Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance
[Print Version]
Hispanic families add to the vibrant diversity of US society and
contribute significantly to our cultural melting pot. In 2008, 15
percent of the U.S. population was Hispanic and 24 percent of U.S.
population was under age 18. Latino families are much more likely to
live in poverty and experience food insecurity than white non-Hispanic
households.
USDA nutrition assistance programs offer a variety of ways for
low-income Hispanic families to meet basic needs:
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The Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp
Program, helps low-income households supplement their food
purchases so they can purchase more and healthier food. The
Nation’s largest nutrition assistance program, delivers
benefits to nearly 38 million people each month. About 14.8
percent of participants were Hispanic in 2008. |
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The Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, and
referrals to health and other social services for pregnant,
breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children
up to age five, who meet income guidelines and are at
nutritional risk. In most States, WIC participants received
vouchers or checks to purchase specific food each month that
are designed to supplement their diets with specific
nutrients that benefit WIC’s target population. In FY 2008,
USDA spent nearly $6.2 billion to serve just over 8.7
million WIC participants. Hispanics represent the largest
racial/ethnic group in the WIC Program. In 2008 about 41.2
percent of those enrolled in WIC were of Hispanic origin.
That year, about 900,000 Hispanic infants born in the United
States participated in WIC. |
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The Child Nutrition Programs
provide cash reimbursement and commodity support for meals
served to children in schools, child care facilities, and
summer settings. Programs include the National School Lunch
and Breakfast Programs, the Child and Adult Care Food
Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Special
Milk Program. The general purpose of these programs is to
help ensure the health and well being of all the Nation’s
children. In FY 2008, more than $9.3 billion in cash and
commodities were provided. These resources resulted in meals
for approximately 31 million children on an average day
during the school year and more than 2.2 million during the
summer months. |
USDA also administers a
variety of other nutrition assistance programs that provide
meals, food packages, or vouchers redeemable for food. These
include the Emergency Food Assistance Program serving those
who use soup kitchens and food pantries and the Commodity
Supplemental Food Program providing food packages to
low-income seniors, infants, young children, and pregnant,
breastfeeding, and other postpartum women. While not
targeted specifically to Hispanic persons with low incomes,
these programs are a part of the overall safety net to
ensure healthy diets for everyone in America. About 12.9
percent of the participants in the Commodity Supplemental
Food Program were Hispanic in 2009. |
Although many low-income Latinos participate in USDA’s nutrition
assistance programs, a
large number do not. In 2006, about 56 percent of people in SNAP
eligible households with a Hispanic head participated in the program.
People in Hispanic-headed households represent a more than one-quarter
of eligible people who do not participate.
The bottom line is that while about 15 percent of households in the
United States were food insecure at some time during 2008, the rate of
food insecurity among Hispanic families was over 25 percent.
USDA is making a concerted effort to address barriers to program
participation among eligible Hispanics, including immigrants. The effort
covers a broad range of activities:
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Targeting Outreach to the
Hispanic Community. The agency has reached out to
underserved groups to raise awareness of the nutrition
benefits of SNAP, including significant efforts to reach the
Spanish-speaking population. These include: |
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A national media campaign to
promote the nutrition benefits of SNAP and educate
non-participating eligible people, including radio
advertisements in English and Spanish, is now going into its
seventh year. Advertising carries the SNAP national toll
free number or a State-specific toll free information
numbers.nal
toll free number and/or State-specific toll free information
numbers. |
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A web-based pre-screening tool in
English and Spanish provides users with estimates of their
eligibility and benefit amounts. This tool is online at
http://www.snap-step1.usda.gov. |
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A national toll free number
provides information about the program in Spanish or English
and includes the option to receive a packet of information
by mail. |
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Educational posters and flyers in
English and Spanish which may be ordered for use in local
outreach campaigns, along with a photo library, including
pictures of Hispanic individuals and families, that can be
used in promotional and informational materials. These
resources are available at
http://foodstamp.ntis.gov/. |
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A Hispanic outreach plan, now under
development, to better reach and educate the Hispanic
audience about the nutrition benefits of the SNAP. |
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A national SNAP Outreach Coalition
to bring together national and local organizations working
with low-income audiences. Coalition members share effective
outreach strategies to educate eligible, non-participating,
low-income Hispanic people about the benefits of SNAP. |
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Participation Grants for projects that look at ways that
State partnerships can improve access, and make the
application and intake process more user-friendly. |
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Outreach Grants for small neighborhood and faith-based
organizations to study the effectiveness of strategies to
inform eligible low-income people about the program. |
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Partnering with Mexico. USDA
and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership
to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the
United States about available nutrition assistance. Mexico
will help disseminate this information through its
embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices. |
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Making Program Application
Easier for Non-English Speakers. While SNAP
currently offers a number of informational and promotional
materials in Spanish for potential applicants and retailers,
USDA is expanding the number and types of products
available in Spanish and other languages. States with web
sites must post their applications on the Internet in the
same languages they currently use for paper applications.
The school meal programs also make applications for free and
reduced-price meals available in Spanish. |
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Promoting Healthy Food Choices
in Ways that Are Understandable and Culturally Relevant.
As USDA tackles the nationwide problem of poor eating habits
and the health consequences, appealing materials are being
developed at an appropriate reading level in Spanish, along
with examples that reflect the food preferences and
consumption patterns of the low-income Hispanic population. |
Nutrition Education Reaching Hispanics
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Spanish-Language Dietary Guidelines and MiPirámide:
Both the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the popular
http://www.MyPyramid.gov website are available to the public
in Spanish-language editions, to make it easier for
Hispanics and other Spanish-speaking Americans to find
nutrition information vital to good health, and personalize
that information to their own lifestyle. USDA’s Team
Nutrition also has two parent flyers in Spanish-language
editions |
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Eat Smart. Play Hard. ™materials are available
in Spanish. The materials promote healthy eating and
physical activity using kid’s activity sheets, bookmarks,
posters, and parent brochures. The posters and activity
sheets are bilingual: Spanish on one side and English on the
other. The brochures and bookmarks are also in Spanish and
English. Team Nutrition also has two flyers for
Spanish-language parents: Tips for Families and Preschool
Pointers. All of these materials can be viewed and
downloaded from links on the following web page:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/eatsmartplayhard/Collection/main.html;
and can be ordered from
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/resources_spanish.html |
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The SNAP Nutrition Connection is an online
resource system designed to facilitate communication and
resource sharing among SNAP-Ed providers. Nutrition
education materials written in Spanish are available on the
FSNC website, http://www.snap.nal.usda.gov. These materials
include a recipe finder in English and Spanish with more
than 400 easy, low cost, and tasty recipes as well as Loving
Your Family, Feeding Their Future, nutrition education
materials targeted for low literacy Hispanics mothers. |
These initiatives should ensure that Hispanic households and other
immigrant groups take advantage of the help available when they need
some help to become self-sufficient. After all, the United States values
its diversity and will not leave its newest residents to fall behind.
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