Healthy Alternatives to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

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In this particular task, you are being asked to continue to develop your policy amendment proposal on the SNAP project. I suggest making it relevant to your previous work and tying it up to the proposals that you have given in there. As always, keep it simple and straightforward. I suggest therefore using this outline:

1. Overview on the SNAP project - 150 words
2. Your hypothesis - 100 words
3. Suggested Strategies - 300 words
a. socio-economic
b. political
c. cultural
4. Strengths & weaknesses (overview, based #3) - 200 words
5. Budget considerations - indirect, direct and cost sharing - 200 words

This outline should yield around 950 words or more, dependent on how long you want the discussion to be. You can use the listed resources to further explore the topic.

The SNAP Project

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP is a fundamental feeding project that has its roots in the 30's when the U.S. government established the food stamp program to feed the poorest and most marginalized of Americans. It is generally understood that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), who supervises the program, distribute the benefits to each of the U.S. states and benefitting territories. Qualifying Americans and legal residents come from low to no-income families and groups. It is no surprise to know therefore that the homeless and the poorest of Americans rely on the program alone for their nutritional needs. The program, accessed through a debit card system known as the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system allows for beneficiaries to utilize and access the system quite easily as, when couple with other welfare benefits like the cash assistance schemes of various states - it means that families are able to purchase food and goods from a wider list of stores and providers. Through the EBT system in 2012 alone, $74.6 billion in food assistance was distributed to around 47.7 million Americans with 1/5 of the residents of the city of Washington D.C. and the state of Mississippi dependent on the benefit.

Hypothesis

While it is no argument as to impact of SNAP, the manner by which the benefit has been utilized and discursively constructed over the last few decades has shown that while it has that essential contribution, a good number of those who benefit suffer from a side-effect - obesity. Schmeiser (2009), writes - "Obesity is most prevalent among low-income individuals...One suggested cause is participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly the Food Stamps Program)... SNAP participation has increased substantially due to recession, and benefits were increased as part of stimulus package with potential implications for obesity rates." If we follow this argument, then the rapid obesity increase in America over the last 3 decades can be partly attributed to the availability of SNAP. The disturbing fact is this - the World Health Organization (2007) reported that 74.1% of adults in America are either overweight or obese and that number is extremely significant as it totals to 149.3 ...