Program helps low-income residents eat healthier for better quality of life

By Reina Hasting

Today’s column serves as an excellent opportunity to share information about one of the UAF Cooperative Extension Services programs. It is called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program Education (SNAP-Ed), which has job openings that can be found at careers.alaska.edu.

SNAP-Ed is a nationwide nutrition education and obesity prevention program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. Why do we have such programs? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who are overweight or obese — compared to those with a healthy weight — are at increased risk for many serious diseases and health conditions such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, coronary heart disease, mental illness such as clinical depression, anxiety and other mental disorders, many types of cancer, and all causes of death (mortality).

The 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System shows states and territories overall had an obesity prevalence higher than 20% (more than 1 in 5 adults). Alaska had an obesity prevalence of 32.1% (more than 1 in 3 adults).

Sometimes, people assume SNAP and SNAP-Ed are the same program. SNAP provides monthly Electronic Benefits Transfer payments to help the very lowest-income households, which also meet strict qualifications, buy healthy food during severe economic hardship. In 2020, 86% of Alaska’s eligible population received SNAP Benefits. Of the 92,000 people on SNAP, one-third were children.

SNAP-Ed aims to help all people with incomes low enough for other USDA assistance — or similar means-tested programs — during hard times and for the long term, by offering three essential services:

• Education: To make healthy choices, stretch food dollars, and be physically active for good health.

• Infrastructure: To help organizations, businesses, residents, and whole communities work together and across silos to make healthy changes easier, more accessible, and more affordable in all low-resource settings, especially through practical changes in policy, systems, and environmental conditions.

• Large-scale approaches: Sponsoring social marketing campaigns and backbone support for public-private collaborations to increase the impact of diverse on-the-ground programs. SNAP-Ed achieves its purpose by partnering with mission-aligned organizations, whole communities and whole states.

An integral partner of the State of Alaska Department of Health in this statewide effort is the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Services, which is hiring for the SNAP-Ed program. Are you, or someone you know, passionate about health and wellness? Do you want to empower people in your community to achieve a better quality of life? If so, we are seeking enthusiastic individuals to join our team as nutrition educators for the SNAP-Ed program in Dillingham, Fairbanks and Nome.

The successful candidate will participate in wellness activities throughout the community, teach food preparation, food safety, nutrition, and food resource management and physical activity. They will recruit clients from eligible audiences and complete necessary client records as required. Job requires local travel within the district with a personal vehicle and may require travel to other areas.

This position requires a creative self-starter with basic computer skills and strong communication skills, such as database entry and maintenance knowledge and the ability to file and organize large amounts of information. If this is you, apply at careers.alaska.edu and join us in our mission to inspire and empower under-served Alaskans to improve their health by promoting awareness, education, and community change through diverse partnerships, resulting in healthy eating and active living that contribute to better quality of life.

Reina Hasting is a coordinator with Extension’s Family Nutrition Program, administered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with the U.S.D.A. Contact her at rhhasting@alaska.edu or 907-474-2437.