How New York is Leading the Way in Online SNAP

On April 20, 2023, NYHealth hosted a webinar with grantees and partners that are leading the way to offer SNAP online to their local communities, as well as supporting, strengthening, and building equity within the local food system.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food. SNAP helps low-income working people, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and others feed their families.

Online ordering and home delivery for SNAP recipients is a promising solution, particularly for users who are home bound or have transportation issues, especially in rural areas. Until recently, options for becoming a SNAP online vendor and for accessing SNAP online, particularly for low-income, rural SNAP users, have been limited.

Recently, NYHealth grantee The Hub on the Hill (the Hub) and its partner AdkAction became the first food hub in the nation to accept SNAP payments online. The Hub is one of only 30 SNAP online vendors in New York State, a group almost entirely made up of large chain stores.

Panelists were:

• Sawyer Cresap (sawyer@adkaction.org), Executive Director, AdkAction;
• Erica Raml (eraml@fairfoodnetwork.org), Senior Director of Nutrition Incentives, Fair Food Network;
• Lindsay Willemain, Executive Director, The Hub on the Hill; and
• Joshua McGuire, Program Director, Double Up Food Bucks.

Watch the webinar recording here.