Federal

• Provide ongoing support for and expansion of the Healthy Food Financing Initiatives (HFFI) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Department of the Treasury, which provide grants and loans to projects that increase access to healthy food, including grocery stores, corner stores, farmers markets, food hubs, co-ops and other food access businesses in urban and rural areas of need, many of which face barriers in accessing traditional resources.
• eWIC: Allow eWIC benefits to be spent at farmers markets, and reimburse smaller, independent retailers for technology upgrades to accept eWIC.
• FMNP: Secure ongoing funding to maintain or raise funding level for USDA’s Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). Provide funding to support organizations serving priority geographies in addressing barriers surrounding participation in and redemption of FMNP vouchers.
• SNAP Retailer Requirements: Provide training and technical support for store owners and consider store size when setting stocking requirements.

State (PA)

• Secure annual funding for the commonwealth’s HFFI program to support grocery retail, the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (PA FFFI).
• FMNP: Expand farmer applicant eligibility to also include market operators selling on behalf of an eligible farmer or producers from nearby states. Consider alternative partnerships to create new produce access points to help alleviate boundaries around FMNP redemption. 
• Establish and fund a state Local Food Purchasing Incentive (LFPI) program in Pennsylvania  to provide School Food Authorities with additional funds to partially or completely offset the cost of purchasing local foods and serving them in Child Nutrition Programs in K-12 schools, bringing kids and families better access to high-quality, nutritious foods while also strengthening local economies.

Local (Philadelphia)

• Provide funding to support and sustain farmers markets (operations and administration) and nutrition incentives.

Federal 

• Maintain and expand the USDA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), removing the match requirement and creating more opportunities for wider-reaching SNAP incentives and produce prescription programs to provide coupons for fruits and vegetables.
• Increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding and reduce barriers to SNAP enrollment by streamlining the application process and bolstering SNAP administrative capacity and customer service.

State (PA)

• Invest $2 million annually in the Food Bucks program, which allows SNAP recipients to stretch their benefits and receive nutrition incentives when they purchase fruits and vegetables.

Federal

• Double SNAP-Ed funding to support diverse, comprehensive, community-based programs that complement all federal food and nutrition grants. Simplify the restrictive income-targeting criteria for community sites, settings and social marketing campaigns to allow SNAP-Ed interventions in geographies with high (but not majority) proportions of income-eligible residents. Allow SNAP-Ed to provide information about changes in and benefits of SNAP. 

State

• Provide funding for the Pennsylvania Farm to School Network, a multi-sector collaborative that supports communities in implementing farm to school activities which connect children to local agriculture using three core strategies:  1) Procurement; 2) School Gardens and; 3) Hands-on Learning.