“Last Chance for P-EBT Benefits: States Participating Through Summer 2023”

The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) Program has provided temporary nutrition benefits to thousands of eligible children across the United States. Its goal is to replace the free meals that children had to receive at reduced prices at their schools.

In other words, given the context caused by the pandemic, the schools were not operating and the government decided to deposit these extra dollars on EBT cards.

However, the end of the health emergency worldwide and in the United States has triggered the culmination of many aid programs. Precisely, among them is the Electronic Transfer of Benefits Program due to the Pandemic.

Therefore, children who already received food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not receive P-EBT benefits. These children must be under the age of six and live in the United States.

What are the states that will participate in P-EBT through summer 2023 for the last time?

The list of states that will participate in this program until the summer is led by Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado and the District of Columbia.

It is followed by Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma.

Finally there are Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

In this case, children who have attended a participating NSLP school will be eligible for P-EBT benefits this summer.

However, it is valid to clarify that in 2024 the program will return to normal; so it will be the last time that this aid is granted. Starting next year, the program will provide low-cost school meals inside educational centers.

There is also the case of those children who received free or reduced price meals under the National School Lunch Act. Here, they are eligible to receive P-EBT benefits if their schools were open, with reduced hours or attendance for at least 5 consecutive days.