News  Massachusetts Launches Improved Nutrition Education Website for Households Receiving SNAP Benefits

Boston — The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) recently launched a revised Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) website: MASNAPED.org. SNAP-Ed promotes the Healthy Foods, Healthy Moves, and Healthy You initiative for individuals and families receiving SNAP benefits or other means-tested federal assistance programs, as well as individuals residing in communities with a significant (50 percent or greater) low-income population.  

Available in eight languages, including Chinese Traditional, Filipino, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese, the information provides evidence-based nutritional education and obesity prevention information to promote healthy food choices and physical activity consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 

The user and mobile friendly website includes: 

• healthy and culturally appropriate recipes,  

• cooking videos,  

• tips for shopping on a budget, and  

• a tool to find local physical activities.  

DTA sent a multilingual text message to over 500,000 households receiving SNAP on December 6, 2022 to connect them with the new website and SNAP-Ed resources. This latest text message builds on the agency’s SNAP-Ed outreach efforts. Last November and in May 2021, DTA sent text messages to connect families with the website, as well as blog posts on planting and growing your own produce and how to use the Healthy Incentive Program (HIP) benefit at local farmer markets. The text messages sent out last year played a significant role in increasing traffic flow, leading to 30,405 new users visiting the SNAP-Ed website.  

SNAP-Ed is a federally funded grant program administered in Massachusetts by DTA.  

Learn more about SNAP-Ed in Massachusetts at MASNAPED.org.