Barriers to Benefits: The New State of SNAP Access in Pennsylvania explores various barriers to SNAP such as: challenges receiving paperwork on time, difficulty communicating with the department, and issues navigating the program’s requirements. The event centered the experience of SNAP recipients as we called for improvements to state policies and practices.
Click here to read the full report.
The report covers the results of surveys and interviews with SNAP recipients conducted by Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow Tylah Harrison.
Executive Summary:
SNAP is a critical lifeline for 2 million Pennsylvanians. However, we know that many eligible families forego participation. As food insecurity rises locally and nationally in the post-pandemic world, it is imperative to assess how accessible the SNAP program is in Pennsylvania. Through surveys, interviews and focus groups, quantitative and qualitative data was gathered to investigate the current state of the PA Department of Human Services’ administration of SNAP.
View Barriers to Benefits one-pagers below to take a closer look at focus areas explored in the report.
Executive Summary ⋅ SNAP Churn ⋅ Customer Service Quality Concerns
Seniors ⋅ College Students ⋅ Recommendations
On December 5th, 2024, Just Harvest presented our report, Barriers to Benefits: The New State of SNAP Access in Pennsylvania to PA Secretary of Human Services Dr. Val Arkoosh. Just Harvest was joined by community partners including MariSol Little, Associate Director at University of Pittsburgh’s Care and Resource Support Office (CRS), Aubrey Plesh, the Executive Director for Team PSBG, and Ms. Gwen, a survey participant – to share their experiences and insights on barriers to SNAP.
“People think food is a luxury – it’s not. It’s a necessity. It’s a human right.” – Ms. Gwen
Comments are closed.