Oregon Pandemic EBT
Updated September 28, 2021
For the health and safety of yourself and others:
- Call or go online for assistance as a first option before visiting an office.
- If you feel you need to come into an office, call first.
- By avoiding offices when possible, you are keeping yourself, your family and vulnerable people like children, or older adults and people with disabilities safer.
- How you can get help without coming into an office:
- Apply for and update information about benefits:
one.Oregon.gov, 1-800-699-9075 (711 TTY)
- Call a
local office
- Dial 2-1-1 or Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) at 1-855-673-2372
- Call 1-855-503-SAFE (7233) if you suspect an adult at risk or child is being neglected or harmed
- For safety planning, our office staff are here to support you.
School Year 2020-2021
Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) is part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. P-EBT is money for buying food at home for students.
Oregon is sending P-EBT to families with eligible students this summer and fall. The grocery money is to make-up for meals students missed while schools and childcare were closed part-time or full-time during the 2020-21 school year. You can still get “grab-and-go" or summer meals from the school while receiving P-EBT.
P-EBT is a program in partnership with the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE).
P-EBT Known Issues and Fixes
Delay in issuing P-EBT benefits for students who had not yet received October, November and December 2020 payments.
Students impacted
15,000 | A fix of the Oregon School Meals Benefit System is being made and P-EBT benefits will be issued to students for October, November and December 2020.
Date of fix
Aug. 20, 2021 | No action needed. |
PIN cannot be set up on the student's EBT card due to an invalid date of birth.
Students impacted
1,200 | A fix of the Oregon School Meals Benefit System is being made to correct the date of birth. This will allow families to set the PIN for the EBT card.
Date of fix
Still in progress | No action needed at this time. Once the issue is fixed, families can call the number on the back of the EBT card (1-888-997-4447) to set a PIN using the student's date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY format).
|
EBT cards with a $0 balance were mailed to students who are not eligible for P-EBT.
Students impacted
61,000
| A mailed notice was sent to families letting them know of the EBT card sent in error.
Date of fix
Notice mailed Sept.14, 2021 | No action needed. |
Eligible students have not yet received P-EBT payments because ODHS needs information from the student's school about the school's learning mode. (P-EBT benefits are based on the learning mode reported by the school for each month of the 2020-2021 school year.)
| The Oregon Department of Human Services has worked closely with the Oregon Department of Education to get learning mode information from schools so we can issue P-EBT benefits as quickly as possible. As of September 13, 2021 all schools have reported their learning mode for the 2020-2021 school year. Date of fix
Sept. 22-30, 2021 | No action needed. Eligible students who have not received P-EBT benefits for October through March will receive their benefits between September 22-30, 2021. Review the P-EBT Benefit Amounts by School chart to see the benefit amount each month for the school your student attends.
|
How children qualify for P-EBT
There is no application. Children are eligible for P-EBT if they:
- Are enrolled in a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and have been determined eligible for free or reduced-price meals by their school.
- Attend a school approved by ODE to provide all meals free of charge such as a Community Eligibility Provision School.
- Are age 0-5 and receive SNAP benefits greater than $0.
- Are age 6, receive SNAP benefits and ODHS has received verification they are enrolled in a childcare facility with reduced hours or closures.
Eligible children will receive a notice and a P-EBT card in the mail with their name on it. Families should keep their cards as more benefits may be added later. See the
P-EBT Issuance Schedule for more information on when benefits will be issued.
No. Eligibility for P-EBT benefits is based on the meals provided by your school before the COVID-19 public health emergency.
No. P-EBT is available only to students enrolled in a school who would normally receive free or reduced-price meals through the
National School Lunch Program (NSLP) if the school was not closed or had reduced attendance due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
A full P-EBT benefit of $136 will be issued for those eligible students who have not yet received a September P-EBT benefit. Supplements will be issued to households who received less than $100 for September 2020. The $36 supplement is only available to children who met previous P-EBT eligibility criteria and does not include children eligible under expanded 2020-2021 school year P-EBT eligibility criteria.
Oregon was recently approved to issue P-EBT benefits for Summer 2021 for the months of June, July and August. Each eligible student will receive the full Summer P-EBT amount of $389 divided over two payments, the first on October 1 in the amount of $129.00 and the second in the amount of $260 staggered over October 22-30, 2021.
Children who meet the following will be issued Summer P-EBT benefits:
- Students who were eligible for P-EBT benefits in May 2021
- Children aged 6 years and younger who are part of a SNAP case at any time between June 1, 2021 and September 4, 2021
- Students who applied for Summer P-EBT between June 1, 2021 and September 4, 2021
Summer P-EBT is an extension of the P-EBT for school year 2020-2021.
If circumstances have changed for your family and your student may now be eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, you can apply online through Oregon Department of Education or contact your school for more information.
- Applications are currently being received for the 2021-2022 school year.
- Applying for free or reduced meal benefits may qualify your family for P-EBT. The amount of P-EBT benefits will vary according to application date, education model used by the school, and meals provided through the school.
Applications to determine eligibility for free or reduced meals for the 2020-2021 school ended June 30, 2021. Applications to determine eligibility for free or reduced meals for Summer 2021 P-EBT ended September 4, 2021.
Individual school districts will determine eligibility for free or reduced-price meal benefits.
In addition, this confidential information will be shared with ODHS for P-EBT benefits for students that meet eligibility requirements. This information may be shared with ODHS without written parental consent.
How families receive P-EBT
Non-SNAP households will receive a new card in the mail if you are new to P-EBT or received P-EBT for multiple children on the same card in the Spring of 2020. Benefits will be issued on Oregon EBT cards and mailed to the physical address on file with the school for students who do not receive SNAP.
SNAP households with P-EBT eligible children will receive P-EBT on the same card as SNAP. The P-EBT issuance is based on the
Benefit Issuance Schedule and will be different than your normal SNAP issuance date.
If your family has not received their P-EBT card(s), email ebtschoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us to request a new card be mailed to you.
If you do not already have an EBT card, one will be mailed to the address that is listed on file for your student at their school.
If you cannot receive mail at your physical address, please email the ODHS P-EBT Central Team at ebtschoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us to provide a good mailing address.
If you have recently moved, please email the ODHS P-EBT Central Team at
ebtschoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us to update your address.
You may also consider letting your child's school know of the address update and turning in a change of address at your Post Office.
If you cannot receive mail at your physical address, please email the ODHS P-EBT Central Team at ebtschoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us to provide a good mailing address.
If your family is facing homelessness and your child is eligible to receive P-EBT, contact ODHS at ebtschoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us or 503-945-6481 to provide an accessible mailing address (this may include the school's address).
How much P-EBT families receive and when
Benefits are determined at the school level based on the learning model utilized by most of the enrolled students, as well as the type of meal service provided. Benefit levels may not be adjusted based on individual student schedules.
For the 2020-2021 School Year
- A full benefit amount of $136 will be issued each month in which most students attended remote learning or attended a school that did not provide NSLP meal service as a part of the instructional day for students attending on-site.
- A partial benefit amount of $75 will be issued each month in which most students in a school attended a hybrid learning model.
- P-EBT benefit amounts for children 6 and younger receiving SNAP are based on the highest benefit amount for any school in the county where the child lives.
P-EBT benefits will be issued based on the last digit of the P-EBT case number, which is located in the top right corner of the P-EBT Benefit Notice Letter that will be sent in the mail. Please note: the return address on these mail notices is South Dakata.
View the P-EBT benefit issuance schedule.
If you have not received your initial P-EBT benefit by October 1, 2021 please contact ODHS:
More information
P-EBT is intended to reimburse families for the cost of the free meal missed at
school. If you opt out, you are letting ODHS know that you don't wish to
receive P-EBT benefits for that student in your household. Benefits will not be
issued to families who have decided to opt out and will carry over to future
years.
Benefits are not transferrable and cannot be gifted or donated. You can change
your student's opt-in/opt-out status at any time. If you still wish to decline
the benefits, email ODHS at ebt.schoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us. It is possible that additional P-EBT benefits for the 2021-2022 school year will be available in Oregon. Future extensions are based on the ongoing need due to the public health emergency declaration because of COVID-19.
You can avoid delays in accessing future benefits by keeping the card safe once you have spent all your P-EBT benefits. This card will remain active and allow quick access to any future P-EBT benefit issuances.
Updates will be posted when available
on this web page.
If you believe your student attends a qualifying school and is an eligible student, please contact ODHS by email at
ebt.schoolmeals@dhsoha.state.or.us or by calling 503-945-6481. Helpful information to include is your student's full legal name, date of birth, school they attended for the 2020-2021 school year and contact information so P-EBT staff can reach back out.
P-EBT benefits will only change if the school reported a correction to the learning model or meal service from what was previously reported that increases the P-EBT amount for all students. All students within a school will receive the same benefit level regardless of how the individual student is attending. If the change is an increase to the benefit, a supplement will automatically be issued to the EBT card.