The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that for three decades has helped supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including seniors, by providing them with emergency food and nutrition assistance at no cost. This white paper explains the program and describes some of its key results.
In 2009, Congress authorized and funded pilot projects to test approaches to facilitate access to SNAP among two underserved populations: the elderly and the working poor. The Michigan and Pennsylvania pilots successfully increased access to SNAP among the elderly. No significant impacts on access were found in the other four states.
This study describes the characteristics, circumstances, and participation and income dynamics of zero-income SNAP households and seeks to assess whether economic and policy changes may have affected this growth.
This study reports on a project launched in 2010 to pilot and evaluate innovative strategies to reduce SNAP participation barriers for low-income elderly by leveraging new data-sharing requirements related to Medicare assistance programs that help pay for prescription drugs or Medicare premiums. SNAP accesses the medical assistance program data and contacts those individuals that appear SNAP eligible. Grants were awarded to New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
This study examined program outcomes such as procedural denials and application timeliness when applicant interviews were conducted by community-based organizations (CBOs) staff to outcomes when SNAP staff conducted applicant interviews in 4 states - Florida, Michigan, Nevada, and Texas.
Section 4031 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 required a study to determine the feasibility of operating SNAP, or an alternative model of benefit delivery, in the CNMI. This report assesses the CNMI's capacity to administer SNAP in six key SNAP program areas; describes potential barriers to implementing SNAP and modifications that might be needed; and explores which elements of SNAP could be implemented under the existing block grant structure.
This visualization represents a joint effort of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Food and Nutrition Service, the Economic Research Service and our state partners to use state administrative records to estimate SNAP eligibility rates at the state and county levels.
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.
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.
Currently, 46 of 53 state agencies accept online applications for SNAP benefits from new applicants, and 33 state agencies allow SNAP participants to recertify to renew their benefits online. The purpose of this study was to collect information about online application features, protocols and procedures used for processing online applications, and perceived advantages and challenges with using online applications.