The days of Elliott Smith trading a smoke for a food stamp dollar are gone. Food Stamps have evolved alongside the modern world. During that evolution, it has been rebranded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and its Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards (named ACCESS Cards in Pennsylvania) have become a symbol for the fight on poverty. Now, EBT users swipe the same machine as a bank card, and most states, including Pennsylvania, offer online EBT account management.
To Qualify: in Philadelphia, the maximum income (before taxes) for a single person is drawn at $1,444 per month; $1,943 for two; and the income limit goes on increasing by $499 per additional person until you reach a household of 8, where it drops to $49 for each person thereafter. Different income limits apply for the disabled and people 60 and over, and those not residing in the greater Philadelphia area.
Your financial profile will be reviewed, various documents will be requested, and you'll be interviewed. Bills are considered, as well as financial prospects (keep this in mind if you’ve got a degree), which opens a door to subjectivity that can make things a little fuzzy. A friend, unavailable for comment due to an unpaid phone bill, applied earlier this year, met the qualifications and was rejected on a decision he felt, had to do with a distaste for white, “college-aged,” skater punks.
What You Can Get: Food defined as: breads and cereals; fruits and vegetables; meats, fish and poultry; dairy products or seeds and plants which produce food. But definitions aren't strict, leaving purchases open to everything from vegetarian meat substitutes to candy and soda. Just remember, it’s funded by taxpayers as a means of survival not indulgence.
What You Can't Get: Booze and smokes, any non-food items such as: pet foods, soaps, paper products and other household supplies, vitamins and medicines, food to be eaten in the store and prepared foods. Though the rationale of considering a Snickers bar more of a nutritional supplement than a bottle of vitamins is beyond logic.
The Future of SNAP
Equipped with an EBT card, it's just as easy to enter a grocery store to buy vegetables, as it is to buy sugar-rich cereals and sodas. The goal of supplementing nutrition is at war with the national addiction to cheap, processed food. But as I learned at the farmer's market, efforts are being made to give EBT users access to fresh, local produce.
“We try to make it as easy as possible for the farmer and customer. With some grant money and fund raising on our own, we've been able to provide the EBT point-of-sale (POS) machines at all of our markets. But they're expensive, about a $1,000 per machine, and the fees are steep,” explained Food Trust Project Manager Nicky Uy.
The Food Trust operates 30 farmers' markets in the Greater Philadelphia area, all of which accept SNAP. Currently, Clark Park has one EBT machine, requiring ACCESS Card users to get a receipt for their purchases, pay at a centralized POS machine, and return to the vendor with payment confirmation to get their produce. The Food Trust then processes all EBT purchases and distributes payment accordingly to the vendors, completing an unreasonably lengthy transaction.
From June 2008 to February 2009, each vendor at Clark Park was equipped with a POS machine as an experiment on the viability of EBT beyond supermarkets, funded by a USDA Farmers’ Market Promotion Program grant. ACCESS card sales increased 74% at the Thursday market and 116% at the Saturday market.
“It was only financially viable because of the grant, but it did spur a few farmers to rent their own machines to test whether it was worth being able to process credit, debit, and EBT,” Uy said. “The EBT system wasn't designed with farmers' markets in mind, but there are a lot of grants being made available now as awareness starts to spread.”
This year, with the backing of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), The Food Trust markets are offering an ACCESS Card incentive with a two dollar EBT coupon for every five dollars spent at a farmers' market, meaning with twenty dollars spent another eight dollars goes into your EBT account to spend as you please. The program is funded as part of the CDC's fight against diseases resulting from smoking and obesity.
In other cities, low-income Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) accepting EBT installment payments are already functioning and may be on the horizon for Philadelphia. Farm to City, another farmers' market umbrella organization in the Greater Philadelphia area, could be leading the way with a pay-as-you-go CSA/farmer's market hybrid buying club for low-income individuals.
“Food Stamps” no longer equal Wonder bread, peanut butter, and ramen noodles. The innovations surrounding today's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program mean that if you qualify, you could be eating fresh foods from a local farm. It's still cheaper to buy processed junk food, but those in need who want better can now eat healthy on the government's dime.
If you meet the qualifications and feel you're in need, have ready:
Proof of ID, residency, social security number and verification of other income including; social security, worker’s compensation, unemployment, child support, pension, SSI or SSD. You may also need birth certificates for children, pay stubs for the past month’s work and proof of your expenses. If you can't produce these documents, the County Assistance Office is required to help you track them down. Otherwise, a collateral contact (employer, neighbor, landlord, social service agency, etc.) may be able to vouch for you.
There is a 30-day decision period, but if you've hit some hard luck there are expedited or emergency SNAP benefits to override the month-long wait. The average SNAP benefit allotment was $101 per person and about $227 per household in 2008.
How to apply:
Over the phone through the city's Coalition Against Hunger’s Food Stamp Hotline (215-430-0556)
In person at your County Assistance Office
Online through COMPASS for those in Pennsylvania
Trevor Dye is a freelance journalist covering all things thrifty, diy, green, and vegetarian. He resides in West Philly and moonlights as a yoga teacher. His work has appeared on Brokelyn.com.
Article photograph courtesy of The Food Trust, "Veg' Head" photograph from dustinj, via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Philly" photograph from camardella, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
