Family & Consumer Sciences Extension

Program Specifics Q1. What is the purpose of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education? The goal of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) is to improve the likelihood that persons eligible for the Food Benefit Program (formerly Food Stamp Program) will make healthy choices within a limited budget and choose physically active lifestyles consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid.gov. Q2. What are the expectations of agents and SNAP-Ed assistants by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)? According to the SNAP-Ed Guidance, the following responsibilities are listed: Delivers nutrition education services to food benefit eligible’s according to approved SNAP-Ed plan Helps food benefit eligible’s understand how to eat a healthy diet on a limited food budget using food benefits and managing their food resources Uses appropriate educational strategies and implementation methods to reach food benefit audience Collects and reports data regarding participation in SNAP-Ed and characteristics of those served Builds relationships with other local service providers (WIC, local health departments, school meals programs, community based services, senior centers, housing authorities, food pantries) so referrals of food benefit participants to other nutrition and health related services can be made as appropriate Provides referrals to the Food Benefits Program for low-income non-participants to access food benefits, as appropriate  Q3. What is the difference between EFNEP and SNAP-Ed?   EFNEP SNAP-Ed Program Assistants Teach nutrition education to low-income audience with emphasis on young families with children Teach nutrition education to food benefits recipient, eligible and seniors County Agents Provide supervision for program assistants Provide support for program assistants Plan, conduct and evaluate educational programs Provide supervision for program assistants Coordinate volunteers Funding Source USDA CSREES/Grants.gov Line item in the Smith Lever Act USDA FNS Grant Restrictions 60% of funding must be used to deliver the program (salaries and support for program assistants) Projects must be developed for specific audiences or geographical areas with specific budgets. Amendments required if 10% variation in category Target Audience Low income households with children Food benefit participants with emphasis on adults Audiences Q4. Who is the SNAP-Ed audience? Lessons taught to people in the following programs have already been qualified as eligible for SNAP-Ed services.   Food Benefit participants People eligible for food benefit WIC recipients WIC and Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program participants: KDA Farmers Market website Commodity food participants People living in a zip code where 50% or more of the population is at 185% of poverty or  below can be counted Children attending a school where 50% or more of the students are on free or reduced lunch Q5.  Does everyone need to be a food benefit participant to be able to count the program? If 50% or more of those attending the class or activity meet the guidelines of the target audience, the time involved can be reported for SNAP-Ed. If less than 50% of the audience is eligible, then time must be PRORATED accordingly. For example, if your school district is 40% free and reduced lunch and you spent 5 hours on a presentation, then you should only report 2 hours.  (5 x .40 = 2) Q6. What can 4-H Agents do to get funds without overlapping with EFNEP and FCS?  How do you go about it?  4-H target audience is youth.  EFNEP and FCS targets adults.  Counties can divide grade levels, schools or geographic areas.  Try working together (example: Boot Camp) with each person’s strengths (food prep vs. importance of physical activity). With Kentucky having such a high poverty and obesity rate there is lots of work for everyone.  Lessons/ Programs Q7. What subjects count toward SNAP-Ed? For the time to be reported as “SNAP-Ed time,” THE LESSONS MUST BE TAUGHT TO FOOD BENEFIT RECIPIENTS OR THOSE ELIGIBLETO RECEIVE FOOD BENEFITS and NUTRITION INFORMATION MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE LESSON.  According to the Food and Nutrition Service, States are encourage to focus their efforts on the following behavioral outcomes: Eat fruits and vegetables, whole grain, and fat free or low fat milk products everyday Be physically active everyday as part of a healthy lifestyle Balance calorie intake from food and beverages with calories expended. States may address other behavior outcomes consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as long as the primary emphasis remains on dietary quality. Examples of programs or lesson topics are as follows: My Pyramid/My Plate 2010 Dietary Guidelines Balancing calorie intake with calories expended Demonstrating and encouraging physical activity every day Food preparation “Literacy, Eating and Activity for Preschoolers” and/or Primary (Leap) curriculum “OrganWise” curriculum “Steps to a Healthier You” curriculum “Get Moving Kentucky”  Weight the Reality Series Pregnancy Workshop (March of Dimes curriculum) Cooking Schools Community Baby Showers Super Star Chef Nutrition/Health Day Camps “Fantastic Foods” curriculum After school nutrition projects 4-H cooking classes WIC and Senior Farmer’s Market Nutrition Programs Food demonstrations at WIC and Senior Farmers Markets How to store, select, prepare fresh produce                        Kitchen cleanliness Hand washing Food Storage and Handling Food Preservation “Fight Bac” How to handle/store meat or game safely Cooking meat or game correctly What to do when the power goes out Keeping Food safe from Pests Keeping Food Safe from Home Poison and Chemicals Planning meals Reading Labels Creating shopping lists Food Preservation Budgeting How to select meat Where do the different cuts come from? Why does the cost vary? Which cuts have less fat? Hunting and Fishing Types of fish/ game How to prepare/ preserve Utilizing commodity products and emergency food Container gardening Raised bed gardening Community gardens Organic gardening Food Preservation Food Purchasing/ Advertising Accessing all federal food programs Accessing food when none is available/local resources Backpack programs Decreasing hunger Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud (if recipe is appropriate) Q8. What are some good ideas for 4-H to do? 4-H nutrition curriculum.  Professor Popcorn and Power Panther materials are available.  Jessamine County did a Boot Camp and Camp Cupcake for middle school age youth during spring break.  Family nights are successful since families want to spend time together.  Pulaski County does a family cooking night one night per month.  Fleming does a book and cook – read a book that discusses food and prepare a recipe using the food in the book. Reporting Time Q9. Who can report SNAP-Ed time? Any Extension agent, program assistant or volunteer who is teaching nutrition education DIRECTLY or INDIRECTLY, or spending time on the administration of the program. Time spent by federally funded employees such as EFNEP assistants, cannot be counted. Only county funded program assistants (full or part-time) may report any SNAP-Ed time. Q10. What is DIRECT teaching? Direct teaching is when you prepare, present, and travel for a lesson to a group or individual.  Q11. What is INDIRECT teaching? Indirect teaching is the distribution of information and resources, including any mass media communications, public events, and materials distributed that do not meet the definition of Direct Teaching. Indirect teaching includes: Distribution of newsletters or educational materials Writing local news articles Preparing exhibits, billboards or bulletin boards Presenting TV demonstrations or segments Q12.  What can be reported as time and effort? Included in the DIRECT TEACHING time are: lesson preparation food purchasing lesson planning traveling to location of meeting traveling to purchase food/ supplies for meeting meeting with the local agency administrator to plan programs Included in the INDIRECT TEACHING time are: preparing or distributing newsletters writing news articles setting up displays local radio and television announcements of nutrition education events for SNAP-Ed eligible people Included in the ADMINISTRATION TIME are: reporting supervision of SNAP-Ed assistants evaluation of program in-service training Q13. How do you report SNAP-Ed hours? After logging onto CATPAWS, click “Food Stamp Nutrition Edu” on the left side of the page.  You will have the option to enter a record, edit a previous entry, view commitment reports, view the county balance for food demonstration and duplication reimbursement, run agent report and access the receipt form to send with original receipts for food sampling reimbursement.  Q14. Can volunteer time be reported? Volunteers who conduct nutrition education programs/activities can count their time toward SNAP-Ed. Q15. How can county volunteers report time? Each time volunteers teach nutrition education, the state and federal regulations say they should complete a time sheet with date and time worked which must be signed by the volunteer and the supervising agent. The Volunteer Time Sheet Form can be found here: Volunteer.pdf The volunteer form should be submitted monthly to:   Stephanie Fisher One Quality Street Suite 649 Lexington, Ky. 40507 Q16. It is necessary to have a form for a volunteer’s signature for SNAP-Ed.  Why can’t agents report volunteer hours and contacts on CatPaws. Every person who submits time toward SNAP-Ed must have a signed time record.  Since the CATPAWS site is password protected, the federal reviewer has approved this form of record keeping for UK.  Since volunteers are not UK employees, they can’t log into CAT PAWS.  Therefore, a signed paper record with the date and time must be on file Examples on Counting SNAP-Ed Time Direct Instruction Examples A LEAP lesson is presented at Head Start. Direct Instruction time can be counted as: 20 minutes at the grocery store 20 minutes preparing the fresh vegetables 20 minute travel to and from the center 30 minute lesson Hours reported:  1.5 hours An agent presents a 30 minute lesson at the local food benefit office on the importance of calcium.  A food demonstration on fruit smoothies is held as part of the lesson. Six SNAP-Edrecipients attend. Direct Instruction time can be counted as: 30 minutes meeting and planning with Food benefit office manager 20 minutes travel to the grocery store 20 minutes purchasing food for demonstration 30 minutes preparing fruit and equipment for demonstration 20 minutes travel to Food Benefit office 60 minutes for lesson set up, teaching and clean up Hours reported:  3 hours An agent holds a health day camp at the local housing authority. Various activities throughout the day include learning to plant a container garden, preparing a healthy lunch, fruit and vegetable relays, bingo and physical activity.  Twenty youths from the housing authority attend.  Direct Instruction time as follows: 2 hours working and planning with the housing authority administrator 2 hours publicizing event through news articles and flyers 3 hours purchasing food and equipment, 2 hours travel time to grocery store, discount store and day camp 6 hours of instruction Hours reported: 15 hours An agent presents sixty-five 30 minute sessions to 1400 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on the subject of “Dangerous Look-A-Likes”, which falls under the Food Safety component.   Direct Instruction time can be counted as follows: 32.5 hours of teaching time 4 hours of travel time to schools Hours reported:  36.5 hours An agent works with the local senior housing authority to plant a community garden. The number of senior citizens who are considered food stamp eligible can be counted as contacts.   Direct Instruction time can be counted as follows: 16 hours working with the center manager and seniors to prepare the site and plant the garden 2 hours travel time 4 hours on site visits Hours reported: 20 hours (If all of the senior citizens are considered SNAP-Ed eligible, all of the time can be counted.  If less than 50% of people are SNAP-Ed recipients, the time must be prorated according to the percentage of those who qualify.  For example, if only 40%of the seniors qualify for SNAP, you can count 40% of your time, or 8 hours.) All agents in a county hold an annual “Ag Day” for 5th graders. The theme of the day is “Grow Your Own Pizza.” The informational sessions cover all ingredients needed for pizza, how to grow the ingredients, and how to prepare the pizza. Over 50 percent of the kids who attend are the SNAP-Ed target audience. Direct Instruction time counts as follows: 7 hrs of set up teaching and tear down time   2 hours of publicizing events to students 1 hours of making flyers for publication 4 hours of planning the event 2 hours of purchasing food and equipment 2 hours of travel time Total hours reported:18 hours The Hort /ANR agent from X County plans a SNAP-Ed project. The 5 Master Gardeners in the county teach the nutritious benefits of gardening to an SNAP-Ed target audience. Keep in mind garden equipment, fertilizer, purchase or rental of garden plots, seeds, plants and other gardening supplies are not allowed costs of SNAP-Ed. Only educational supplies and curriculum that reinforce the beneficial nutrition aspects of gardening are allowable costs. As the Master Gardeners teach nutrition education, they fill out the volunteer form and their time can be reported.  Each volunteer could report:      1 hour travel 1 hour planning 2 hours teaching beneficial nutrition aspects of gardening 4 hours per volunteer The agent could report: 2 hours teaching master gardeners beneficial nutrition aspects of gardening Indirect Instruction Examples An agent demonstrates how to prepare different types of squash at the WIC farmer’s market. Indirect instruction time (since the names of all the people that information is shared with are not known) is counted as follows:    2 hour preparing the demonstration foods 4 hours working at the market 30 minutes traveling to the market 30 minutes to get the demo table set up and broken down. Total hour reported: 7 hours “indirect” instruction.) ABC County distributes 400 "Healthy Choices for Healthy Families" SNAP-Ed newsletters. The county funded program assistant and 1 agent both distribute the newsletter. Indirect instruction time is counted as follows: Total agent hours reported:        1 hour, adding county information to the template 2 hours distributing to food stamp office, food bank, health department Total 3 hours Total assistant hours reported:   4 hours, distributing to 7 Family Resource Centers An agent distributes 1400 newsletters about nutrition to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at eleven schools. Duplication of SNAP-Ed newsletters can be reimbursed.  Indirect instruction time can be counted as follows: Total hours reported:  1 hour of typing 1 hour of copying 3 hours of distributing newsletters to schools 3 hours travel time to schools Total: 8 hours Reimbursement Procedures Q17.  How do we get reimbursed for the expenses used in the county for SNAP-Ed demonstration? When completing your SNAP-Ed report on the CATPAWS site, there is a place to list the cost of food demonstrations. (If your county plans to spend over $1,200.00 per year for food demonstrations, please get prior approval from Debra Cotterill at dcotteri@email.uky.edu.) A pop up box will appear when you enter food reimbursement expenses, reminding you to send the original receipt (required by UK) to: Stephanie Fisher One Quality Street, Suite 649 Lexington, Kentucky 40507 Attach the original receipt to the Receipt Form found on the Main Menu in CATPAWS or click here:  Receipt Form. Keep a copy of the receipt in your office. The 2012 SNAP-Ed report will maintain a running balance of food demonstration costs for your county. If the balance on the SNAP-Ed report does not look correct, contact Stephanie Fisher at stephanie.fisher@uky.edu.. Q18.  How do we get reimbursed for the expenses used in the county for duplication expenses? When completing your SNAP-Ed report on the CATPAWS site, there is a place to list the number of copies duplicated. Currently, SNAP-Ed reimburses counties 15 cents per copy for materials duplicated for SNAP-Ed. Q19. When will we receive the reimbursement checks? Stephanie Fisher will process reimbursements for the duplication and food demonstrations on a quarterly basis. The check stub will state “Food Reimbursement” or “Photocopy Reimbursement.”  The checks will be sent from the University of Kentucky to the County Extension Service.  Each Extension office handles the reimbursement differently. Contact your District Director with any questions. Q20.  Counties have been receiving boxes of incentives to be used for the SNAP-Ed programs.  Why can’t counties buy our own items? USDA FNS approves all items for purchase in advance.  When a purchase is made, all UK bid, purchasing and payment policies must be followed and reported to UK Sponsored Projects.  Buying large quantities allows for low prices and eliminates multiple set up fees. It also insures equity in vendor use. Q21. What are the items that are allowed to be reimbursable costs for SNAP-Ed? Chart of Allowable and Unallowable Costs for SNAP-Ed (2012) ALLOWABLE UNALLOWABLE Nutrition education/promotion materials that address SNAP-Ed topics and are for use with food stamp program eligibles. Costs for any nutrition education materials that have already been charged to another Federal or private program or source. Any material that endorses or promotes brand name products or retail stores. Negative written or visual expressions about specific foods, beverages or commodities. Local radio and TV announcements of nutrition education events for food benefit eligibles. Social marketing campaigns that target the general population. Nutrition education messages which convey negative messages or disparage specific foods, beverages or commodity, or which are not consistent with the Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid. Cost of food for recipe/taste testing purposes and cost of supplies necessary for food storage, preparation and display of food prepared for demonstration purposes. Food samples associated with a nutrition education lesson. Ongoing snack or food service. Meal size portions or complete meal service. Cost of food provided as groceries or supplemental food to give to participants. Items not allowed for purchase with food stamps, (i.e., ready-made food like carry-out pizza). Food items that do not support sound nutrition messages, i.e., candy, packages of cookies, potato chips, soda. Flowers for table decorations. Costs for food that has already been charged to another Federal or private program or source, such as Head Start providing food or a local grocery donating food. Classroom teaching for food benefit eligibles on nutrition related topics.  Primary purpose of class must be to provide nutrition education.  If nutrition education is included with other topics, only that portion of class pertaining to nutrition education is an allowable cost.  Physical activity demonstration, promotion, referral that includes a nutrition message. The pro rata share of costs of classes that are provided in conjunction with another program. Breastfeeding education, promotion and support which is coordinated with WIC and which supplements and complements WIC services, rather than supplanting them. Activities where the primary objectives pertain to allowable nutrition education, but brief SNAP-Ed outreach messages are also shared with SNAP-Ed participants.  SNAP-Ed materials are available for free on the FNS website at http://www.fns.usda.gov/SNAP//outreach/info.htm   Classes that are designed to provide case management or “life skills” training (e.g., classes on English as a second language, parenting, child development, crisis management, rental information) with no nutrition message. Medical nutrition therapy and secondary prevention interventions that requires expert input from a registered dietician or medical doctor. Individualized meal plans, weight loss classes, obesity treatment programs, etc. Ongoing physical activity and exercise classes, equipment or facilities. Clinical health screenings (i.e., cholesterol testing, body mass index, blood glucose testing, etc.) Nutrition education costs that are charged to another Federal program (e.g. WIC, EFNEP, Head Start, etc.) Breastfeeding education, promotion and support that duplicates or otherwise is provided for under other funding sources such as WIC, EFNEP, or Head Start. Education provided to zip codes with less than 50% poverty, schools with less than 50% free and reduced lunch, and people who are not eligible for food stamps such as persons in jails, prison, nursing homes and mental institutions. Educational supplies to teach gardening concepts that reinforce the beneficial nutrition aspects of gardening. Gardening equipment (fertilizer, tractors), rental of land for garden plots, seeds, plants, gardening supplies. Q22. Who is the check made out to?  District Board?  Agent? When the program began, counties were asked to whom the check should be sent.  Most are to the district board or the county Extension service.  Q23. Is there a budget amount to be spent on copies/food per county and or agent? The budget for food demonstration and duplication is developed by the number of contacts that agents anticipate on the commitment form.  Food demonstration is estimated at $1.50 per youth, $1.75 per adult.  Receipt for programs must not go over this amount.  Duplication is estimated at $0.15 per copy (number of copies varied per project).  Each county will receive a food reimbursement budget.  Budget amounts can be found in CATPAWS under “Budget Report”.  Please contact us if you need additional funds. SNAP-Ed dollars can NOT be used for prepared foods (pizza) and should show healthy choices as being reflected in the goals and objectives.  Q24. How do agents get money in their hand to go buy food and supplies for NEP programs? Some counties have established a special account for SNAP-Ed.  Agents will make purchases, send the original receipts to SNAP-Ed staff and reimburse the account when the quarterly check arrives.  Q25. How do we go about applying for reimbursement for programs? As you enter “Food Demo Cost” a box will pop up to remind you where to send the original receipt.  The receipts are held until the end of the quarter, totaled with other receipts for the county and checks are issued by UK accounting.  On the main menu, click “Receipt Form” Print, fill out and attach original receipts to the receipt form. Q26. Can we turn in food receipts or use incentive products with the EFNEP Program. EFNEP has received similar incentive items as the agents.  EFNEP assistants can’t turn in receipts for SNAP-Ed nutrition education. Q27. Where can I find a “Justice for All” poster to place in locations where Food Stamp Nutrition Education Programs are taking place? http://www.fns.usda.gov/cr/justice-translations/475a.pdf