DENVER (May 17, 2021) — The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) launched a statewide public service campaign to promote the availability of Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits available to eligible children in Colorado who received free or reduced-price school meals at their schools during the 2020-21 academic school year.
There are as many as 355,000 children in Colorado enrolled in Pre-K-12 schools who may have missed school meals due to remote or hybrid learning from September 2020 through May 2021 and are likely eligible for P-EBT.
“These PSAs are bringing much-needed attention to the need for children to be enrolled in school so they can access affordable, healthy food,” said Karla Maraccini, director of the Division of Food and Energy Assistance at CDHS. “Hundreds of thousands of Colorado’s students are eligible, and I am proud of this work to get and keep food on the table for the school year, and through the summer for Colorado students.”
The public service campaign features messages from Colorado celebrities including Denver Nuggets player Michael Porter Jr., CBS TV news anchor Dominic Garcia, music icon Hazel Miller and 15-year-old singer / songwriter Raquel Garcia. Each Colorado celebrity is featured in a 30-second public service announcement (PSA), all of which are accessible on the P-EBT outreach page. All PSAs were recorded in English with Raquel Garcia recording in both English and Spanish.
The public service campaign is the first of its kind developed by CDHS. All Colorado celebrities donated their time for the campaign. Creative and media support is being provided by various broadcast stations, Comcast, Sander Marketing and advocacy organizations to promote the campaign throughout the state from May 15 to June 15.
There is no separate application for P-EBT this school year. Eligible students do not need to take any action, as long as they are enrolled in school and signed up for free and reduced-price school meals. Families can sign up for school meals through their school district office or website. Benefits will automatically be sent out on P-EBT cards starting in late May.
For additional information, including how to contact us for help, please visit: cdhs.colorado.gov/p-ebt
To view / share the library of PSAs, please click here.
Media contact:
Madlynn Ruble
Deputy Director of Communications
madlynn.ruble@state.co.us
303.866.3411