New York Giving $421 To Every New York City Student To Purchase Food

by Nikki Lucas via NYC Dept of Education

• Over the next few months, every single NYC student will automatically receive $421 to purchase food.There is no application or documentation needed, and it does not impact eligibility for other benefits or prevent families from accessing food from other places, such as school meal hubs.
  • This benefit, known as Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT), is part of the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act.Click here for more information.
  • For students who already have SNAP (food stamps), Public Assistance (PA), or Medicaid the amount will be directly credited to their cards for these benefits.
  • For students not enrolled in any of these programs, each student will receive a new card credited with the full amount that can be used to pay for food at any retail food store that accepts SNAP/EBT.
  • The benefit is to help with food expenses for days schools are closed because of COVID-19.  Since NYC public schools have free school lunch for all public school students, all students are eligible.
• NYC DOE now operates over 500 school meals hubs serving over 500,000 meals per day to students and adults.This includes 18 sites that serve exclusively kosher meals and 32 sites that have increased halal options during the month of Ramadan. All sites have a halal option.
  • More information, including menus and a search tool, can be found on the DOE website:https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/food/free-meals
  • Text “NYC FOOD” or “NYC COMIDA” to 877-877 to find a location
  • We maintain a map and list of sites:https://www.communityfoodadvocatesnyc.org/covid19
• Our Food Assistance Resource Finder provides information on how and where to access food, including information on applying for SNAP benefits and accessing the City’s free food delivery.

Community Food Advocates and the Lunch 4 Learning coalition continue to monitor school meal distribution and other food-related initiatives.