The New Jersey Department of Human Services is working to issue the next round of Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT), a federal program that helps families buy groceries during the pandemic. To receive this benefit, children must be approved to receive free or reduced-price school meals or attend a school that provides free meals to all students (CEP schools). It is up to each district to submit this information.
Based on the state’s plan, in this round, school-age children are eligible if, in any given month from September 2020 to June 2021, they:
- Engaged in remote learning for at least five consecutive days,
- Engaged in hybrid learning for at least five consecutive days,
- Parents opted for remote learning, even if the child’s school was physically open.
Children qualified for the full remote-only benefit will receive $122.76 a month, while those on a hybrid schedule will receive $61.38 per month. The New Jersey Department of Human Services is setting up a portal that will allow school districts to upload information about eligible children and has been holding webinars to help school officials understand what information they need to submit.
The below P-EBT related documents are linked for your reference:
Webinar Recordings: You can view recordings of all P-EBT webinars at https://www.gotostage.com/channel/p-ebt. You will need to enter your name and email address to view the recordings. If you have issues viewing the recording, you may need to clear your internet cache.
Q&A: The Q&A’s address many questions pertaining to eligibility through the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) or the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), retroactive applications, and P-EBT eligibility if meals were provided are answered. The Q&As will continue to be updated with revised information, as needed, and posted on SNEARS. Look for the date on the footer to find the most up-to-date version.
Submission Portal and Spreadsheets: The portal for submission will be live by 12:30pm on Thursday, June 17, 2021. Only those with MyNewJersey access to upload school nutrition data will see the link and it should automatically appear (you will need to log out and log back in if you are in MyNewJersey at the time the link is added). If you have trouble accessing the portal, please send an email to this address dfdnjsnap.schoolpebt@dhs.nj.gov for assistance. A Quick Reference Guide for using the submission portal is attached for your reference. The previously issued spreadsheet and instructions have been updated to address issues that some schools encountered. If you did not encounter any issues with the previous spreadsheet, you may still use that and upload it.
School Contact: School officials should use this dedicated email address dfdnjsnap.schoolpebt@dhs.nj.gov to send P-EBT questions. PLEASE NOTE this email address is for school officials only and should not be shared with parents. Please direct parents to the P-EBT website at www.njsnap.gov to review the frequently asked questions and submit an online inquiry form or call the P-EBT Call Center at 1-833-581-2214. School officials should not contact the hotline but should continue to use this dedicated email address for questions.