Data & Research
USDA is investing in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) to reach more eligible families, keep families in WIC while they remain eligible, encourage families to redeem more of their food benefits, and advance equity. The dashboard tracks the progress of this work.
This dashboard was created to share information about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program retailer participation during fiscal year 2023.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) as a permanent federal food assistance entitlement program beginning in summer 2024. Summer EBT has been tested through evaluations of demonstration projects since 2011. With pending implementation of this new program, this is an appropriate time to reflect on what USDA, FNS research has learned through more than a decade of study.
The goal of the dashboard is to provide national and state level visualization of meals served, participation, and funding data for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Summer Food Service Program. The dashboard can be used by federal, state, and local organizations to assess trends in child nutrition program activity.
As required by federal law, state SNAP agencies verify financial and non-financial information by matching SNAP applicant and participant information to various national and state data sources to ensure they meet the program’s eligibility criteria. Data matching is an important tool for ensuring program integrity and benefit accuracy. However, information on states’ data matching practices and protocols is limited. This study was undertaken to address this knowledge gap.
Because of ethical and legal considerations, FNS cannot examine the effect of participation in SNAP on outcomes such as food security through experimental studies that would require withholding benefits from those eligible. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify whether regression modeling of extant data could yield adequate comparison groups to assess SNAP outcomes.
This report provides information about the demographic and economic circumstances of SNAP households in fiscal year 2008.
This report – the latest in an annual series – presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in SNAP during an average month in FY 2007 and in the two previous fiscal years. This report also presents estimates of state participation rates for eligible “working poor” individuals (persons in households with earnings) over the same period.
This report summarizes the results of the school year 2007-08 application verification process for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 permits direct verification of school meal applications and requires FNS to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of direct verification by school districts.