的 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Federal legislation commonly known as the farm bill should really be called the 食品和农场 bill, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one big reason why. As the largest single program funded under the 食品和农场 bill, SNAP is the first line of defense against hunger and food insecurity for tens of millions of US households. It’s a solid investment that helps participants put food on their tables, and its benefits ripple out to entire 社区. 但近年来, this cost-effective program has come under repeated attack by foes seeking to reduce or eliminate benefits for millions of low-income people.

Such legislative attacks are rooted in persistent, divisive myths about the program. 事实上, there's plenty of evidence showing that SNAP's benefits cut across demographic and geographic lines, helping individuals and families in rural, 城市, 郊区社区. SNAP is a program the country should be able to unite around.

一个有效的程序

的 largest nutrition safety net in the federal budget, SNAP serves more than 22 million American households. In 2021, the program lifted some 2.800万人 摆脱贫困.

And less food insecurity means better lives. An ever-growing body of evidence shows that SNAP delivers real, significant benefits for participants. A 2015 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, 例如, found evidence linking SNAP participation to a broad range of positive outcomes, 包括:

• Improved birth weight and neonatal health
• 改善学校表现
• More medical checkups and fewer hospital visits

Research has also linked SNAP with better self-reported health, better access to preventive health care, 更低的医疗成本.

的se positive effects on the health and well-being of participating families testify to the program's value. But SNAP's benefits don't stop there.

SNAP helps rural and 城市 社区 alike

SNAP's benefits reverberate across the entire nation, 打动了各个年龄段的人, 比赛, 邮政编码, 政治说服. 的 program plays an especially vital role in the economic health of rural areas and small towns. Using the USDA’s most recent designation of “metro” (城市) and “nonmetro” (rural) counties and SNAP usage data collected by the US Census Bureau between 2017 and 2021, UCS made a surprising discovery: more than 72 percent of the top 1,000 counties by SNAP population-weighted participation were in nonmetro (rural) counties.

SNAP's economic benefits go far beyond food

SNAP not only helps participating families keep food on the table, but also creates room in household budgets for other necessities such as housing, 公用事业公司, 运输, and health care—further broadening the economic reach of the program.

This means that SNAP's economic benefits aren't confined to the food industry. 的y're felt across a wide range of economic sectors, from energy to manufacturing.

By improving the standard of living for millions of people, SNAP provides a vitally important economic boost, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. And because SNAP participation is highest in low-income areas, these positive economic impacts are reaching the 社区 where they're needed most.

谁是SNAP的参与者?

Our analysis found that less than 10 percent of SNAP participants in rural areas are able-bodied adults without dependents. 和城市参与者一样, the vast majority are children, 护理人员, 老年人, 或者有残疾的成年人.

放眼整个美国 2020年的SNAP家庭，我们发现:

• 38.1 percent were households with children;
• 28.6 percent were households with elderly people; and
• 21.8 percent were households with non-elderly people with disabilities.

Making SNAP stronger in the next 食品和农场 bill

We know that SNAP is a smart investment in the health and well-being of families, 社区, 还有我们的经济. Efforts to weaken the program make no sense.

Instead, we should be taking action to reinforce SNAP's positive impacts. One way to do that is to maximize the benefits of other federal programs that expand SNAP’s reach by making nutritious, locally grown fruits and vegetables more available and affordable. Here are three good examples worth supporting:

• 的 Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) expands access to fresh produce by providing incentives for the purchase of fresh, local produce with SNAP dollars. It supports local organizations like farmers markets by providing a match for each SNAP dollar spent at the participating markets. 的 value of SNAP benefits is thus effectively doubled at those markets. GusNIP improves food insecurity but also nutrition, as those who use it eat 多吃水果和蔬菜 与其他美国消费者相比. Each GusNIP dollar spent also generates about two dollars in the local community. 然而, because GusNIP funding is not allotted directly to SNAP participants but to a limited number of organizations and businesses, it is not available everywhere and the funding can run out. In the next 食品和农场 bill, GusNIP funding should be expanded to reach more SNAP households.
• 的 健康的食物 Financing Initiative (HFFI) offers grants and loans to help establish or expand locally owned healthy-food retail outlets in underserved areas. In recent years, approximately half of its grants have been in rural areas. But HFFI is a small program: in 2021, it awarded about $22 million across 134 projects, with only 47 percent of all applicants receiving funding.
• 的 Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) is actually a collection of programs that invest in local and regional food infrastructure, 包括农贸市场, 食品中心, 和合作. Many of its investments are in areas with low access to fresh produce, with new markets striving to make fruits and vegetables more affordable. And LAMP programs accomplish what they set out to do: according to a 2014 evaluation, nearly $15 million in awards enabled new markets to reach more than 3.5 million producers and consumers, and local economies saw $2.67 in benefits for every dollar invested.