Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive program

Posted by U.S. Department of Agriculture on October 13, 2014

The US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is offering multi-year grants to applicants with a community based strategy to empower Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to buy more fruits and vegetables. See if your program matches the guidelines at this website. If your program is eligible, applications are due on Decemer 15th.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2014/09/0215.xml

NIFA will give priority to projects that:

• Maximize the share of funds used for direct incentives to participants
• Test innovative or promising strategies that would contribute to our understanding of how best to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables by SNAP participants, which would inform future efforts
• Develop innovative or improved benefit redemption systems that could be replicated or scaled
• Use direct-to-consumer sales marketing
• Demonstrate a track record of designing and implementing successful nutrition incentive programs that connect low-income consumers and agricultural producers
• Provide locally- or regionally-produced fruits and vegetables, especially culturally-appropriate fruits and vegetables for the target audience
• Are located in underserved communities, particularly Promise Zones and StrikeForce communities.