USDA to Award $5 Million in Grants to Increase Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

WASHINGTON.— Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA will award grants of up to $5 million to help make the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – formerly the known as the Food Stamp Program – more accessible.

“President Obama has made ensuring people have access to nutritious foods a top priority for his administration and these grants will be especially helpful to those hardest hit by hard economic times,” said Vilsack.

The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 authorized USDA to award $5 million in grants for state and local government and private non-profit organization projects aimed at simplifying the SNAP application and eligibility systems or improving access to SNAP benefits by eligible households. Today the Department announced the request for proposals with a deadline to submit grant applications of June 11, 2009.

This year, USDA plans to fund a partnership between a State agency and one or more private non-profit organizations to enable improvements in State agency intake practices coordinated with community access initiatives. The Department also intends to fund one or more projects designed to improve the retention of eligible households’ participation in SNAP at the point of recertification.

SNAP, administered by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, is the cornerstone of federal nutrition-assistance programs, serving more than 31 million people each month.

Grant applications for organizations can be obtained at www.grants.gov or on the Food and Nutrition Service website at www.fns.usda.gov/snap or by calling the grant officer, Lisa Johnson, at (703) 305-2848.