Kentucky Ag News
Perdue Announces $16.8 Million to Encourage SNAP Participants to Purchase Healthy Foods
Kentucky gets two of 32 grants
USDA
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue recently announced 32 grants totaling $16.8 million to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants increase their purchases of fruits and vegetables. The program is operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The funding comes from the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
Two grants were awarded for Kentucky projects:
- The Community Farm Alliance of Berea was awarded a $602,159 grant over four years for the Kentucky Double Dollars Program, which enables consumers enrolled in USDA nutritional assistance programs to double their buying power at participating Kentucky farmers' markets, Fresh Stop markets, and retail locations.
- The Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation (MCHC) was awarded a $307.916 grant over four years for the Farmacy Health Improvement Project, in which MCHC provides vouchers to low-income families diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, pregnancy, hypertension, or obesity to redeem for locally grown fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets in three eastern Kentucky counties.
“These grants help provide low income families with the resources they need to consume more nutritious food. Last year, SNAP helped put healthy food on the tables of at least 44 million Americans, including 19 million children,” Perdue said. “This builds on the successes of health-related incentives, with many of the projects being conducted at farmers markets. At the same time, we’re also helping to strengthen local and regional food systems.”
FINI is a joint program between NIFA and USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees SNAP and is responsible for evaluating the impact of the variety of types of incentive programs that are deployed by FINI grantees. The program brings together stakeholders from different parts of the national food system to improve the nutrition and health status of SNAP households. The awards under FINI represent a variety of projects, including relatively small pilot projects, multi-year community-based projects, and larger-scale multi-year projects.
