Case Study 1: P-EBT and the State of MA

When schools closed due to COVID-19, many students who relied on school meals were left without support.  In April, the Baker-Polito administration announced that it has received approval to promote increased food security for students who participate in the National School Lunch Program through Pandemic EBT (P-EBT).

The P-EBT program provides funds to help students buy food while schools are closed due to COVID-19.  To cover missed school meals from March-June, students received $399 in funds either on their existing SNAP EBT card or on a P-EBT card.  In September, Massachusetts was one of nine states to be approved to release September funds for students.  In December, Massachusetts became the first in the country to be approved for P-EBT for the entire 2020-2021 school year.

As of February, over 550,000 students have received P-EBT funds - and roughly 60% of those received them on P-EBT cards.  With the new distribution of monthly funds, it is estimated that P-EBT will bring $40-60 million per month in federal dollars to the Commonwealth’s economy.

A paper by the Brookings Institution in July found that the program reduced food hardship for low-income households by about 30 percent, keeping nearly 3 million to 4 million children out of hunger.  As hunger rates continue to rise in Massachusetts, Pandemic EBT is an effective tool to help families with students at home access healthy, culturally appropriate food.

When the Shah Family Foundation first learned about P-EBT, we wanted to support this program because we recognized the essential support it could provide for families during this challenging time.  We also knew how important it was for the local economy - especially local retailers, grocers and farmers markets who are struggling.

Since this program was brand new, there was no “playbook” for success.  We partnered with the Department of Transitional Assistance, Project Bread, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and others to develop a comprehensive outreach plan with the support of our team.

Through this plan, our goals were to:

  • Build accessible resources to support cities, schools and partners in distributing information to families,

  • Support solutions to respond to barriers for recipients and address programmatic challenges, and 

  • Identify initiatives to increase P-EBT participation in key cities and communities.

Through this process, and the ongoing collaboration with our partners, we learned a lot about the barriers families had in accessing this program and how to build effective communications to respond.  Examples of our joint efforts are below:

As of December 2020, 84% of P-EBT cards have been activated and the program has brought more than $253 million in federal dollars to the Commonwealth.  

We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Department of Transitional Assistance to support outreach efforts for the 2020-2021 P-EBT to ensure that everyone who is eligible for P-EBT is able to access this important program.