Summer EBT Is Now Available

What is Summer EBT?

Summer EBT is a federally funded program that provides a one-time benefit of $120 for each eligible child which is encoded on an EBT card. Households will have 122 consecutive days from the date of issuance to use the benefit.

NYS OTDA has identified children who will automatically receive Summer EBT benefits without submitting an application. General qualifications may include: the age of the child, whether they are in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance or Medicaid, whether they attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and for some children there is an income requirement.

There are no immigration criteria; children qualify regardless of immigration status, including those without documentation. There are no resource requirements. An application can be done online or by printing and mailing the application.

Automatically Eligible, No Need to Submit an Application

Children between the ages of 6 and 16 years old in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance, or Medicaid are automatically eligible. There is no requirement that this group attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) this includes children who may be home schooled or attend a school that does not participate in the NSLP.

Children who are NOT between the ages of 6 and 16 years are automatically eligible if they:

Are in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance, or Medicaid, AND
Are enrolled in a school that participates in the NSLP.
- This includes children who participate or are directly certified for free meals if they are homeless, migrant, runaway, foster, young children enrolled in Head Start or an eligible pre-kindergarten program or through an income application (have been certified for free meals, income below 185% FPL).

Who must apply? Children who are NOT in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance, or Medicaid may be eligible if:

They are attending a school that participates in the NSLP, AND
Their household income is below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

Although all NYC public school students (and certain counties in NYS) have access to free school lunch via the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), CEP is NOT in itself an eligibility factor for Summer EBT; therefore the 185% FPL guidelines are used as an eligibility guideline for Summer EBT.

Application

The online application is available in English and Spanish at https://summerebt.ny.gov/en-US/.

Paper applications are available in 12 languages at https://otda.ny.gov/programs/applications/#summer-ebt and must be mailed to the Office for Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).

OTDA Summer EBT Flyer: https://otda.ny.gov/programs/summer-ebt/school-provider-information/Summer-EBT-Flyer.pdf

The deadline for applying is September 3, 2024.