MANCHESTER – The New Hampshire Food Bank has received a $195,000 national grant to strengthen its advocacy work on behalf of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative.

The Food Bank was awarded the grant from Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs. SNAP plays a critical role in ensuring families and individuals in New Hampshire can put food on the table during difficult times, and this new investment will help expand efforts to protect and advance the program statewide.

With the support from the grant, the Food Bank is strategically partnering with New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, a leading hunger advocacy organization, to expand its community advocacy capacity, increase engagement with SNAP recipients and strengthen policy and advocacy coalitions at the state and regional levels. The Food Bank is also partnering with strategic communications firm, Montagne Powers, and Robert Dunn, director of Public Policy for the Manchester Diocese, to raise public awareness through integrated social media and outreach campaigns, while enhancing its ability to engage in administrative advocacy that improves the program’s efficiency and effectiveness.

“This grant will allow us to not only amplify the voices of those who rely on SNAP, but also to build stronger partnerships and broaden awareness of how vital the program is to fighting hunger,” said Food Bank Executive Director Elsy Cipriani. “By bringing communities together, sharing stories and advancing policies that make SNAP stronger, we can ensure more people have access to the nutrition they need to thrive. We are uniquely positioned to elevate and enhance SNAP advocacy efforts to ensure all Granite Staters are receiving the food and resources they need.”

While about 42,000 New Hampshire households are enrolled in SNAP, Feeding America statistics indicate one in nine or about 150,000 New Hampshire residents experience food insecurity, underscoring the reality that the need is much greater. According to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, 5.5 percent of New Hampshire’s population is enrolled in SNAP, which equates to about 77,000 individuals.

“SNAP is our most powerful tool for fighting hunger in New Hampshire. It exists to help all of us when we are in need,” said Laura Milliken, executive director of New Hampshire Hunger Solutions. “We are thrilled to be partnering with the New Hampshire Food Bank on advocacy to ensure we can ease access and remove barriers to this vital program. Recent changes to SNAP at the federal level will make it harder for many in New Hampshire to access the program and will shift costs to our state. We look forward to working with the New Hampshire Food Bank to ensure that SNAP can continue to protect New Hampshire residents against hunger.”

With the Feeding America grant support, the Food Bank will leverage its network of more than 400 partner agencies and community partners to advocate for SNAP statewide to raise awareness and to strengthen existing coalitions and networks of support. The Food Bank is working to create resources, toolkits and other collateral to raise awareness for SNAP, and to educate and empower its community partners, including its network of partner agencies, to advocate for SNAP throughout the Granite State.