Media Contact
Under the agriculture provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill, Congress eliminated SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education), a federally funded program designed to help SNAP participants and other low-income individuals and families make healthy food choices and become more physically active, among other things.
Tashara Leak is a registered dietitian and an associate professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University who studies ways to increase healthy food access and consumption among populations with low incomes.
Tashara Leak
Assistant Professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences
“There isn’t enough conversation about the role of SNAP-Ed in emergency response. At the height of the lead crisis in Flint Michigan, SNAP-Ed provided nutrition information on foods that mitigate lead absorption and connected families to community resources.
“SNAP-Ed has a history of helping limited resource families during emergencies. With the devastaing floods in Texas, we should be supportive of local SNAP-Ed offices educating families on how to prepare food safely given power outages.
“Cutting SNAP-Ed means that those offices would not be able to help families impacted by the floods in Texas sign up for SNAP benefits nor connect them with other community resources.”
