CT Begins Mailing Out New Pandemic Emergency Benefit EBT Cards

CONNECTICUT — The state departments of Social Services and Education began sending out coronavirus pandemic-related electronic benefit transfer cards Friday to the families of more than 57,000 schoolchildren enrolled in the free or reduced-price meals program, officials announced.

The new benefits total $24.1 million in special food assistance, and are going to families who do not receive services from the Department of Social Services.

"This is the last distribution in the current round of $112.8 million in food benefits going to approximately 275,450 schoolchildren through the federal Pandemic EBT (or P-EBT) program," officials said. "The Department of Social Services expects to begin a second round of P-EBT benefits to all eligible families in August. The benefits will be issued to the electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards of all families who received benefits in the first round."

According to the state, the July 16 EBT card distribution is as follows:

• The Department of Social Services is mailing EBT cards July 16 to households of over 57,800 schoolchildren not currently enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Family Assistance (TFA), or HUSKY Health/Medicaid; and who did not receive their benefits in April/May. The state agency will deposit P-EBT food benefits into their new accounts on July 16. The EBT cards will arrive with instructions on how to activate them and access the food benefits.
• This includes 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 TFA.
• 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 $418 per child.
• Benefits can be used at any location that accepts SNAP/EBT cards. This includes famers’ markets and direct market farms. In fact, enrollees can double the value of P-EBT or other SNAP benefits at farmers’ markets participating in CT Fresh Match. Additional details can be found at 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, Price Chopper/Market 32 via Instacart, BJ’s Wholesale Clubs, ShopRite, and Walmart (more at www.ct.gov/snap).

Altogether, the number of children being served through the P-EBT program in Connecticut is approximately 275,450 in 206,450 households. The number includes 273,251 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 the State Department of Education use attendance information provided by schools to determine if children are eligible for P-EBT. For more information, visit www.ct.gov/snap.

The Department of Social Services and the 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 meals program 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.