TENNESSEE, USA — The Tennessee Department of Human Services launched the third round of its Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program on Monday, according to a release.
The program provides food assistance to qualifying children who receive free or reduced school meals at school (or attend a Community Eligibility Provision School) and did not receive those meals because of virtual learning or school closure due to the pandemic, according to the department.
As part of this round, officials said they will be mailing new P-EBT cards to qualifying students soon with benefits backdated to October. Unlike prior rounds, this card will be reloaded with benefits on an ongoing basis.
The department said it also set up a website for parents to check and make certain their address is correct and make changes if necessary so the new P-EBT cards go to the right addresses.
The deadline to update your address at this website before the first payments are sent out is March 14. For eligibility assistance, you can call the department's P-EBT Hotline at 833-496-0661.
The department said it also worked with schools to provide a letter with additional guidance for families, and support is available online in Somali, Arabic, and Spanish.
Officials said they made some changes to P-EBT eligibility to include some students who didn’t qualify for the last round to participate. To be eligible for P-EBT Round 3:
• The child must qualify for free or reduced-price school meals under the National School Lunch Program. This includes any student in a school that provided free meals to all students (under a special rule called "Community Eligibility Provision").
• The child did not receive free or reduced-priced meals at the school because the school is closed to in-person learning; or has been operating with reduced attendance or hours for at least 5 consecutive days in the current school year.
P-EBT cards will be reloaded with benefits on a rolling basis as long as the USDA continues to fund the program, according to the department. These P-EBT cards can be used like a debit card to purchase food at any establishment that accepts EBT or online with Amazon, Walmart, Aldi, Food Lion, and Superlo in Memphis.
The amount each student will receive varies based on their learning schedule.
• Students who are learning 100% virtually will receive $122.76 in P-EBT a month.
• Students who are on a hybrid learning schedule will receive an amount based on the statewide average number of days students spent that month on hybrid schedules. For October 2020, that amount is $51.15.