In an April 26th announcement, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service announced a $5 million competitive grant program to develop improvements in operation of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Applicants for grants are required to address designated priority areas, including:

• Introducing technology-based solutions to increase enrollment among underserved populations
• Updating client communication and administrative processes to improve service and responsiveness
• Developing methods to transition from COVID operations and to address disaster response

Previous grants under the program have resulted in new mobile applications, allowing SNAP recipients to use phones and other mobile devices to receive notices, status updates and to verify electronic benefits.