The Fresh EBT blog

Big news, New Yorkers: you can now use your EBT food stamp (SNAP) benefits to buy groceries online. Alabama, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington are also participating in this pilot program.

If you’re one of the 38 million Americans who receives SNAP benefits, you may have woken up on January 20th, 2019 with a surprise: you received an unexpected month’s worth of SNAP benefits. Due to the government shutdown, states issued about $4.5 billion in February SNAP benefits earlier than usual — an impressive technical and operational accomplishment that required an all-hands-on-deck effort.

Many Americans are one medical bill, lost job, or unexpected expense away from having trouble putting food on the table. 45 million Americans — roughly1 in 7 peopleacross the country — are currently receiving food stamps. Safety net programs like food stamps (officially known as SNAP) aim to provide financial support for Americans experiencing financial shocks.$70 billionis spent through food stamp benefits each year, which accounts for 11% of the American retail grocery industry.

If you’re one of the 38 million Americans who receives SNAP benefits, you may have woken up on January 20th, 2019 with a surprise: you received an unexpected month’s worth of SNAP benefits. Due to the government shutdown, states issued about $4.5 billion in February SNAP benefits earlier than usual — an impressive technical and operational accomplishment that required an all-hands-on-deck effort from the Department of Agriculture, state agencies, EBT processors, client advocates, and more.

If you got your February benefits early, these benefits are meant to last through February. Remember that, as always, you can keep benefits on your EBT card and spend them over time: your EBT card will continue to work throughout the shutdown and your benefits will always rollover to the next month. Below are some tips and resources to help you make your benefits last for as long as possible.

As a trusted financial tool, we also want to introduce our users to products that improve their financial health in other ways. From a recent survey, we learned that there’s plenty of room for improvement in this area. Over half of Fresh EBT users report having a credit score below 600 (another 25% don’t know their credit score). 55% have …

“Ramon,” he said. I chuckled, replying, “Yo tambien,” or me too. He laughed as well, and as he parted with his family, he said, “tocayo, muchas gracias.” Tocayo is a word friends use with each other when they share the same name. I finished translating Fresh EBT into Spanish on my fourth day of my internship at Propel. The next day, a …