Hawaii’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed)(formerly Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program) Project collaboratively (Collaboration wheel and USDA-FNS Hawaii Council memorandum) provides practical nutrition education for Hawaii’s low-income households. Through a working partnership, the Hawaii Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service jointly facilitates nutrition education services delivery with support and guidance from USDA-FNS Hawaii Council, a memorandum of understanding consortium of United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Programs.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Programs share the common mission of ensuring access to nutritious, healthy diets for all Americans. Therefore, food assistance and nutrition education programs for low-income Americans facilitate the promotion of healthful diets through educational efforts encouraging consumers to make healthful food choices. An eminent example of such a program is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The SNAP includes activities designed to increase nutrition knowledge as well as to encourage behavior change to persons that are eligible for the SNAP, in the likelihood that healthful food choices are made with a limited budget. A physically active lifestyle is also commended. Both nutrition education and physical activity are compatible concepts with the most recent dietary advice as reflected in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid.
Goals:
To safeguard the health and well-being of low income households by providing access to a healthy, nutritious diet with the encouragement of physical activity.
Objectives:
To focus on dietary quality, food security, food safety, food resource management/shopping behaviors and environmental changes.
Also, to encourage the consumption of more fruits and vegetables everyday as well as a physically active lifestyle.
