New Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) Hotline for Parents

SANTA FE – A new P-EBT hotline has been established for parents who have questions about eligibility or would like additional information about P-EBT benefits, the New Mexico Human Services Department announced Thursday. The new 1-833-415-0569 P-EBT hotline will be manned from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday to assist families who have flooded current phone lines with questions about P-EBT.

The P-EBT program provides nutrition assistance to New Mexico families to offset meals missed because schools were in a remote learning mode in August and September. New Mexico households with children who receive free or reduced-price meals will receive benefits of $5.86 per child per day for the dates their individual school was 100 percent virtual up until the day their school instituted a hybrid model or Sept. 30; whichever was earlier.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture allocated more than $45 million in additional SNAP benefits for our state – enough to feed more than 243,000 vulnerable children in New Mexico. This follows federal approval of the state’s amended P-EBT program for the months of August and September.

Eligibility for the P-EBT benefit is determined by the New Mexico Public Education Department, which shares student information with the Human Services Department to distribute the P-EBT cards and issue benefits. A total of 72,659 P-EBT cards have been issued and were mailed out this week for families to access the fall benefit amount. Only one card will be issued in the eldest child’s name per household — if there are multiple children in the same household, all the benefits will be issued on the same card.

The Human Services Department and Public Education Department apologizes for the confusion and the delays customers have experienced in obtaining the cards and information regarding the P-EBT program. The new P-EBT hotline will help improve communications for customers.

• If you have never received SNAP and received the summer P-EBT benefit, the fall benefit will be issued onto the same card.
• If you have never received SNAP and did not receive the summer P-EBT benefit, you will receive a P-EBT card before the end of October.
• If you are an existing SNAP customer and received the summer P-EBT benefit on your SNAP EBT card, you will receive a separate P-EBT card for the fall benefit before the end of October.

• For additional information or eligibility questions please call the NEW P-EBT hotline at 1-833-415-0569. 
• For assistance in activating or replacing an EBT card please contact the card vendor, FIS Global, at 1-800-843-8303.
• For frequently asked questions and to view the amount of benefits issued based on each school schedule, please visit: https://www.hsd.state.nm.us/LookingForAssistance/p-ebt.aspx.

The Human Services Department provides services and benefits to more than 1 million New Mexicans through several programs including: the Medicaid Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Child Support Program, and several Behavioral Health Services.