What does all of this mean? 1st, government and community orgs are imperfect substitutes (intuitively, given different pop'ns, types of goods offered) but changes in gov programs can still have meaningful effects for the charitable sector. 5/5

This reduction in use ISN'T because there's less food available to distribute -- if anything -- if anything, donations increase, particularly from large/corporate donors. So factors other than pure altruism play a role in donation decisions (at least in the short-run). 4/5

Big takeaway: even though families with kids are a small share of food bank clients and prepared meals at school != grocery items at food banks, food bank use falls (blue markers). 10% expansion in free school meals lowers food bank use about 1%. 3/5

We look at how food bank use and donations change when more kids have access to free school meals by matching universal school meal introduction to admin data on food distribution and donations from the US's largest network of food banks nationwide 2/5

... As a preprint 🤔

The month after P-EBT receipt, food hardship fell by ~40% and mental health among mothers improved, providing some of the 1st evidence that 1x increases in in-kind benefits can help offset negative shocks. N/N

P-EBT gave families ~$300/student to use for groceries during spring/summer 2020 when schools were closed due to COVID. Families spent the $ more slowly than SNAP AND P-EBT helped smooth the "SNAP-month" 2/N