How do I receive my CalFresh benefits?

If you are approved for CalFresh benefits, they will be issued on an Electronic Benefits Transfer Card (EBT). You will need to set up a PIN number for the card to use it, and can then use the card at most grocery stores.

In some counties, people who are homeless, elderly or disabled can also use their benefits at certain restaurants through the CalFresh Restaurant Meal Program. Visit http://www.ebtproject.ca.gov/clientinformation/calfreshrmp.shtml to see which counties participate in the CalFresh Restaurant Meal Program and to locate participating restaurants.

Helpful HintCalFresh for People Living in Drug & Alcohol Treatment Centers and Other Licensed Residential Facilities:

If you are required to live in a residential facility (for example, a drug/alcohol treatment center) after getting out of prison or jail, then special CalFresh rules apply to you:

    If you live in a treatment/residential facility that does NOT provide a majority of your meals, then you may apply as a one-person CalFresh “household.”However, if you live in a treatment/residential facility that provides the majority of your meals, then you are only eligible for benefits that the facility applies for, and you MUST be certified for CalFresh through an Authorized Representative (AR). Either you or your AR may sign the application forms. The AR is designated in writing by the head of the household. The AR must sign the form “Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Request for Designated Alternate Cardholder/Authorized Representative” (CSF 64 form) and the benefits will be assigned to the facility, not to the resident (see sample CSF 64 form in Appendix B, PG. 507).[1512]
  1. 1512

    Common-Place Handbook, Cal. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., http://www.sccgov.org/ssa/cp/cpchap16.pdf. ↑