NYC public school families to receive $375 per child for food benefits through federal COVID relief

All New York City public school families regardless of income will receive $375 per child in food benefits to help cover the costs of meals from last summer during the pandemic whether they attended summer school or not.

The state began the rollout this month, with the retroactive benefit being distributed to students enrolled as of June 2021.

The benefit comes from the Coronavirus Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT), a federal program covering meal expenses for students who typically received free meals when in school but were learning remotely due to the pandemic.

Officials said that this is the third round of food benefits for public school families across the state since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The state has been sending more than $3.4 billion to families since then.

All public school students are eligible to receive P-EBT regardless of their household income. This is because New York City is a universal free lunch district.

Also, families are eligible regardless of immigration status

The benefits can be used to purchase eligible food items in stores that accept them and are available for at least 274 days from the date they were issued.

The money will be automatically loaded on P-EBT cards that eligible families received in the mail in 2020 or 2021.

Families are advised to keep their cards after the money is used because new iterations of the program might still be approved.