The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (SNAP-Ed) is a federally funded grant program that supports evidence-based nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions and projects for persons eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through complementary direct education, multi-level interventions, and community and public health approaches to improve nutrition. Two key federal partners are the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). FNS determines national policies and procedures, provides program monitoring and administrative oversight, facilitates resource sharing, and delivers technical assistance. NIFA facilitates communication among federal, state, and local partners, and provides programmatic leadership to cooperative extension/land-grant university program implementers for effective nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions through the land-grant system in conjunction with other implementing agencies and organizations. A third federal partner, USDA's Economic Research Service, supports nutrition education through its research and evaluation studies.
The UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program of Butte, Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, and Yuba counties (Butte Cluster hereinafter) is SNAP-Ed funded and collaborates with school-based partners, students, teacher extenders, UC Master Gardener and 4-H Youth Development Programs to provide comprehensive, research-based nutrition, garden and physical activity programming to low-income communities. Recognizing that nutrition and physical activity behaviors are dependent on many factors including individual knowledge and skills and social determinants including access to resources, opportunities and regional and institutional policies, UC CalFresh works with partners to identify and address barriers to health and wellness. UC CalFresh Butte Cluster utilizes integrated approaches which leverage community resources including agriculture to facilitate the creation of healthier communities by educating and encouraging community members to: 1) make informed nutrition and physical activity decisions; 2) maximize their food resources; 3) eat and enjoy a variety of locally grown fruits and vegetables.
In the Butte Cluster, our UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program staff members are advocates of making behavior and lifestyle changes that will contribute to a lifetime of healthy eating and active living for individuals living in the communities that we serve. To see some of the highlights from our 2016-2017 fiscal year, please refer to the document below.
