Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children: Early Experiences through June 2011 of the Proof-of-Concept Year

This report describes the early experiences of the five State agencies receiving grants to implement the demonstration during a proof-of-concept (POC) year. It covers activities through the first week of benefit administration in the summer of 2011. Given that this is the first time this demonstration has been implemented, FNS expected that States would face a range of unanticipated challenges. This report documents those challenges, the solutions that States initiated, and the successes they achieved through the start of the summer. The executive summary to this report provides a description of the grantees, and then summarizes their early implementation experiences, including developing accurate lists of eligible children and households; the process of obtaining consent from these households and then randomly assigning them to receive the benefit and notifying them of their status; and undertaking EBT system modifications. The summary ends with a description of the status of the grantees in the first weeks after the summer period began.