The Trump Administration’s Agriculture Department is giving Connecticut a $2.4 million bonus for being one of the top states in the nation in enrolling eligible households into the federal food stamp program, known as SNAP.
SNAP helps low-income families and individuals afford the cost of food by providing a federally funded electronic debit card.
The USDA says Connecticut is one of six states that processed SNAP applications the fastest last year. The state provided food aid to more than 92 percent of its eligible population, based on the federal poverty guideline.
State Social Services Commissioner Roderick Bremby says that’s up from 60 percent eight years ago.
“Since that time we’ve been able to apply technology, business process improvement, as well as adding additional staff, to begin to build out a way to be reliable in putting these applications through the paces properly.”
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy says this shows that the state is doing an excellent job of bringing in federal dollars into its supermarkets, grocery stores and farmers markets.
He says the $2.4 million bonus will be invested in technology and improvements in administration, distribution, and fraud prevention.
