The City of Madison and Dane County announced Monday they will partner together to ensure low-income individuals can continue to use their food stamp dollars at the Dane County Farmers’ Market.
Low-income individuals that are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal food aid program, often use Electronic Benefit Transfer cards. These cards provide a plastic payment form that have been accepted at the farmers’ market and resulted in over $50,000 federal food assistance dollars being spent in 2013, which is the most federal food assistance dollars of any market in Wisconsin, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
The Community Action Coalition has covered the cost of the program since 2012, according to the statement. In the beginning of the year, the CAC indicated they would not have enough funds to continue covering the EBT program cost.
“We are pleased to join the county to ensure programming is maintained at the Dane County Farmers’ Market for SNAP participants,” Mayor Paul Soglin said in the statement. “SNAP is the critical safety net in the fight against hunger and programming at farmers’ markets provides equal opportunity for everyone to access fresh, healthy and local food.”
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi echoed the mayor’s sentiment, emphasizing the importance of access to locally grown, healthy food.
“This partnership with the City of Madison will help ensure that people have more access to fresh food, healthy food for their families,” Parisi said in the statement. “The SNAP program, and maintaining its link to farmers markets, is critical for so many families.”
Organizations that volunteer to help operate EBT program for SNAP users will have the option of requesting additional funding for other markets.
