Newsroom

American families coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma will receive much needed nutrition relief, USDA announced.  Notably, packages of American grown and produced nutritious USDA Foods will be available across hurricane-stricken areas in Florida.

Secretary Sonny Perdue today outlined steps USDA has taken to help the people of Florida and other states and U.S. territories ravaged by Hurricane Irma, underscoring the Department’s commitment to feeding all those in need in times of disaster.

USDA today announced more than $500,000 in grants to academic and nonprofit organizations who will work to make farmers markets and farm stands more accessible to SNAP participants.

USDA today announced the organizations selected to participate in a nationwide pilot designed to improve access to groceries for homebound elderly and disabled persons participating in SNAP. Nearly one in five SNAP participants is either elderly or disabled and therefore may face unique obstacles to obtaining healthy food at the grocery store.

FNS today awarded $5 million in grants to state agencies and community-based organizations to improve the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and implement modernization initiatives. Organizations from seven states were selected for these competitive grants, including Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, California and Washington. 

USDA today awarded $16.8 million in competitive grants to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants increase their purchases of fruits and vegetables. The funding comes from the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and administered by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that 10 states have been selected to take part in SNAP to Skills, a first-of-its-kind, peer-to-peer effort to help state agencies design improved employment and training programs for adults participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in order to help them find employment and ultimately move off the SNAP program.

A new report released today from the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) finds that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps, is highly effective at reducing food insecurity—the government’s measure for whether households lack the resources for consistent and dependable access to food. The report highlights a growing body of research that finds that children who receive food assistance see improvements in health and academic performance and that these benefits are mirrored by long-run improvements in health, educational attainment, and economic self-sufficiency. The report also features new research that shows benefit levels are often inadequate to sustain families through the end of the month—resulting in high-cost consequences, such as a 27 percent increase in the rate of hospital admissions due to low blood sugar for low-income adults between the first and last week of the month, as well as diminished performance on standardized tests among school age children.

USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture today awarded $2 million in grants to support research on nutrition education and obesity prevention for disadvantaged children and families at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Utah State University.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced an award of over $9 million in technology grants to help selected state agencies combat benefit abuse and trafficking by participants in SNAP. Projects in Alaska, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada and New Jersey were selected.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced $5 million in grants to state and local agencies and community partners to streamline application processing and improve technology in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The competitively-awarded grants will fund six projects in four states, improving efficiency in SNAP operations.

USDA is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of older adults, ensuring that all older Americans have access to healthy food and that older adults in rural America have access to housing. Low-income older Americans continue to be an underserved and vulnerable population, due in part to administrative complexities associated with participating in federal assistance programs.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA has awarded $31.5 million in funding to local, state and national organizations to support programs that help participants in SNAP increase their purchase of fruits and vegetables.

Secretary Tom Vilsack, joined by Labor Secretary Tom Perez, today announced the recipients of $200 million in competitive awards to fund and evaluate pilot projects in 10 states to help SNAP participants find jobs and work toward self-sufficiency. Projects in California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, Vermont and Washington were chosen.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced additional support for schools working to serve school children healthy meals with the nationwide expansion of the Team Up for School Nutrition Success Initiative. The initiative will provide school nutrition personnel across the country tailored technical assistance and peer to peer mentoring. 

USDA awarded $4 million in grants to establish four regional centers of excellence for research on nutrition education and obesity prevention, as well as a coordinating center, which will develop and test innovative nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions for underserved, low-income families.

Undersecretary Kevin Concannon today announced the release of just over $5 million in grant funds to identify, track and prevent misuse of SNAP benefits by program recipients.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced $5 million in grants to streamline processing, improve technology, and strengthen employment and training programs in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The competitively-awarded grants will fund 11 projects in seven states, improving efficiency in local SNAP programs.

USDA today announced that up to $200 million in competitive grants is available for state SNAP agencies to design and conduct employment and training pilot projects to help SNAP participants find jobs and increase their earnings.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon announced the availability of up to $7 million in grant funds to prevent recipient trafficking in SNAP.