Loss of federal funds to affect SNAP-Ed nutrition programs across the state

For decades, SNAP-Ed has helped Washingtonians of all ages live healthier lives.

SNAP-Ed providers at Washington State University Extension teach kids and teens how to interpret a food label and where to find healthy items in a grocery store. They supply recipes and cooking demonstrations at community centers and food banks. They connect local farmers with food distribution programs. They coach seniors in maintaining mobility.

But federal funding for SNAP-Ed ends on Oct. 1 and most of those programs will also end.

SNAP-Ed is the education arm of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as food stamps. SNAP eligibility is based on household income and other factors, and in Washington it served 11% of the population last year.

At first SNAP-Ed offered nutrition education in schools. But over the years the program expanded its impact.

SNAP-Ed providers helped write policies to improve the quality of food served in schools and daycares, for example. They offered technical assistance and training to enable SNAP recipients to use their benefits for fresh produce at farmers markets. They were instrumental in setting up a Farm to School Network across the state. And they've helped establish lots of community gardens at schools, food banks, affordable housing communities and recovery programs.

Last year SNAP-Ed reached 1.4 million people in Washington and collaborated with nearly 700 community partners.

"Science is the cornerstone of everything we do in Extension," said Vicki McCracken, associate dean and director of Extension at WSU. "Because of SNAP-Ed's affiliation with WSU and its partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, our programs are rooted in evidence-based practices. This foundation ensures that our efforts to promote nutrition education and healthy living are both impactful and credible. There's so much misinformation out there."

The program employs 72 people at WSU Extension, based throughout the state. Almost all of those people will lose their jobs this fall.

Jen Moss, SNAP-Ed assistant director at WSU, is one of them. She said cuts to SNAP-Ed will have a ripple effect.

"SNAP-Ed acts as a convenor across the state so people can work together in multi-sector and multi-agency collaborations," she said.

"That's food going into pantries and funding for equipment purchases and training for early-childhood centers," Moss said. "It's supporting farmers and producers, and getting scratch-cooked meals into schools."

SNAP-Ed providers are training people in partner organizations to sustain programs as much as possible, but that will amount to a very small fraction of current offerings.

Said Acacia Corylus, SNAP-Ed assistant director, "In a school setting, we might be working with a P.E. teacher or a counselor who is excited about this work and doesn't want to see it go away." Food bank volunteers might also be able to help, she said.

Moss said one of the biggest challenges will be to transfer web-based resources so people have continued access.

McCracken emphasized that "Extension is about partnership in communities, and we'll be looking for new ways of doing that." But a decades-long program reaching nearly every county in the state won't be easily replaced.

The end of SNAP-Ed is "a big loss to the state," she said.