HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT NEWS RELEASE

Families of 5,995 New Mexico students will receive benefits on July 31, to reimburse them for free and reduced-price school meals missed due to COVID-related absences.

Approximately, $490,922.40 in Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) will be issued to cover meals for  K-12 students who missed five or more days of school in February and March of this year due to COVID-19. The issuance amount is $7.10 per day the child was absent from school.

Parents and guardians will be able to check whether their child qualified for the latest P-EBT issuance at the VERIFY P-EBT Information section of the Human Services Department’s YesNM portal from August 4 to August 11. 

“The goal of this program is not just to reimburse families with school aged students who had to miss school due to COVID,” said Angela Medrano, deputy secretary for the New Mexico Human Services Department. “But to help provide good nutrition to New Mexican families when they need it the most.”

If your child has a P-EBT card, please keep the card and do not destroy it. If a new address or guardian was reported to the school, a new P-EBT card will be sent to the new address.

For questions regarding your child’s P-EBT card, you can contact NM PEBT Hotline at 1-833-415-0569. For questions regarding absences reported for your child, contact the child’s school.

If you receive Medicaid or SNAP benefits, make sure the Human Services Department has your most up-to-date mailing address to ensure written correspondence is mailed to you when needed. You may update your contact information at the YesNM portal.

Answers to other frequently asked questions can also be found online at: https://www.hsd.state.nm.us/lookingforassistance/p-ebt/

K-12 students do not need to be currently receiving SNAP food benefits in order to qualify for P-EBT.