When school lets out for summer, the silence in the halls doesn’t just signal a break from the classroom — it signals the return of a heavier burden for families already stretched thin. For households across Michigan, and especially for Black families in Detroit, this time of year doesn’t mean vacation. It means figuring out how to fill the meal gap left behind when free and reduced school breakfasts and lunches stop.
This summer, Michigan families will get a small boost through the SUN Bucks program — a seasonal food assistance effort designed to fill the gap while school is out. Families will receive an additional $40 per child, per month, for June, July, and August. The benefit is issued through EBT cards, requiring no extra steps for those already enrolled in programs like SNAP, Medicaid, or TANF. It’s automatic. No paperwork. No chase. Just direct support.
But let’s not get comfortable. That extra $120 over three months, while critical, doesn’t erase what’s brewing behind closed doors in Washington — and the ripple effect it could have across Michigan.
Right now, Republicans in the U.S. House are pushing forward proposals to impose stricter work requirements on SNAP recipients and to shift more of the cost burden to individual states. On paper, it sounds like a debate about budgets. In practice, it’s a decision about whether children eat.
These aren’t abstract policy changes. These are the kinds of decisions that cut at the very core of what communities need to survive — and thrive. When food assistance is weakened, it’s Black families, low-income households, and working-class parents who pay the price.
According to the Food Research and Action Center, 13% of households in Michigan received SNAP benefits in 2024. That percentage climbs higher when you zero in on communities like Detroit, where income inequality and generational poverty remain baked into the city’s post-industrial landscape. And while the benefits may come from the federal government, it’s the local grocery store, the neighborhood corner shop, and the household kitchen that bear witness to whether those benefits go far enough.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is watching the situation closely. A spokesperson for the department, Erin Stover, issued a clear warning: “The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services believes families should have access to the resources and supports they need to live healthy lives,” she said.
There was no dancing around the issue.
“Federal cuts to critical services like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program … will devastate Michigan families, cutting off access to vital health care services and making it more difficult to put food on the table,” Stover stated in an email on Tuesday. “Cuts in food assistance will force families to choose between buying groceries or paying their bills which will also negatively impact local economies while worsening health outcomes for children and families across the state.”
That’s not speculation. That’s lived experience for families who’ve already been making these trade-offs long before Congress took up this debate. When politicians argue over whether to slash assistance, the story often skips over what that looks like on the ground — a single mother buying canned goods because fresh produce is too expensive. A grandparent rationing meals so the grandbabies can eat first. A child showing up to a summer program on an empty stomach.
Those stories are not anomalies — they are common threads throughout Black communities where safety nets have already been worn thin.
Let’s be clear: federal food benefits aren’t a luxury. They’re a necessity. And cutting them doesn’t encourage “self-reliance.” It punishes people for surviving in a system that was never built for their success. The push for increased work requirements ignores the reality that many recipients already work — multiple jobs — and still fall short because wages remain stagnant and the cost of living keeps climbing.
Food insecurity isn’t about laziness. It’s about policy failure. And if states are forced to pick up the slack after federal rollbacks, that means making impossible choices: cut from where? Which families get support and which don’t? Who’s deemed “deserving,” and who isn’t?
Michigan has already begun to map out the potential fallout. After recently analyzing how proposed Medicaid cuts would gut the system, the state is now examining how food assistance reductions would hit local communities. While those findings are still underway, we don’t need to wait for another report to know who gets left behind.
Black families. Rural families. Working poor families. Those who already bear the weight of economic inequity are always the first to feel the pressure when these cuts come down.
Programs like SUN Bucks are essential stopgaps, but they’re not long-term solutions. They’re built to catch us — temporarily — when the larger system fails to show up. The $40 per child, per month is a meaningful gesture. But groceries don’t cost less just because it’s summer. And hunger doesn’t pause until Labor Day.
It’s time to shift the narrative. Assistance should not be framed as a handout, but as a baseline for dignity. When families have enough food, everything else stabilizes — health, education, even economic mobility. When they don’t, we all pay for it — through higher healthcare costs, increased school absenteeism, and community-level instability.
This isn’t just about families. It’s about the local economy. Grocery stores in urban neighborhoods stay open because of the buying power provided through food assistance. Farmers and food producers benefit when SNAP dollars are used at farmers markets. Even city and state governments rely on these federal programs to avoid deeper social costs.
If those benefits are cut, the impact won’t be limited to households. It will spread across neighborhoods — especially the ones that already face disinvestment.
SUN Bucks, for now, offers a chance for some families to breathe easier. But it also reminds us how fragile the system is, and how deeply political decisions — far from our blocks and school boards — impact our day-to-day lives.
To the families who qualify, now is the time to make sure your benefits are in order. If you receive SNAP, Medicaid, or TANF, you’re already enrolled. But if you’re unsure, double check. Visit the state’s website and find the application — not later, but now.
To the organizers, educators, pastors, and community leaders — keep spreading the word. Not just about SUN Bucks, but about what’s happening behind the scenes. This is the time to amplify, to advocate, and to ensure no child in our community goes hungry this summer or the ones that follow.
Because food justice is not a seasonal fight. And Michigan families — especially Black families — cannot afford to be collateral damage in political games played hundreds of miles away.
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