CalFresh and COVID-19

California continues their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic impacts with enhanced CalFresh benefits for households. Many of the additional benefits are temporary and are subject to approval from the Food & Nutrition Service (FNS), which operates under the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA).

• At this time, there is no waiver or alleviation of reporting requirements. Semi-annual reports and recertifications must be submited by the due date to avoid a potential break in benefits.
• CalFresh benefits will be temporarily increased by 15% effective January 1, 2021 - September 30, 2021. A supplemental benefit issuance for January and February 2021 was loaded onto EBT cards on February 7, 2021. The March 2021 – September 30, 2021 benefit increases will be issued on the household’s normal issuance day.
• CalFresh eligibility has been temporarily expanded to students who are eligible for federal or state work study (previously students had to be eligible and participate) or students with an Expected Family Contribution of zero dollars.
• Until further notice, California is providing CalFresh emergency allotments to eligible households. Emergency allotments raise each household's regular monthly CalFresh allotment to at least the maximum allowable allotment based on household size.  Emergency Allotments are issued for the past benefit month, not the current month. The dates will differ and not be aligned with the regular load dates that occur based on the last number of the case number (1st -10th of the month).
• Please refer to the chart below for the Emergency Allotment issuance dates.

 If the CalFresh case was not approved or active on the date the Emergency Allotments are scheduled to issue, the household will have to wait until the following Issuance Date, but will receive any previously un-issued Emergency Allotment benefits on that date as well.

Pandemic EBT (P-EBT)

Children eligible for P-EBT 2.0 will start receiving cards in July. Cards will be issued based on age of child and following alphabetic order of the child's first name. Children 0-6 who meet the criteria should receive their cards by August. Children 6 and up will start receiving their cards in September, but may take a few months for all cards to have been received. Once you receive the new P-EBT card for your child, please keep it as additional benefits for eligible children will be loaded in November and December of 2021.

For more information on the Pandemic EBT program, visit https://capandemic-ebt.org/ If you have questions regarding your child's P-EBT eligibility or card status, please call the P-EBT Helpline at (877) 328-9677. Representatives are available to assist callers Monday-Friday, 6am-6pm.