NC parents have until 2 p.m. today to apply for a $335 COVID-19 relief payment. Here’s how.

Michael Gordon
·2 min read

If you’re one of the thousands of North Carolina families who qualified for $335 COVID-19 relief from the state but missed the deadline to apply, write this down:

If you have access to a computer, go to 335forNC.com.

If you don’t, call this number: 800-215-5988.

Most importantly, do one or the other by 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7.

Thanks to a court order last month, qualified families now have until Dec. 7 to apply for a check from the state’s Extra Credit grant program. The state Department of Revenue hopes to disperse almost a half billion dollars by the end of the month.

NC gives $335 to parents during COVID-19 — but poorest families miss out, new lawsuit says

The $335 checks have been flowing automatically to about 1 million North Carolina households.

But herein lies the glitch: Tens of thousands of families who did not make enough money to file a 2019 state tax return had to apply for the help, which is designed to offset some of the pandemic-related costs of child care and schooling.

Compounding the problem, the program, which was signed into law in early September, had an Oct. 15 application deadline. That left little more than a month for nonprofit groups to spread the word about the money and for needy families to sign up.

Tens of thousands of households did not. A team of Charlotte and Triangle lawyers representing nonprofit groups and several low-income residents sued, saying their clients and others like them needed more time to apply.

Last month, Wake County Superior Court Judge William Pittman agreed. Not only did Pittman extend the application deadline to 2 p.m. Monday, he also ordered the state Department of Revenue to free up $650,000 of the federal money underwriting the Extra Credit grants to help spread the word and get folks to apply.

So far the revised effort appears to be working.

Charlotte lawyer Adam Doerr, one of five attorneys from the firm of Robinson Bradshaw to file the suit, told the Observer on Wednesday that more than 10,000 families have applied under the new deadline.

That’s more than $3 million in additional aid staying in state. As of Dec. 30, any money not sent out will revert to the federal government.