The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) recently announced that families in the state will soon have access to a third round of food assistance for children under the age of 6, and for school-aged children.<\/p>\n
Due to federal COVID-19 relief funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), families will have assistance with purchasing groceries while children are home during the summer of 2022.<\/p>\n
P-EBT, also known as Pandemic EBT, are food benefits available to families with young children who are eligible for Basic Food benefits, in addition to school-aged children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meal programs. P-EBT benefits can be used at any grocery store, farmers markets, and food retailers that accept EBT card payments.<\/p>\n
Families are expected to start receiving benefits beginning in late July and through the end of the summer, according to DSHS, who mentioned that the first and second rounds of P-EBT benefits helped provide food security to over 400,000 Washington children in the past two years. Additionally, June census data shows that nearly 1 in 10 Washington households reported not having enough food for their household in the last 7 days.<\/p>\n
The P-EBT Children Under 6 program is for qualifying children under the age of 6 who live in a household that receives Basic Food benefits, and they may receive $43 for each month they received Basic Food assistance from September of 2021 until June of 2022.<\/p>\n
The Summer 2022 P-EBT program is for qualifying children under the age of 6, as well as school-aged children, who will receive a one-time lump sum of $391 per child to cover the summer period from July through August of 2022.<\/p>\n
School-aged children who were enrolled in Washington state public K-12 schools through June of 2022, and who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, are eligible for Summer 2022 P-EBT benefits. Children under the age of 6 will receive benefits under this plan, as long as they receive Basic Food assistance during July and August.<\/p>\n
DSHS states that the P-EBT Children Under 6 program and the Summer 2022 P-EBT program are separate benefits programs from a P-EBT 2021-2022 School Year program, which has not yet been approved by the USDA at this time.<\/p>\n
In order to receive P-EBT benefits, families must complete the free and reduced-price meal program application through their school <\/a>district<\/a>, or apply and be approved for Basic Food assistance by August 31, 2022. Families can also sign-up for text messaging alerts about the status of their child’s P-EBT by filling out a simple verification form<\/a>.<\/p>\n