What is the ROI from integrating nutrition incentive programs into EBT?

挑战

Fruits and vegetables are a core part of a healthy diet, but many families struggle to afford them. One way 州 and the federal government have tried to make it easier for families to eat healthy is by offering nutrition incentive programs. 这些项目, available to families on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 通常是按照购买的匹配来构建的. 例如, if a participating family spends $5 of SNAP funds on fruits and vegetables, they’ll get an extra $5 to spend on fruits and vegetables on their next shopping trip. That incentive is usually offered as a coupon or a token that the family gets at the register. FNS is now offering pilot grants for 3 州—Colorado, 华盛顿, and Louisiana—to integrate nutrition incentive programs into their electronic benefit transfer (EBT) systems, so that SNAP families would have their nutrition incentives loaded onto their EBT cards.

hg体育官网 is conducting an evaluation examining the cost of this integration, including documenting costs in each pilot state and estimating what the cost would be to extend this integration nationwide. We will also be estimating the return on investment (ROI) of integrated nutrition incentive programs and comparing it to the ROI of current nutrition incentive programs.

解决方案

hg体育官网’s in-depth experience with nutrition incentive programs means we are ideally suited to complete this study. We previously conducted an impact analysis of the state and nonprofit nutrition incentive programs not integrated with EBT, while members of our team also conducted earlier evaluations of Massachusetts’ integrated nutrition incentive program.

hg体育官网 has experience working with the complex administrative data produced by these types of pilots. We have established relationships with the 州 from prior studies, and we can coordinate across the multiple entities—including state agencies, 食品零售商, 光大通信处理器, and third-party processors—to gather clear and complete data. 我们的成本专家, 与此同时, can understand these data and produce robust estimates of total cost and estimates of nationwide cost and return on investment.

结果

通过这项研究, hg体育官网 will help policymakers understand the cost of EBT integration, not only in the short-term but continuing costs of operation. 这些估计, 反过来, 将为政策决定提供信息, as FNS decides how to structure funding for nutrition incentive programs going forward. 非营利组织, 州, and the federal government are all united in the commitment to improving the availability of healthy foods for SNAP families. 通过这项研究, hg体育官网 will help them determine how to do so efficiently and for the largest number of people.