And Summer Benefits Could Be Here To Stay!
Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) 3.0 provides food benefits to school-aged children (TK-12) who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals and who missed school days due to COVID-19. Young children (under 6 years old) who participate in CalFresh are also eligible. In addition, P-EBT provides summer benefits to all eligible children regardless if they missed school days or not.
Children under 6 years old
- Under age 6 as of August 1, 2021.
- AND part of a household receiving CalFresh food benefits between August 2021 through August 2022.
School-aged children (TK-12 grade)
- Eligible for free or reduced-price meals during the school year 2021-22 or Summer 2022;
- Enrolled in a school participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)/School Breakfast Program (SBP) or a Provision school during School Year (SY) 2021-22;
- AND did not attend school in person or had five or more excused absences in any month due to COVID-19 (this includes students enrolled in Independent Study, i.e., virtual learning).
- To find out if your child is eligible fill out the survey
All eligible children will receive a Summer P-EBT standard benefit of $391 regardless if they missed school days or not.
- Eligible families do not need to apply
- A new P-EBT card will be mailed directly to families
- Young children: P-EBT cards were mailed in November 2022.
- School-aged children: P-EBT cards were mailed in January.
- If you have not received a card and believe your child is eligible, please call the helpline (877) 328-9677 or visit California’s official P-EBT website
- If you have changed your mailing address since you received your last P-EBT card or if you need to request a change of address in order to receive your card, please call the P-EBT Helpline at (877) 328-9677 to make sure your card is mailed to the correct address. A Helpline representative can help you process a change in address.
- Young children receive an average of $45 per month for each month they received CalFresh benefits in School Year (SY) 21-22
- School-age children’s P-EBT benefits are based on each child’s learning situation; students who missed 5 or more school days will receive $ 7.10 for each day they missed.
- All children eligible for P-EBT will receive Summer P-EBT 2022 benefits of $391.
- P-EBT cards work just like CalFresh EBT to buy food. P-EBT cards are accepted at most grocery stores, farmers markets, and online at Amazon® or other retailers.
- Foods that are served hot or already prepared (like takeout or hot food bars) cannot be purchased.
- You cannot use your P-EBT card at restaurants.
- When purchasing food, use your P-EBT card like a debit card:
- Select “EBT “
- Swipe the card
- Enter your private PIN
If you lost your card, you can request a replacement by calling the helpline (877) 328-9677. Be ready to provide the name, birthdate, and school name of your child, as well as your current mailing address to send the card.
P-EBT cards expire one year from the date of the most recent transaction, or one year from the date it was issued if no transactions were made.
If you have any questions or need assistance, contact the P-EBT Helpline at (877) 328-9677. You can get help with:
- PIN setup
- Requesting a replacement card
- Reporting lost or stolen cards
- Requesting a change of address
- This benefit is available to all eligible children, regardless of immigration status. Receiving and using P-EBT benefits does NOT affect you or your child’s immigration status and does NOT make you a public charge. P-EBT is safe to use and the program does NOT report your information to immigration services.
It is safe to use P-EBT benefits.
Purchasing food with the P-EBT card does NOT affect you or your child’s immigration status or opportunities.
The program does NOT share your information with immigration services.
P-EBT 1.0 (2020)
In 2020, P-EBT 1.0 provided food benefits to more than 3.7 million school-aged children who lost access to school meals due to COVID-19 pandemic, delivering over $1.3 Billion in benefits (CDSS, P-EBT Outcomes Report, 2020)
P-EBT 2.0 (School Year 2020-2021 + Summer 2021)
P-EBT 2.0 provided over $6 billion in nutrition benefits in California, benefiting nearly4 million eligible school-age children and close to 800K young children.
However, according to the P-EBT 2.0 report, more than 500K P-EBT 2.0 cards were not activated. Unfortunately, after a year of no activity, benefits were removed. This means CA families did not receive food benefits for which their child was eligible.
If you did NOT activate your child’s P-EBT 2.0 card and are interested in future opportunities to unlock those benefits, sign up for updates HERE, CDSS will send a letter to all eligible children with instructions on how to retrieve those benefits.
P-EBT 3.0 (School Year 2021-2022 + Summer 2022)
The State finished delivering P-EBT cards for all children see above for details.
P-EBT 4.0 (School Year 2022-2023 + Summer 2023)
The State of California is working on a plan to extend P-EBT benefits to all eligible children during the School Year (SY) 2022-2023. CDSS will be posting updates on their website.
Please subscribe for updates by email alerts HERE.
The P-EBT program continues to evolve and President Biden signed The Omnibus bill in December 2022, creating a permanent Summer EBT program. California will need to submit a plan to request benefits that can benefit eligible California children. The new program can help fight the higher rates of food insecurity children experience during the summer by providing a monthly stipend to purchase food when school is out. Here is what we know today:
- Benefits could start in the Summer of 2024 at $40 per child, per month (adjusted for inflation over time.)
- Eligible Families will have up to 4 months to use their benefits.
We will continue to share updates as we learn more from state and federal administrators about the Summer EBT program.
Note: We strongly encourage families to fill out school meal applications or income verification forms and submit them to the child’s school. This could help determine your child’s eligibility for P-EBT and Summer EBT.
You can apply for CalFresh Food benefits at GetCalfresh.org
Visit the official California P-EBT Webpage for more information or call the support Help line at (877) 328-9677.
Questions? Contact Angeles Nelson at angeles@nourishca.org
