New York announces summer food aid for low- and mid-income families with children

New York has planned to distribute millions of dollars in food assistance to low-income families with children — and the state is encouraging eligible New Yorkers to apply for the benefits, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday.

A new Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, which provides $120 per child to eligible families, aims to help cover the cost of healthy meals during the summer months, when kids may not have access to free school meals, Hochul said at a press conference.

Hochul said New York has already started sending the assistance to more than 1.5 million children across the state. Approximately 2 million kids are expected to quality for benefits, she added.

“In a state as prosperous as New York, we have children waking up hungry, and when kids grow up hungry, they can face not just that immediate sense of yearning and feeling unsatisfied, and a distraction, because they can’t focus, it also can lead to a decade of health issues,” the governor said. “No child should ever, ever go hungry because the cost of living was just too damn high for their parents and their families.”

Most eligible children — including those who receive SNAP, Temporary Assistance or Medicaid — will automatically receive Summer EBT benefits and do not need to apply, Hochul said in a release. These families were already notified of their eligibility, according to the release.

Other families can apply for benefits if their children attend a school participating in the National School Lunch Program and meet income requirements for free or reduced-price school meals, the release said. The deadline to apply is Sept. 3.

Summer EBT is a federally funded program, with each participating state responsible for distributing the benefits and covering half of the administrative costs, the release noted, adding that Hochul secured $13 million in the state’s 2025 budget to support distribution efforts across New York.