My Perspective Series
M. Sophie Vaughan, Guest Writer
Lived Experience: A Case for Removing Barriers ...

When I was in college, I didn’t have a dining budget. My parents didn’t put funds onto a college meal plan card so that I could eat lunch at the dining hall, and I didn’t have any sort of college savings set aside. I had SNAP. 

I grew up in poverty, and my parents never made it above lower-middle class, so I was mostly on my own through all three of my collegiate attempts. First, in Portland, Oregon, I worked as a barista to get through one semester of part-time classes at Portland Community College. SNAP helped me feed myself during this time, but life had other plans for me, and I dropped out after my first semester.

Lived Experience: A Case for Removing Barriers to SNAP for College Students
My Perspective Series
Gaby Halligan
Reflecting on Human-Centered Design in SNAP

Over the past decade, there has been a notable shift towards human-centered design in public benefits programs. Technology barriers are being re-evaluated by organizations like Nava, Civilla, and Code for America, to name a few. Thanks to these and other partners, advocates have a blueprint and field guide to apply human-centered design to digital benefits nationwide. 


However, this looks at only one aspect of benefits enrollment - the digital experience. Our current view of human-centered design often focuses on technology and web design, but human-centered design should be applied everywhere, because everything is designed. City planning is a great example of this....

Reflecting on Human-Centered Design in SNAP
My Perspective Series
Sofia Charlot
Black Agricultural Resistance, A Legacy that ...

Fannie Lou Hamer’s life experiences inspired generations of Black agricultural resistance in Atlanta and beyond.  Ms. Hamer was a sharecropper and domestic worker on the Marlowe Plantation for 18 years before she led a group of Black Mississippians to the state courthouse to apply to register to vote. She returned to an ultimatum from her employer, “either withdraw her application for voter registration or be fired…”

Black Agricultural Resistance, A Legacy that Persists
My Perspective Series
M. Sophie Vaughan, Guest Writer
Lived Experience: SNAP Support through Tough ...

Still, being a SNAP participant has a certain stigma, and I surely felt the sting. I still remember the looks I would get when I would occasionally shop at the local “gourmet” grocery store. At this store, you had to tell the cashier you were using EBT before swiping your card. My face would flush, and I’d mumble to the cashier, hoping the person behind me in line didn’t hear me. If only people could look past their judgment and see how an occasional treat soothed my heavy heart, easing my worries for just a moment. Everything was so hard — why did I have to feel guilty for the type of food that I chose at the grocery store?

Lived Experience: SNAP Support through Tough Times

state legislation

Why Red States?

Why Red States?

To succeed in red states, there are two core principles to keep in mind: 

  1. We must take seriously the amount of time, resources, and expertise required to beat back attacks on SNAP that are rooted in racism, classism, and misogyny. Advocates must be able to coordinate and sustain high-quality policymaker education, community and media engagement, and strategic coalition-building. 

  2. Defeat is not inevitable. No matter how big of a veto-proof majority a legislature may have or how many favors the bill sponsor can cash in, attacks on SNAP built upon misinformation and stereotypes about low-income people can be beaten. Just ask the savvy advocates in states like Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Ohio – all of whom have recently successfully stopped harmful SNAP legislation from becoming law.

Why Legislative Advocacy?

Why Legislative Advocacy?

“Welcome to state legislative advocacy season, folks. In many states, this is the limited window of time (often just a few short months) when major state policy changes can happen - for better or for worse. 

Unfortunately, there are anti-SNAP lobbying forces in state capitals who spend significant resources to convince states to adopt the most restrictive (and sometimes cruel) SNAP state options. Oftentimes these lobbyists manipulate state legislators who don’t actually know much about SNAP, but are convinced that there is a political upside to picking on the poor. When anti-SNAP bills are introduced, state SNAP advocates are often forced to drop other important work they are doing to stop these harmful provisions from making it into state law.