

How it works
SNAP is the nation's largest federally funded nutrition assistance program and first line of defense against food and nutrition insecurity. The program provides financial benefits via an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card, which participants can use to buy groceries—in-store and online—at more than 250,000 retailers nationwide.
SNAP strategies
Learn more about our healthy food access theory of change.
What participants are saying

On adequacy of SNAP benefits
"The cost of eating healthy is ten times more than what SNAP benefits can cover" -A SNAP participant in North Carolina

On SNAP incentives
"[Fruit and vegetable incentives] would benefit me a lot because no matter how much I try and make it stretch, it doesn't ever seem to stretch." -A SNAP participant in Iowa

On reshaping a healthy retail environment for SNAP shoppers
"Yes, it’s awful tempting when you are waiting to check out to grab a candy bar. It would be just as easy if they had fresh fruit there that you could just grab.” -A SNAP participant in Ohio
Our team
In the news
- Rethinking grocery stores for a healthier SNAP (The Hill, 2021)
Op-ed
- Now is the time to strengthen America’s Nutrition Infrastructure (The Hill, 2021)
Op-ed
- Congress: how long will you let children and families go hungry? (The Hill, 2020)
Op-ed
- Strengthening SNAP is the most effective way to address the growing hunger crisis (The Hill, 2020)
Op-ed
- Read more about SNAP
CSPI news
Sign up for action alerts
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Resources
Advocacy resources
- Leveraging SNAP to improve public health
- Towards a more equitable Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP)
- SNAP Access and Utilization
- SNAP Purchasing Power for Nutritious Food
- SNAP and the Food Retail Environment
- Advancing Equity at USDA
- CSPI lauds USDA Announcement Updating “Thrifty Food Plan,” Increasing SNAP Benefits
- Letter to Secretary Vilsack re: Updated Thrifty Food Plan
- SNAP Boosts Food Security and the Economy: CSPI's SNAP Policy Priorities for COVID-19
- Relief Can't Wait: Beyond the Curve: Dr. Peter Lurie's COVID-19 Blog
- Letter to Congress Re: Misleading USDA News Release
- USDA Misleads on “Increased SNAP Benefits”
- CSPI Comment on Proposed Rule Re: SNAP Standard Utility Allowances
- Trump SNAP Rule an Assault on Low-Income Americans
- Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- Trump Administration Proposes Classifying Spray Cheese as a Staple Food Variety Under SNAP Program
Community engagement resources
- Colorado Listening Project: Perspectives of SNAP Participants and College Students to Maximize Nutrition Security (2022)
- The Florida Project: Recommendations for Healthy Eating SNAP Pilot Projects (2022)
- Strengthening SNAP on a Dime (2022)
- Recommendations for Strengthening Access to Nutrition through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (2022)
- Statewide Discussions around SNAP & Double Up Food Bucks: Focus Groups and Regional Convenings (2022)
- Engaging Arkansas Stakeholders to Improve SNAP’s Public Health Impact (2021)
- Strategies to Improve Healthy Eating in SNAP: An Iowa Perspective (2021)
- Recommendations for a Healthy Eating SNAP Pilot in North Carolina (2021)
- Recommendations for a Healthy Eating SNAP Pilot in Massachusetts (2020)
- Recommendations for a Healthy Eating SNAP Pilot in Pennsylvania (2020)