This is how students on the island will be able to receive the $ 119 monthly food assistance

Some 326,068 students from the country’s public and private schools will be eligible to receive $ 119.02 a month in food assistance after the federal government allocated $ 390.7 million to the island as part of the Pandemic EBT program.

The grant covers the 2020-2021 school year, so students will receive a retroactive payment of $ 714.12 for the last school year and January.

“The program is aimed at assisting minors who are participants in the School Canteen Programs in Puerto Rico and is aimed at being able to supplement the administration costs of these minors who have been all this time of emergency without receiving the services of the canteens schoolchildren “, Detailed in The New Day the administrator of the Administration of Socioeconomic Development (Adsef) of the Family, Alberto Fradera Vázquez.

The official celebrated that Puerto Rico was the first territory and the fourth jurisdiction of the United States to which the federal Department of Agriculture approved the plan of distribution of this aid that will extend until May.

Although the plan is approved, the money has not yet been deposited with the Puerto Rican government, so the start of distribution depends on the availability of money. Asked about when help would start being sent to students, Fradera Vázquez was hopeful that this would happen next week. The first deposit would include retroactive payment.

Here are some important facts you should know about this help:

• The $ 119.02 monthly grant will be for fourth-year high school daycare students who are enrolled in a public or private school that benefits from the School Canteen Program.
• The money will be deposited monthly through the Family Card of the parents of the minors who are part of the Nutrition Assistance Program (PA). In this case, people will not have to make any arrangements with Adsef, as they will receive the money automatically.
• In the event that the student’s family is not a beneficiary of the PA, Adsef will enable a website where parents will have to enter their information to receive the money via a debit card that will be sent. by post and in which all deposits will be made. The portal is expected to be available next week.
• The first phase of the aid deposit includes students whose families participate in the PA, the second phase will be aimed at students in public schools who do not participate in the PA and the third at students in private and non-private schools. for-profit who benefit from the School Canteen Program.
• The last deposit of this aid will be made in May 2021 and the money will remain available in the account for six months from the time it was deposited.
• The aid is exclusive to the purchase of unprepared food in the more than 3,000 shops certified by the PA.
• Those who receive this aid will be able to continue to benefit from the lunches prepared by the school canteens, as they are separate aids.
• Adsef will enable a hotline for the program to meet the needs of participants.

“These funds give them a break and help them provide food for their children who are unable to attend school in person. I thank the Department of the Family for their diligence in securing the approval of these funds. “, Said Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia in written statements.

This program extended to Puerto Rico after the island was excluded from the first assignment made by the Federal Congress.

Faced with this, Fradera Vázquez thanked the community and governmental organizations that made possible the millionaire allocation and approval of the distribution plan.