Take Action To Support SNAP and SNAP-ED

41 legislators from the House and Senate officially kick off the conference process to hash out a Farm Bill. The conferees will be responsible for negotiating an agreement, but face stark differences in both funding and policy between the House and Senate nutrition proposals for SNAP, or food stamps, and SNAP-Ed, the nutrition education component. The Senate farm bill proposes to cut almost $4 billion in cuts to SNAP while the House farm bill proposes almost $40 billion in cuts.

Tell your legislator about the important work SNAP-Ed is doing in their communities. OpenCongress.org provides an easy, zip-code lookup that provides your representative's direct phone number. Find their number.

Key points to share with Congressman

SNAP-ED Teaches Skills Needed for Healthy Eating 

• Healthy eating on a limited budget can be complicated.  Healthy eating is often a learned skill.

• SNAP-Nutrition education, or SNAP-Ed, is not a one-size fits all program. SNAP-Ed is about empowering individuals to make healthy choices, build skills to plan, purchase, and prepare healthy foods on a limited budget, and to help make healthy choices the easy choices in low-income communities.

• SNAP-Ed is a nationwide program, operating in all 50 states. It is the only federal, nationwide investment of its kind. SNAP-Ed delivers nutrition education and obesity prevention services through multiple venues and involve activities at the individual, school, and community levels.

• SNAP-Ed funding is less than half of 1 percent of total SNAP funding, yet this program reaches millions of SNAP-eligible children and households through direct teacher-student style education, dynamic workshops and presentations, reinforcing messages and other tested, evidence-based social marketing initiatives to empower SNAP-eligible individuals to make healthy choices.

SNAP-Ed Works

• According to the most recent nationwide assessment of SNAP-Ed, nearly 40% of SNAP Ed participants say the program helped them reduce the number of days their families faced food insecurity during the month.

• A California SNAP-Ed program found a significant increase in the number of participants meeting the recommended 5+ servings of fruit and vegetables daily. The greatest improvements were seen in those populations that have the greatest need. (91% improvement in the poorest segment of the population, 77% improvement in the African American population, 43% improvement in the Latino population.)

• A Pennsylvania SNAP-Ed program, as part of a multifaceted approach, has shown a 50% reduction in the incidence of overweight among elementary school students.