The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (SNAP-Ed) is a federal grant used to provide nutrition education and obesity prevention programming to SNAP-eligible people. This report includes background information, an inventory of Extension and SNAP-Ed partner nutrition and obesity prevention programming by counties, and a compilation of secondary data such as demographics and health indicators. This information may be used as a starting point to help determine eligibility and justify the implementation or expansion of health and nutrition programming to support health-related needs pertaining to nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention using SNAP-Ed funding throughout Nevada’s counties.
A partnership of Nevada counties; University of Nevada, Reno; and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Background
“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” (U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], 2019a). These federal funds are available to all states, and in 2020 Nevada was allocated $3,237,498, which is administered through the Nevada Division of Welfare and Social Services (DWSS) (USDA, 2019b). As the state agency, DWSS is responsible for all SNAP-Ed activities that take place within Nevada, and it may use sub grantees, known as implementing agencies, to deliver programming at the local level. University of Nevada, Reno Extension was the first implementing agency to participate in Nevada SNAP-Ed, starting in 1999, and has since been counted on to contribute a large portion of the state’s SNAP-Ed programming (Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, 2016).
Extension is ideally poised to provide multi-level obesity prevention programs in the state, as it has Extension educators, staff and offices located in every county; a Health and Nutrition team with public health, nutrition and exercise physiology expertise; and a state mandate under NRS 549.010 to provide “…continued educational, research, outreach and service programs pertaining to agriculture, community development, health and nutrition, horticulture, personal and family development, and natural resources in the rural and urban communities.” Extension is organized to provide programming in all of these areas. However, there are several instances of programs outside of the health and nutrition section that incorporate health and nutrition education, such as the 4-H Program and the Little Books and Little Cooks Program. Inventories of state Extension health-related programming conducted in spring 2020 showed that 11 of the 16 counties plus Carson City had health and nutrition programming (Table 1). In 2020, all counties had a SNAP-Ed program, though they did not all receive individual funding, and 9 had programs, delivered by Extension (Table 2). Figure 1 shows many counties lack health and nutrition programs with the exception of a beverage campaign.
