The SNAP E&T pilot projects give Congress, USDA, and states the opportunity to test innovative strategies and approaches that connect low-income households to good paying jobs and thereby reduce their reliance on public assistance.

This report examines the impact of using Medicaid data to directly certify students for free and reduced-price school meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs in 15 states in school year 2017-18. Certification, participation and reimbursement outcomes for Cohort 1 states in their second year of implementation and Cohort 2 states in their first year of implementation are discussed.

This report, part of an annual series, presents estimates, by state, of the percentage of eligible persons and working poor individuals who participated in SNAP during an average month in fiscal year (FY 2017) and the two previous fiscal years.

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.

WIC Participant and Program Characteristics 2018 summarizes the demographic characteristics of participants nationwide in April 2018. It includes information on participant income and nutrition risk characteristics, estimates breastfeeding initiation rates for WIC infants, and describes WIC members of migrant farm-worker families.

Section 4022 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized and funded the SNAP E&T pilots, which enabled the USDA Food and Nutrition Service and states to expand SNAP E&T programs and test innovative strategies to connect SNAP participants with good-paying jobs, thereby increasing their incomes and reducing the need for nutrition assistance benefits. This is the fifth annual report to Congress.

This report fulfills a Congressional request for the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to report on "a comprehensive, integrated approach to nutrition education as a complement to the various nutrition assistance programs." FNS reviewed its current nutrition education efforts, and consulted with a wide range of nutrition education experts and stakeholders.