By Alyssa Johnson

Earlier in the week, Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp, said in an email to Capital B that the state still had concerns around the “lack of nutrition standards” and “fiscal sustainability” of the program. Instead, the state will continue to promote its two summer feeding programs. In a separate email, Douglas said that the state’s Department of Human Services would “confirm” the state’s decision on Summer EBT “when the time comes.”

“In my mind that means that there are all these children during the summer who have nothing to eat, and, as a mom, I find that unconscionable,” said U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath in an interview with Capital B last month after she sent a letter in July to Kemp urging him to opt into the program. McBath, who represents Georgia’s 7th Congressional District, sent another letter to the governor in August with several Democratic state lawmakers, apparently to no avail...

Those pushing for the program have not yet lost hope for a possibility of Summer EBT in Georgia. Craft said that her organization is going to continue to work with state officials and present to them their data around accessibility issues to summer meal sites in the hopes of making a convincing argument for why Summer EBT should exist in the future in the state. 

McBath said that although she doesn’t understand the governor’s reasoning for not participating in Summer EBT, she’s determined to make sure that families in the state are being fed. 

“We may never have an answer on why he’s chosen to make these various decisions. My goal is just to stay focused on making sure that I am equipping our children and our families to be successful going forward,” she said.