Families will need to fill out the application again after July 1 for the 2020-2021 school year.

New Mexico families with children who receive free or reduced-price meals can receive additional food benefits through the federal Pandemic Benefit Transfer Program. Qualified families will receive benefits of $5.70 per child/per day for the 70-day period from March 16, when public schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, through June 19.

Families will receive Pandemic-EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards, used like debit cards to buy groceries. The benefit will be deposited directly to existing EBT cards for families already receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits.

The program will also benefit families that did not previously qualify for free or reduced-price meals but may now be eligible due to changes in their household’s circumstances as a result of the restrictions implemented for non-essential businesses because of the COVID-19 response.

Those families should fill out a Free and Reduced Price School Meal Application online. If determined eligible, their children will receive Pandemic-EBT, and the benefit will be issued for the month determined eligible through June.