FOUR WAYS SNAP DELIVERS

SNAP has successfully provided support to millions of Americans over its 50-plus year history. Here are four ways in which SNAP has helped families reduce food insecurity and supported the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

·         SNAP reduces poverty. Research shows that SNAP helps lift people out of poverty. In 2011, an additional 3.9 million people would have fallen into poverty without SNAP. And using an alternative metric that takes government anti-poverty programs into account researchers estimated that 4.6 million people were lifted out of poverty by the purchasing power of SNAP benefits.

·         SNAP reduces food insecurity. In 2014, 48.1 million Americans lived in food-insecure households. But without SNAP, rates of food insecurity would be even higher: receiving SNAP reduces food insecurity by roughly 30%.

·         SNAP helps vulnerable people. Close to 70% of SNAP participants are in families with children; more than 25% are in households with seniors or people with disabilities.

·         SNAP supports work. The number of households in which someone worked while receiving SNAP benefits more than tripled between 2000 and 2013, reaching 7.1 million. Among households with at least one working-age, non-disabled adult, more than half work while receiving SNAP and more than 80% work in the year before or the year after receiving benefits.

Source: Urban Institute, 1/11/16, SNAP Delivers