Double Up Food Bucks receives $10 million grant to continue, expand program

The goal of the program is to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables by providing incentives to income-eligible consumers participating in the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). For every SNAP dollar spent on fresh produce, Double Up Food Bucks provides an additional dollar toward more fresh produce. The program currently operates at more than 160 grocery stores, farmers markets and farm stands across Kansas and Missouri. 

The new funding will serve to increase the purchase and consumption of fresh produce by low-income Kansas and Missouri consumers, thereby improving the nutrition and food security for an estimated 120,000 SNAP users and their families. More than 130 communities will benefit from more food dollars supporting their local farm-direct and grocery locations, benefiting customers, producers, farmers markets and grocery stores alike.

The Double Up Food Bucks program is administered by the Double Up – Heartland Collaborative, comprising partnering organizations that recruit and coordinate with farmers markets and grocery stores, promote and evaluate the program. The program partners are Kansas State University Research and Extension, Cultivate KC, University of Missouri Extension and the University of Kansas Medical Center. 

The GusNIP grant award includes match funding by local and regional funders, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, Health Forward Foundation, the Elevance Foundation, the Hall Family Foundation, Kansas Health Foundation, Kansas State University – Olathe Campus, the Marion and Henry Bloch Foundation, the Patterson Family Foundation, the Sunflower Foundation and the William T. Kemper Foundation.