The
goal of the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program
(FSNEP) is to increase the likelihood that Food Stamp
recipients make healthy food choices within their limited
food budget. Initiated in 1997, the focus of the Rhode
Island FSNEP has been to improve the dietary quality
of Food Stamp eligible Rhode Island families and individuals
by providing them the skills, information, and motivation
they need to support healthy eating consistent with
federal dietary guidelines (Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, USDA Food Guide Pyramid).
Approximately 34,000
households in Rhode Island receive Food Stamps. Recipients
frequently report that their Food Stamps run out
by the third week of the month and they have to rely
on emergency food programs to make it through the
month. The poverty rate and subsequent demand for
emergency food has increased as the loss of manufacturing
jobs in the state has given way to lower paying,
service sector jobs, leaving many families struggling
to pay the rent and put food on the table.
Using a social marketing
approach within the mass transit system, carefully
crafted nutrition messages have been delivered by
means of bus stop shelter posters in target neighborhoods,
interior and exterior bus posters, interior digital
messaging, local news media, toll-free hotline, and
nutrition education materials developed to deliver
campaign messages. These include:
- Strategies to
simplify and improve meal planning and food
shopping/budgeting
- Strategies to
improve dietary quality by increasing fruit,
vegetable and calcium consumption and encouraging
a fat moderate, high fiber (plant-based) diet
- Information on
safe selection, storage, and home preparation
of nutritious foods
- Local opportunities
to improve food access and extend food resources
In addition, over the
years program activities and educational efforts
have expanded substantially to include the Public
Library system, the women's correctional system,
Food Stamp offices, health centers, and other agencies
whose clientele are comprised of limited resource
families and individuals.
Related Links
University
of Rhode Island URI
Cooperative Extension Senior
Nutrition Awareness Program (SNAP)
Food
Stamp Nutrition Connection USDA
Foodstamp Program

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