Blogs

For many communities, the SNAP-Education program provides much more than basic nutrition guidance. In Kāneʻohe, Hawaii, the SNAP-Ed funded Luluku Farms’ Aloha ʻĀina Agri-Cultural Restoration project uses the ʻĀina (land) to preserve traditional crops so the community can achieve self-sustainability, while providing keiki (kids) opportunities to learn about their cultural and traditional practices — as well as nutrition education. 

The next meeting of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will be held on Jan. 19, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET.

Registration is now open. HHS and USDA invite the public to participate in this important event by registering in advance to view the livestream.

The 2023 SNAP E&T State Institute, hosted by FNS, brought together 20 state SNAP agencies for a two-day event that aimed to assess and enhance their SNAP Employment and Training programs. 

A key part of our work to end hunger, improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce diet-related diseases is focusing on historically under-served areas, like rural and Tribal communities. Alaska, for instance, faces unique challenges.

For far too long, decisions about FDPIR were made for tribes rather than with tribes or even by tribes. But USDA is committed to turning that tide and making the future of FDPIR one marked by listening, understanding and collaboration.

Thanks to a partnership between USDA and the National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs, direct marketing farmers are now able to accept SNAP payment online. The first direct marketing farmer enabled to accept SNAP online is River Queen Greens, a vegetable farm in New Orleans, Louisiana. SNAP online payments increase accessibility for River Queen Greens customers.

Stacy Dean, FNCS Deputy Under Secretary , was inspired by how three tribes - Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe - are dreaming big in terms of food sovereignty through FDIPR and SNAP.

SNAP provides nutrition support to millions of American families in need. USDA’s FNS works with partner states to ensure that SNAP provides the right amount of benefits to eligible families in the prescribed timeframes.

Reliable, high-quality work is a powerful way out of poverty, and USDA’s SNAP Employment and Training helps gain professional skills and connections to better employment opportunities.

USDA FNS is working hard to get more eligible families connected to WIC by making it easier to enroll.

The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture encourage public participation in the committee’s review process.

In Colorado, Adams and Denver counties are taking innovative approaches to co-located health and human services operations.

The HHS and USDA will host the second full meeting of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on May 10, 2023. The meeting will be livestreamed for public viewing.

The Fondy Farmers Market is Milwaukee's 105-year-old, largest, and the first farmers market in Wisconsin to accept SNAP. The market is run by Fondy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to healthy, local food and economic opportunity across the greater Milwaukee area and is an impressive model in so many ways.

USDA FNS supports indigenous health and tribal sovereignty through FDPIR Self-Determination Demonstration Projects. The Alaska Native Health Consortium, operates a FDPIR self-determination demonstration project that provides foods to 18 tribes across Alaska.

Pronto, muchos hogares recipientes del programa de nutrición de SNAP (también conocido como cupones de alimentos) verán un cambio en la cantidad de beneficios que reciben cada mes. Esto se debe a que el aumento temporal de beneficios que empezó a ofrecerse a raíz de la pandemia, llamado “Asignación de Emergencia”, será discontinuado. 

On Jan. 19, 2023, USDA participated in the first of seven regional summits focused on strengthening the intersections between healthcare and nutrition security. These regional summits build on USDA’s first-ever National Nutrition Security and Healthcare Summit held in Washington, D.C., in October 2022. Together, the national and regional summits are leveraging the momentum of the White House Conference’s corresponding National Strategy that aims to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities.

Soon, many SNAP households will experience a change to their benefit amounts as the temporary pandemic-related boost to SNAP benefits, known as emergency allotments, come to an end. More than 41 million Americans receive food-buying benefits through SNAP. They rely on these benefits to put food on the table each month. That’s why it’s so important they know what’s happening to their benefits – and when – so they can plan for themselves and their families.

For the 2025 DGAs, USDA and HHS sought an advisory committee that would be reflective of the full diversity within the United States, with the understanding that our backgrounds can affect our nutritional needs. The broader composition of the committee will ensure the resulting guidelines reflect the nutritional and cultural needs of all Americans.