Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) is a food benefit program that provides temporary emergency nutrition benefits loaded on EBT cards that are used to purchase food. P-EBT is part of the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was created to help families with children who temporarily lost access to free or reduced-priced meals at school during the pandemic. The program is available to families with children up to age 21 who meet certain eligibility criteria, including:
- Children who would have received free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Act if their schools were not closed or operating with reduced hours or attendance for at least 5 consecutive days.
- Children who attend a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 (P2) school that offers free meals to all students through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) .
- Children ages 5-18 who received SNAP food benefits for March 2020.
P-EBT benefits work the same way as SNAP (food stamps) benefits to purchase eligible, unprepared foods, which includes any raw or unprepared foods for human consumption and does not include any hot ready-to-eat meals. P-EBT benefits can be used wherever SNAP food benefits are accepted.
