Louisiana Families Could Be Getting Help for Groceries

More help for Louisiana families struggling to buy groceries is on the way.
The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is teaming up with the Department of Education to expand the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program to cover the summer months for eligible children in K-12 schools. This is an overall plan to help provide food benefits for the summer months.

These benefits for the Summer program will be issued later this summer and into the fall as school districts submit eligibility information to DCFS. All the information about the students will need to be verified to make sure the children attended school in May. This could slow down the process a bit. But students who got P-EBT benefits for May 2022 will get summer benefits immediately.

How Much Will the Families Get?

Each eligible child will get a payment of $391 to cover both June and July. This funding will be sent out in two installments, one for $195 and a second for $196.

What Families Are Eligible for These Benefits?

Any family that got free or reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) or attend a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) school, where all children receive free meals regardless of family income, as of May 2022.

Students who were not previously approved for free or reduced-price school meals, but who apply by July 29, 2022, and are later approved, will also be eligible to receive Summer P-EBT.

You don't have to do anything if you already got free or reduced-price school meals.

More information about the P-EBT program can be found at www.pebt-la.org.

This extra help will be issued on Louisiana Purchase EBT cards in each eligible student’s name.