DSS Announces Additional SNAP Benefits for Schoolchildren in April Through ‘Pandemic EBT’ Program

The Connecticut Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, has announced that $88.6 million in special food assistance benefits will be going in April to families of nearly 220,000 schoolchildren in the state who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals programs.

Funded through the federal “Pandemic EBT” (or P-EBT) program, the new benefits will help ensure that eligible children in pre-kindergarten through high school can purchase food to support learning from home or in hybrid models during the public health emergency.

Specifically:

• P-EBT food benefits will be deposited in the electronic benefit transfer accounts of about 59,500 households (representing 101,187 children) currently enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on April 11. An additional 586 households (representing 997 children) enrolled in the Temporary Family Assistance Program but not currently enrolled in SNAP will also receive P-EBT benefits in their accounts at that time.
• The Department of Social Services will mail EBT cards to about 69,600 households (representing 117,486 children) not currently enrolled in SNAP, and will deposit P-EBT food benefits into their new accounts on or about April 11 for Medicaid-enrolled households; and on or about April 25 for the other households, including those with children attending a school participating in the Community Eligibility Provision, in which all children are eligible for free meals. These are households that do not currently have EBT cards because they are not enrolled in SNAP or cash assistance.
• Benefits may differ from student to student and depend on the learning model the child was in each month, with an average benefit amount estimated at $374 per child.
• Benefits can be used at any location that accepts SNAP/EBT cards. This includes farmers’ markets and direct market farms. In fact, enrollees can double the value of P-EBT or other SNAP benefits at farmers’ markets participating in Connecticut Fresh Match, found online at www.endhungerct.org/services/farmers-markets. P-EBT participants will also have online access to eligible food purchases through delivery or curbside pickup at participating retailers Amazon, Aldi via Instacart, ShopRite, and Walmart (more at www.ct.gov/snap).
• The children served will include 217,466 public school students and 2,204 private school students who participate in the free or reduced-price meals program.

Families do not need to apply for P-EBT benefits, as the Department of Social Services and State Department of Education will use attendance information provided by schools to determine if children are eligible for P-EBT. For more information, visit portal.ct.gov/p-ebt.

This round of P-EBT benefits covers September 2020 through January 2021, and totals approximately $88.6 million. The next round of P-EBT benefits is expected at the end of the school year, covering the months of February 2021 onward. During the 2019-2020 school year, the first round of P-EBT delivered $105.7 million in food assistance.

The Department of Social Services and State Department of Education are partnering to implement the P-EBT plan, which was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. The P-EBT SNAP funding for children who participate in the free or reduced-price school meals was authorized by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, with additional amendments made in the Continuing Appropriations Act and Other Extensions Act of 2021, as well as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.