Step Up Savannah, Inc. has received a grant totaling more than $90,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service to support a county wide effort to increase enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP).
Step Up and its partner organizations will provide community-based eligibility screening and application assistance to individuals and families for this federal benefit, formerly known as food stamps. This project also will strengthen outreach and assistance in the Hispanic community.
The partner organizations that will benefit from these federal funds are St. Mary’s Community Center, Union Mission’s Employment and Training Center, Savannah Technical College, the Moses Jackson Family Advancement Center and West Broad Street YMCA. Step Up will also provide eligibility screening and application and renewal assistance services to low-wage employees at employer sites in the area.
The grant will reimburse 50 percent of project costs and will cover expenses such as part-time benefits specialists, supplies and the education necessary to properly train and equip specialists to screen eligible SNAP consumers at several locations, and developing and producing educational materials appropriate for various local audiences.
Seniors, consumers whose first language is not English, and children in eligible families continue to be underserved in Chatham County. More than 17 percent of Georgia households are “food insecure,” meaning families go hungry and are not eating healthy and balanced meals on a regular basis. Locally, as many as 70 percent of school-age children in Chatham County are at risk for hunger, according to America’s Second Harvest.
AARP also received an FNS grant to support its outreach to seniors in 12 counties, including Bulloch, Chatham, and Liberty, eligible to apply for food stamps.