandemic EBT on measures of food hardship
U.S. Economy
The case for and challenges of delivering in-kind nutrition assistance to children
