USDA Approves CNMI State P-EBT Plan

"P-EBT is a federal program that provides food stamp benefits to school-aged children who lost access to school meals because their school was closed or operating with reduced in-person attendance due to COVID-19 in a school year."

Here are answers to commonly asked questions:

1. The CNMI NAP office has tentatively scheduled distribution #1 for December 10, 2022.  

2. Distribution #1 will cover school closure days from August 2021-December 2021. The amount of benefits will be determined by the school each student attended during that time frame. Some schools and daycare centers were only closed / working remotely for 5 days. At others, it was 60 days.   CNP staff doesn't divulge student information over the phone, so please do not call the office asking for enrollment or attendance information. 

3. There is no application requirement for distribution #1.  All student, parent and attendance data came directly from the school records.  Right now there is no way to change the names of the students nor the parents/guardians listed on benefits. The records are from last school year as these are benefits for days missed last school year. Parents / guardians listed in the students' 2021-2022 school records are the only persons eligible to pick up the benefits. Benefits are issued by student name, and not by household. This means that a family with 4 kids eligible for benefits will have to pick up 4 separate benefit packages. CNP staff doesn't divulge student information over the phone, so please do not call the offices asking for information about specific children. Neither CNP nor NAP will make chages to the student data submitted by the schools. 

4. CNMI NAP will issue statements in the newspapers and other media sources when they know for sure when, where, and how the benefits will be issued.

5. Distribution #2 will occur sometime in March. Not all students are eligible for distribution #2. Distribution #2 will require an application on which the parents list the days their kids were out of school January 2022-June 2022 due to COVID or additional COVID-related school closures.  This "Parental Attestment Form" will be handed directly to each parent/guardian who picks up distribution #1 benefits. The attestment form will also be available on the PSS CNP website before Xmas.

This information will be updated as necessary. Please monitor the local news outlets for more information between today and December 10, 2022.