VOICES: SNAP is an investment in Americans

Mark Willis, community engagement director at the Hall Hunger Initiative CONTRIBUTED

Mark Willis, community engagement director at the Hall Hunger Initiative CONTRIBUTED
Ideas & Voices
By Mark Willis
23 hours ago
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The delays and confusion around SNAP have caused unnecessary anxiety for millions who are already struggling. If there is anything positive to come out of this, it’s the increased awareness that SNAP is vital to fighting hunger and also has so much more importance. Here’s a few key facts and why SNAP benefits our nation:

  • SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It builds on the Food Stamp program started in 1939 to help people during the Great Depression. It ended in 1941, was revived under President Kennedy in 1961 and officially renamed “SNAP” in 2008.
  • Benefits average $187 per month per participant in 2024, $6.23 a day. Approximately 40 million Americans received benefits at some point in 2024 and currently there are about 83,000 people in Montgomery County receiving SNAP benefits.
  • More than 80% of SNAP households had at least one person working but low wages and inconsistent hours means paychecks aren’t enough to feed the family. SNAP has strict work requirements for those who are “able bodied.”
  • SNAP fills the gap for low wage workers. For example, a 2020 GAO study found 14,500 Walmart employees receiving SNAP in just 9 states. McDonalds was next with 8740 employees getting benefits in those same nine states.
  • Grocery prices have increased by nearly 30% since February 2020, placing an extreme hardship on low income families. People just can’t keep up with rising prices.
  • About 40% of people receiving SNAP are children, 20% are elderly and 10% are people with disabilities.
  • For those children, SNAP is vital to education as well as health. SNAP improves educational outcomes, including graduation rates, and decreases negative behaviors in school.
  • In addition to helping those who are hungry, SNAP is also designed to support farmers by ensuring that enough people can afford their crops and avoid market collapse. SNAP is under the US Department of Agriculture and is authorized in the farm bill, normally every five years but now more than two years delayed.
  • Every $1 in SNAP benefits generates up to $1.50 in local economic activity. Those dollars keep neighborhood grocery stores open, farmers paid, and supports jobs and is especially vital for small grocery stores. At Gem City Market, about 25% of their transactions involve SNAP. Grocery stores run on a razor thin margin so losing this much business is devastating and puts jobs at risk.
  • SNAP is healthcare. Adult SNAP beneficiaries incur about $1,400 less in medical costs per year than non-participants. Research consistently demonstrates that SNAP improves dietary quality, protects against obesity, and improves health, especially among children. However, inadequate benefits severely limit the program’s ability to do even more to improve the health of low-income Americans.

SNAP does more than just feed those who are struggling. SNAP is a proven program that helps kids succeed, creates jobs, fuels the local economy, supports farmers and makes America healthier. Want a stronger, thriving America? Invest in SNAP!

Mark Willis is with the Hall Hunger Initiative, a nonprofit working to build a just and resilient food system in the Miami Valley. More information and sources for the facts here are on their blog page at www.hallhungerinitiative.org

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About the Author

Mark Willis