According to a report done last year by the U.S Department of Agriculture, Arkansas has the highest percent of food insecure houses. The USDA defines food insecure as one or more household members being unable to acquire adequate food.
In an interview with Arkansas Week, CEO of Hunger Relief Alliance and Vice Mayor of Little Rock said elected officials are working to address this issue.
“A lot of things were done, during the pandemic, that showed we could feed children when school was out. That made a big difference to the children and their families. Senator Boozman was largely responsible for the Summer EBT program,” she said.
According to Edweek, the Summer EBT program is a program that provides students and their families an EBT card with $120 on it to pay for groceries, during the summer break when children are not getting meals provided to them by their schools.
In addition to Boozman, Webb credited Gov. Sarah Sanders for opting into the program.
Webb said there will be some challenges implementing the program. She said the federal government requires states follow rules set by the federal government. Webb said agencies in Arkansas are working on drafting plans to submit to the federal government for approval.
