A University of Minnesota food education program is looking elsewhere for help after new federal spending cuts.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education was staffed by around 60 people across Minnesota, providing schools, senior centers and tribal nations with classes and materials on making healthy choices.
The program, which costs roughly $9 million annually, was part of the $190 billion in cuts to food stamps over the next decade as part of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Signed into law earlier this summer, the bill cuts trillions in taxes and creates new opportunities for Americans to keep the money they earn. SNAP-Ed, however, is a tangible cost of making up for the lost revenue.
“It’s sad and it’s frustrating,” Sharmyn Phipps, a former community wellness coordinator at SNAP-Ed, lamented to WCCO News. “We educated in the schools, we worked with seniors, we worked with a lot of different ages, we worked on a lot of different initiatives. This was a curriculum that met a lot of different needs.”
More than 440,000 Minnesotans receive food stamps through SNAP, according to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families.
“Having curriculum that speaks to the foods you eat, habits you have within your community, can make a big difference when you’re trying to bring forth different educational concepts and have something that resonates with everyone,” Phipps added.
Trish Olson, an associate dean at the Extension at the University of Minnesota, told WCCO News she hopes to raise money from foundations and other nonprofits to keep SNAP-Ed programming alive.
“Minnesota is the land of 10,000 nonprofits,” she quipped. “We’re looking to those folks who are committed to the same goals that we have as far as healthy food access, dignity of those who receive support. There is hunger in Minnesota, and it’s not going down. It’s only increasing.”
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