Lincoln – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) has announced that Nebraska has been approved to disburse a second round of Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits, P-EBT is a program authorized by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which provides assistance to families of children who are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals and impacted by school closures. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in partnership with the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) is overseeing the disbursement of benefits.
Families who qualified for the second round of P-EBT had their benefits automatically already loaded onto an EBT card. Those EBT cards were mailed earlier this week to families who qualified. School districts will report how many days each student can receive benefits, students are eligible for $5.86 per day missed. Families with questions about their eligibility should contact their school, questions about the P-EBT program should be directed to 402-471-9043.
With this final disbursement the P-EBT program ended on September 30th with the end of the federal fiscal year. DHHS will not be able to launch a new program until given clearance from FNS. For this second round of P-EBT $762,947 was disbursed.
Receiving P-EBT benefits will not affect a family’s ability to receive other benefits and benefits will be good for one year after receiving them. P-EBT benefits can be used to buy food at grocery stores and farmer’s markets that accept SNAP EBT and to purchase groceries online at Amazon and Walmart.