Time is running out for people in Illinois to apply for the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) to help put food on the table. The deadline to apply is July 31st. P-EBT provides nutritional resources to families who have lost access to free or reduced-price school meals due to school closures.

How P-EBT works is the value of “lost” school meals (approximately $114 per month per child) is loaded onto P-EBT cards, which can be used very much like bank debit cards at food retailers. With food insecurity reaching unprecedented levels and disproportionately impacting communities of color—close to 50 percent of Black and Latina families with children are experiencing food insecurity—ensuring access to P-EBT is critical for millions of families across the country.

 

About Crystal Weedall FitzSimons

As director of school and out-of-school time programs, Crystal directs FRAC’s work on the child nutrition programs that serve school-age children. She analyzes policy to advocate for legislative and regulatory improvements to increase low-income children’s access to the nutrition programs. She helps develop strategy and direct field efforts to achieve program improvements. She provides technical assistance, conducts training, and develops materials for national, state, and local organizations. She frequently speaks at national afterschool conferences and meetings. Crystal is the author or co-author of numerous publications, including Hunger Doesn’t Take A Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report (2009). Her previous work experience includes the Center for Community Change as a policy analyst on transportation issues and Housing Comes First, Missouri’s statewide low-income housing coalition, as director of tenant organizing. She holds a B.A. in philosophy and sociology from Carroll College and an M.S.W. from Washington University.

 

About the Food Research & Action Center
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) is the leading national nonprofit organization working to eradicate poverty-related hunger and undernutrition in the United States.