Oregon takes on summer hunger—so families don’t have to do it alone.
The state implemented a new Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program to combat child food insecurity.
THE SITUATION
Three months of summer break can loom large for the estimated 14 million children facing food insecurity in the United States.1 Without the free or reduced breakfast and lunch served during the school year, many families face difficult choices and limited options after the last day of class. Consistent access to nutritious food is well-proven to help children thrive in all areas of life, in turn building healthier, stronger, and safer communities.
In Oregon, where nearly half of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch,2 the Department of Human Services (ODHS) and Department of Education (ODE) worked each year to shrink child hunger over the summer with the resources available to them. In late 2023, a meaningful new resource became available when Congress authorized SUN Bucks, the first permanent federal summer electronic benefits transfer program. SUN Bucks would provide $120 in grocery benefits per eligible school-aged child over the three months of summer.
Oregon resolved that it would get its state Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (S-EBT) program up and running in time for families to receive benefits the very first day they became available in summer 2024. That meant ODHS and ODE would have just 16 weeks to design S-EBT technology platforms, operations, community awareness campaigns, and service delivery from the ground up, on top of their already full workloads. And with no ability to hire or train new staff. This summer would come faster than ever, but Oregon officials were determined. Kids were counting on them.
WHEN THE SCHOOL YEAR ENDS, SO DO RELIABLE MEALS FOR MANY STUDENTS.
THE SOLVE
ODHS and ODE needed an experienced collaborator that would be equipped to deliver the required technology, call center operations and marketing campaign. Deloitte had helped Oregon manage a similar emergency pandemic EBT program and developed trust and understanding with government agencies, school district leaders, and community organizations over the years. With these relationships and a history of building effective human services programs, Deloitte's multidisciplinary team could help build and launch an S-EBT program quickly and effectively.
The guiding principle: help feed as many eligible children as possible and make application and enrollment processing simple to reduce the administrative burden on busy ODHS and ODE staff. Families already enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), qualifying Medicaid benefits, and other benefits were automatically eligible for SUN Bucks. Deloitte helped build a data-sharing platform to cross-reference records across schools and state agencies to automatically identify eligible families and notify them of their enrollment by text or email. At the program’s launch in June, eligible children would have benefits coming their way without ODHS staff or Oregon families spending time on unnecessary paperwork.
To reach other children who met SUN Bucks criteria but weren’t eligible for automatic enrollment, ODHS, ODE, and Deloitte worked to curate a multimedia marketing campaign to drive awareness for families to apply for the benefit. A carefully designed mobile-friendly application and streamlined review process made it possible for 99% of all applications to come through the new online portal (instead of previously widespread paper documents), which in turn made it possible for ODHS workers to process 86% of applications by the same day or next day.
Throughout the ramp-up to the summer, ODHS and ODE prioritized community engagement to let Oregonians know the SUN Bucks program was coming, how it would function, and what it meant for them. Deloitte managed the strategy, creation, and distribution of communications to community organizations and the general public through press releases, school announcements, webinars, radio ads, emails, social media, and in-person outreach in 10 different languages to meet families where they were. To field questions and conduct proactive outbound campaigns, Deloitte also helped stand up and operate a call center that let callers get answers to their questions, check application statuses, and request replacement EBT cards at any time with 24/7 self-service. Generative AI enhancements improved call management, provided quality assurance, and supported human agents.
TECHNOLOGY AND STRONG COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS DELIVER SPEED WITHOUT SACRIFICING IMPACT.
THE IMPACT
Summer 2024 arrived with a new reality for many families across Oregon. The state successfully helped over 362,000 children access more food through SUN Bucks. The close collaboration between the federal Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), state agencies like ODHS and ODE, local schools, and Deloitte efficiently used the available nutrition funds to feed kids throughout the state.
Custom-built technology eases government’s burden:
Because of the data-sharing platform, 98% of the 362,000 children enrolled in SUN Bucks were issued benefits automatically without an application—saving ODHS time and resources. The AI-supported call center handled more than 33,000 incoming calls with wait times under one minute and a 96% satisfaction score. As time went on, the call center began receiving a different kind of call—not filled with questions, but with gratitude from Oregonians sharing the very real impact SUN Bucks made for their children.
“When you hear a child say, ‘Does this mean we can buy apples?’ you know how meaningful the Oregon Summer EBT program is for families. This shows what can happen when we focus on the outcomes we want to achieve with the programs we deliver.” –Nathan Singer, ODHS Eligibility Program Director
From quick response to long-term stability:
Deloitte and Oregon have smoothly transitioned call center operations and communications over to the state since the launch of the program in 2024. Drawing on the lessons learned from the first year of close collaboration with the Deloitte team, ODHS and ODE can now make strategic choices about the future of the program and how to best serve families going forward.
“We used the voice of our customers. That was important in standing up a successful program.” –Christine Doody, S-EBT Program Manager
New possibilities for families:
“Summer EBT is one more way we can prevent kids from going hungry when school is out. Summer EBT is an evidence-based program proven to reduce child hunger and support healthier diets. Child hunger can have lasting impacts on health and academic achievement. Getting every eligible child connected to Summer EBT will help Oregon’s children thrive year-round and as they grow up.” –Fariborz Pakseresht, ODHS Director
WHEN SLOW AND STEADY ISN’T AN OPTION, CHILDREN AND FAMILIES CAN STILL COME FIRST.
2. Oregon Department of Education, "Child Nutrition, CNP Statistics," accessed September 12, 2025.
