SNAP Outreach & Enrollment

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as The Food Stamp Program) is an important resource for families to obtain healthy, affordable foods.  Unfortunately, it is underutilized in Massachusetts and The Food Bank seeks to increase participation in this federal nutrition program.  Click here to learn more about SNAP eligibility and what The Food Bank can do to help you get it.

The three core strategies we use to increase participation in SNAP throughout Western MA are: provide enrollment and application assistance; increase SNAP outreach and promotion; and build SNAP advocacy in Western Massachusetts.

• SNAP Enrollment: Food Bank staff and volunteers screen people for eligibility and assist them throughout the SNAP application process.  We work with our member agencies and other community partners to meet people near their homes to help provide them with clear, accurate information about this nutrition assistance program and ensure they have the tools necessary to apply for the program.  With Department of Transitional Assistance caseloads at record highs, we aim to provide high quality applications to caseworkers and limit the amount of time spent on each application.

• SNAP Outreach and Messaging: Despite the name change from Food Stamps to SNAP, many continue to hold stigma of the “food stamp” program throughout the community.  We work to correct those misperceptions through trainings and general outreach to not only eligible households, but to the general public as well.

• Capacity Building for SNAP advocacy: Through our work with the Western MA SNAP Coalition, we help to provide networking and learning opportunities in order to ensure open communication between SNAP administrative agencies and SNAP outreach workers.  This communication allows us to identify any areas in need of improvement.

Changes in federal and state requirements and procedures have resulted in skyrocketing participation that permits income eligible households—including many working families—to use the equivalent of an ATM card to buy food at a supermarket or grocery store. In  the four counties of Western Massachusetts, 80,546 families and households received SNAP in November 2010.  Over the course of this year, they will receive more than $200 million in federal benefits to put food on their table so that they can be productive citizens on the job, in the classroom and in the community.  These federal dollars will translate to $419,857,816 in local economic impact over the course of a year.  This money will be spent at local businesses, which in turn will sustain and create jobs that might otherwise vanish.  Learn more about SNAP’s benefit to our local economy.