The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services estimates that nearly 223,000 Nevada children who were not already receiving SNAP benefits will be eligible for Nevada’s Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program.

In total, 334,000 children in Nevada will be eligible for the program benefits, which the state was approved to participate in on July 10. The program was created as a part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in March and provides funds to households equivalent to the cost of all meals missed by children during school closures in the final months of the 2019-2020 school year. 

In Nevada, Pandemic EBT is being funded using emergency funds allocated to the state by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. More than $800,000 has been allocated towards the program.

Any child eligible for free and reduced lunch in Nevada schools will be eligible for the new benefits. Neither children nor their parents need to be U.S. citizens to qualify for free or reduced price meals. 

According to Robert Thompson, deputy administrator of the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, new eligibility determinations are not being conducted. Information is being provided directly to all families who have already been deemed eligible for the program in both English and Spanish.

Benefits, which can be worth up to $296 per child, can be spent using plastic EBT cards and used to purchase food items at approved retailers. For families that are SNAP recipients already, funds will be deposited onto existing cards. For the 67 percent of recipients who are not receiving SNAP benefits, new cards will be mailed.

Resources will be distributed throughout the 10 day period from August 15 to August 25 with 10 percent of households receiving benefits each day.