The SNAP-Ed Western Region state representatives at 2017 ASNNA

Last week Therese Neal and I attended the annual conference for the Association of State Nutrition Network Administrators – in other words, the closest thing we get to a national SNAP-Ed conference! Here are a few key takeaways:

• Momentum for healthy retail initiatives is building, but SNAP-Ed families still seek educational interventions to shop healthy on a budget, like MyPlate info, shopping lists, and label reading literacy (contact me for the great PowerPoint).
• The shopping patterns of SNAP, SNAP-eligible, and higher income shoppers are mostly the same - the implication being that eating patterns are also similar across these groups.
• Adolescents, tribal communities, older populations, and caregivers are priority populations for SNAP-Ed within our USDA Western Region.
• Many states are interested in how Arizona SNAP-Ed is evaluating youth direct education, community coalitions, and how we are integrating with the national SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework.
• The new administration and 2018 re-authorization of the Farm Bill leave many unknowns for the SNAP and SNAP-Ed program. Now is the time to engage stakeholders in sharing how SNAP-Ed makes a difference in your community and empowers people to lead a healthy life.
• Limiting what SNAP recipients can purchase is popular at the state level, but requires a federal waiver, which no state has yet received.

Arizona’s results are featured in a presentation by Andy Naja-Riese at 2017 ASNNA