Browsing by Subject "SNAP"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Challenges to food and nutrition security among low-income communities
    (2021-10) Karnik, Harshada
    This dissertation highlights challenges to food and nutrition security, and the practices households adopt to overcome these challenges. In the first essay, I use primary data to study social capital and food security through the case study of Somali refugee households in the Midwest. In the second essay, I evaluate the impact of two interventions designed to increase nutrition awareness -- succinct nutrition labels displayed on the shelf and nutrition education workshops -- on food purchase choices of shoppers in grocery stores in rural Kansas. In the third essay, I study how the store format choices of households receiving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits change over the benefit month and how additional benefits received are distributed across store formats and over the benefit month using SNAP administrative data from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area.I find that non-monetary constraints add to the costs households incur and that reducing these costs can improve food and nutrition security. In the Somali-American community, social capital enhances food security possibly by reducing obstacles that would have otherwise increased cost. Among rural residents reducing the cost of information empowers them to make healthier choices. SNAP recipient households tend to redeem more benefits at grocery stores indicating their preference for grocery stores, yet they make a small number of redemptions at convenience stores every month suggesting their need to rely on convenience stores. The findings of this doctoral research suggest that cash transfer programs are necessary to help families overcome financial constraints, but creative solutions could help to overcome non-monetary challenges and reduce costs to access sufficient and nutritious foods and consequently promote more equitable health outcomes for all.
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    Food For The Hungry: The Impact of Increased SNAP Payouts on Hunger
    (Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 2014-05-03) Rolando, Dominique
    In 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This legislation provided an increase in Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) payouts of 15%, on average. Employing the Linear Probability, Logit and Ordered Logit Difference-in-Difference models, I estimate the impact of this payout increase on reported hunger. I use data from the Food Security Supplement of the Current Population Survey. The results show that increases in SNAP payouts have reduced the probability of being hungry at all in the previous month. Furthermore, when estimating the impact on the frequency of hunger, I find that those who are likely to report being hungry more often experience larger reductions in their probability of being hungry due to increases in SNAP payouts. These findings support the effectiveness of increased SNAP payouts during harsh economic times and further help identify the level of reported hunger for which increasing payouts is more significant.
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    Supporting Farmers Markets in Accepting SNAP Benefits
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2018) Nicholson, David