%%EOF 102-477). Indeed, as we noted above, all PEAF-funded benefits must be designed to address needs arising from the pandemic. A grantee has from April 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, the end of fiscal year 2022, to expend its initial award. Learn more about the HOPE program. On March 11, 2021, the President signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law. The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) oversees the distribution of P-EBT with assistance from the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE). Publication Date: December 20, 2021 | Current as of: April 5, 2022 2021 - Data as of 03/10/2022 . TANF provides cash assistance to families while they work towards becoming self-sufficient. It enables low-income families to buy nutritious food through Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. 2.TANF Emergency Assistance (Formerly AFDC-EA as provided by 45 CFR 233.120 with provision date of August 21, 1996): Assistance and services to or on Office for Family Independence Nationwide Waiver to Allow Sponsors that Successfully Participated in the Summer Food Service Program in FY 2019 to Operate as Experienced Sponsors in FY 2021 Offered to All States 4/1/2021 Nationwide Waiver to Provide Flexibility for School Meal Programs Administrative Reviews of SFAs Operating Only the SSO in SY 2021-22 A benefit to provide extra cash to replace lost wages to all families with children eligible to receive SNAP or other means-tested benefits who are affected by the pandemic. In Alabama, that amount is $215 a month for a family of three. All rights reserved (About Us). State Cash Benefit Decisions Have Disparate Impacts, Especially for Black Children. To apply for food assistance benefits online, you can apply via MyDHR or MyAlabama. lTg-f(*Tth4kr State, tribal, and territorial agencies administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, and other eligible territories. We are extremely grateful to our partners at USDA-FNS and to Dr. Eric Mackey and his team at the Department of Education, along with our advocates, for their continued support of our mission to feed Alabamas children.. Alabama pays a maximum of $215 a month to a family of three one of the lowest TANF benefits in the nation. EBT cards containing the benefits will be mailed to families with children in pre-K and K-12 who lost access to meals from the National School Lunch Program during the 2020-21 school year because their schools closed or switched to virtual and hybrid learning models in response to the pandemic. President Biden's emergency relief plan includes $1 billion to help states deliver much-needed aid to families with the lowest incomes through state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs which would mark an important step in the federal response to today's extraordinary hardship across America. In other words, for this fund, NRST benefits, like all NRSTs under TANF, must: and (as explained in the instructions for reporting on line 15 of the ACF-196R) NRSTs paid for with PEAF funds: Like TANF, any PEAF-funded benefit must meet a purpose of Title IV-A of the Social Security Act. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS) administers the program at the federal level. Option 4: Fax an application to (207) 778-8429. We are revising financial reporting forms, the ACF-196R, ACF-196T, and ACF-196TR, to include a column for reporting PEAF expenditures so that grantees will not have to submit a separate form to report for this fund. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, is a system that makes the issuance of state Family Assistance and federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits faster and easier through the use of electronic transactions. If you have already applied or are receiving food assistance, you can sign up for an account on MyDHR or MyAlabama to access your case information, complete your recertification for benefits, and manage your benefits including reporting changes and completing your six-month report. %PDF-1.6 % Option 1: Apply online through My Maine Connection. Transitional Transportation (TT) can help working families pay for transportation related expenses for a period of time. To be considered financially eligible, families must have a monthly income lower than the maximum benefit for their family size. There are several ways to apply for food assistance. Health and Human Services Preston Hornsby, governmental relations manager for the Alabama Department of Human Resources, told AL.com Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneficiaries received funds in their accounts today that increased March benefits to the monthly maximum for their family size, regardless of household income. A grantee will not need to amend its TANF plan to provide NRSTs with the PEAF. Susan J. GolonkaActing DirectorOffice of Family Assistance. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. . In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Alabama issued an "Emergency Health Preparedness Allowance" of $400 a month for three months to all TANF families, nearly double the amount of the maximum benefit alone. These services also promote job preparation, work and marriage, and the prevention of out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Food stamp recipients in Alabama will receive extra benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic. Programs & Services Option 2: Download and mail an application. Start your application for Food Assistance. Your completed application will be sent to the DHR office in the county where you live. This benefit clearly meets Purpose One and is pandemic-related. DHR distributed over $144 million in benefits to more than 460,000 children in Alabama during the first round of P-EBT this past year. 2023 SMG. After deducting $2 million for federal administration: A grantee must make a one-time election of the amount of its allotment it wishes to receive. The cards may take several weeks to arrive due to the volume of eligible children and shipping time frames. %PDF-1.6 % As of December 2019, some 711,384 Alabamians received food stamp benefits. $40012:g`$@g ` 0 Assistance for families who are behind in rent or experiencing other housing insecurity due to the pandemic. This is especially true if grantees also make use of the unobligated TANF balances that many have accumulated for just such a crisis. If a grantee does choose to offer a benefit without determining an individual episode of need, it would need to be clear that the NRST expenditure was related to the pandemic. Use the map here to find the DHR office contact in your county, For additional details, please call(334) 242-1310. You may also fax, mail, or bring the signed application to your County DHR office for processing. For tribes, the same cap will apply to administrative costs in the PEAF that a tribe negotiated for administrative costs in its approved tribal TANF plan (or approved 477 plan for federally recognized tribes and tribal consortia that integrate TANF under P.L. TTY: Maine relay 711, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Higher Opportunity for Pathways to Employment (HOPE), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training, Americans With Disabilities Act/Civil Rights Compliance, Families with dependent children living in their home. We encourage grantees to use this opportunity to assist needy families affected by the pandemic in meeting their basic needs. 7.5 percent of funds are set aside for Tribal TANF programs and all 5 U.S. territories, to be distributed in a manner deemed appropriate by the HHS Secretary. Support specialists are available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Grantees may use funds for administrative costs, within limitations. We hope that making this determination now will enable grantees to act expeditiously in distributing PEAF benefits and be responsive to the current crisis. And the fact that there is a particular Loud House/Helluva Boss crossover that is rather . Office for Family Independence. A grantee has the flexibility to determine what needy means for each NRST and may wish to set a higher standard than it does for TANF cash assistance, such as aligning with SNAP or Medicaid income eligibility criteria. EEF1GYo IQm-tX Augusta, Maine04333, Phone: (207) 287-3707 The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, Seniors Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, Flexibility for States With Increasing Workloads, USDA moderniza el PlanEconmico de AlimentosThrifty actualizaciones a los beneficios del SNAP, USDA Modernizes the Thrifty Food Plan, Updates SNAP Benefits. Some food stamp recipients in Alabama received extra funds this week amid the growing coronavirus crisis. We will distribute reallotted funds based on the original allotment formula. Option 4: Fax an application to (207) 778-8429. A beneficiary receiving less than their households size monthly maximum will now be bumped up to the higher level. 11 State House Station The ASPIRE program helps TANF recipients move towards financial independence through case management, job training, education, support and employment services. We anticipate having only one reallotment of those two sources of funds, but we will make a decision on whether to have more than one after we see how much of the allotment grantees request initially. Families already receiving the monthly maximum benefit will not receive the supplement. TANF Caseload Data 2021. For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a national emergency affecting not only public health, but also the American economy. 2387 0 obj <>stream Regardless of when it receives its PEAF funds, a grantee may use the funds for allowable expenditures on or after April 1, 2021. Under the law, states must inform HHS of its expenditure commitment within 45 days of the enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and tribes and territories within 90 days of enactment. If a grantee does choose to offer a benefit without determining an individual episode of need, it would need to be clear that the NRST expenditure was related to the pandemic. Those dates are April 25, 2021, for states and June 9, 2021 for tribes and territories. A one-time payment to provide extra cash to weather the pandemic to current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipient families with children affected by the pandemic. be designed to deal with a specific crisis situation or episode of need; not be intended to meet on-going needs; and, must only include expenditures such as emergency assistance and diversion payments, emergency housing and short-term homelessness assistance, emergency food aid, short-term utilities payments, burial assistance, clothing allowances, and back-to-school payments; and, In most cases under TANF, a NRST benefit addresses a specific episode of need, which means that the state or tribe has determined the specific need of that family; however, the regulation allows for NRSTs to address a specific crisis situation. As is evidenced by Congress creating the PEAF, the extraordinary nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and its sweeping economic impacts constitute a specific crisis situation allowing a grantee to offer a NRST benefit broadly to needy families who are financially and otherwise eligible. We have published tables showing the full allotment of each grantee and will include them as an appendix to this program instruction as well. qb}'M tYp1$(PR/V40qD.bWs_G _ 98"8MCHO4#(9y\xAc@NNrEU\@Lnh4|4_OVDs1;rnM[I3]ry.d&DA(* >@@@,.jxKJq1!~q2Q. Many states, tribes, and territories have had to implement emergency measures to assist low income families in this difficult time. The amount of the shelter deduction is capped at (or limited to) $624 unless one person in the household is elderly or disabled. Recipients should hold onto these cards because additional P-EBT benefits may be added in the future. 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