Connecticut’s Department of Social Services (DSS) distributed more than $8.8 million in special food assistance benefits to children on Sunday, Aug. 13.
This one-time benefit is expected to reach more than 57,300 children or roughly 42,600 households. Each eligible child received up to $172.72 as part of the social services’ Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) Child Care Program.
Giovanni Pinto, Communications Manager of DSS, said these funds are being distributed now so that parents can put their personal finances toward providing “back-to-school and other essential needs” for their children.
“As summer winds down, we anticipate that families are going to start incurring additional costs, so we wanted to provide an avenue of relief for qualifying recipients,” Pinto said.
Eligible children include those who were under the age of 6 by Sept. 1, 2022 andreceived Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from social services between last September and May 11.
This benefit is also applicable to children who received free or reduced-price meals through federally assisted meal programs in school during the 2022-2023 school year.
If a child only received benefits for a portion of that period the amount will be prorated.
An application to access these funds is not required —DSS will automatically distribute the money to existing EBT cards. However, if a child had not previously received P-EBT benefits but was receiving Medicaid from DSS a P-EBT card will be issued in the student’s name to the address on file with their school, according to a statement from social services.
The benefits can be used at any location that accepts SNAP/EBT cards including farmers’ markets and direct market farms. They can also be used for online access for delivery or curbside pickup from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, and other participating stores.
The benefits will be expunged if not used within 274 days.
More information can be found on the social services’ website.
This story has been updated with additional comments from DSS.
