The health of our state can be measured in the health of our children.
This week, our Pro-Kid Policy Plan pillar feature is Child Health, where we focus on building the systemic supports kids need to grow and thrive. Voices for Children believes all children should have access to quality, affordable physical and behavioral health care. We champion preventive care and ongoing support, so every child has the foundation to grow into a healthy, thriving adult. In this issue area, we also work to address gaps and barriers to child health, like fighting child hunger through policy-level interventions.
One example of this work is Nebraska’s Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program. A Nebraska mother, Jeana, recently shared with us how vital Summer EBT has been for her household, especially for her teenage son, who is an athlete and “growing like a weed.” Even with both parents working full-time, rising food prices and a significant increase in their rent over the past few years have stretched their budget thin.
Her family falls just a few dollars over the income limit for SNAP (food stamps), and they rely on free school meals to ensure the kids have access to food during the school year. Weekends, holiday breaks, and summer months often bring anxiety about how to keep enough food in the house. Some weeks, that has meant skipping light bills or underpaying other expenses just to cover groceries.
Summer EBT has helped bridge that gap. For the past two summers, this program has helped families in Nebraska with additional food benefits during the months when school is out, and children lose access to free or reduced-price meals. Families are automatically eligible if their children are already qualified for free or reduced lunch — an estimated 178,000 students in Nebraska. These benefits are loaded onto an EBT card. They can be used at grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and other food retailers, providing families with the flexibility to purchase the foods their children need. For Jeana, this support allowed her to bring home healthier foods that could fuel her son through practices, games, and the nonstop growth that comes with being a teen.
This critical support was only made possible by skilled and zealous policy advocacy – the work that Voices for Children does each day.
In partnership with other food access coalition members, supportive state senators, and community advocates, Voices for Children fought for Summer EBT.
We uplifted youth and family stories, and shared data that showed the need. We helped organize a protest at the Governor’s Mansion. We supported legislators committed to enacting the program in Nebraska and collaborated together with these champions and other food advocates to garner bipartisan support for strategic legislation. Through these efforts and more, Nebraska entered the program in time for summer 2024 — enabling families like Jeana’s to receive that extra support during the challenging summer months.
For the past two summers, because of this work, Jeana has had that little bit of extra help to feed her busy family, and that little help has meant a lot.
Jeana’s story serves as a poignant reminder of why child-focused policy advocacy matters. Food supports like Summer EBT, SNAP, and school meals are vital to the health, stability, and success of children across Nebraska. And they don’t occur by accident; they happen because advocates step into the policy space and insist that children’s needs are a priority.