City Heights mother Latonya Frazier has started substituting healthier ingredients in her soul food recipes, thanks to nutrition education from the Network for a Healthy California. Federal funding for the program was cut in January’s fiscal cliff deal. | Photo Credit: Amina Sheik Mohamed
By Megan Burks
State Patches Hole in Nutrition Funding, Aired Feb. 19 on KPBS Radio
[audio:http://speakcityheights.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/20130219-MEB-SNAP_1.mp3]
More federal budget cuts loom in the form of sequestration. But local anti-obesity programs are only now discovering how they fared in the last round of cuts – January’s fiscal cliff deal.
Federal lawmakers cut more than $100 million from SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) in that deal. The program aims to help food stamp recipients develop healthy eating habits.
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In this October 2011 Speak City Heights video, Latonya Frazier explains how nutrition education has helped her and her children change their eating habits. | Video Credit: Brian Myers |
Here in San Diego, that money is funneled into the county’s anti-obesity work. It’s also used by the Network for a Healthy California for local nutrition campaigns geared toward African-American and Latino families, who are more at risk of being overweight or obese.
Matthew Marsom is vice president of the Public Health Institute, which helps manage the Network for a Healthy California.
“SNAP Education is a significant investment for all Americans,” Marsom said. “Today, we are faced with increasing rise of chronic disease that is undermining the strength of our economy. This is a problem for everybody.”
California lost about $40 million in SNAP-Ed funding. But Michael Weston, a spokesman for the California Department of Social Services, said the state has found $36 million in one-time funds to fill the gap this year. Those dollars come from a 2011 grant the federal government recently disbursed to the state.
The money pays for things like healthy soul food cookbooks and outreach in grocery stores, schools and churches.
SNAP benefits, known as CalFresh or food stamps, were not affected by the fiscal cliff deal and are exempt from sequestration.