SNAP RECIPIENTS FEEL STIGMA

Even as SNAP enrollment has surged in the past five years, the program and its participants are still haunted by stigmas and misconceptions, according to outreach coordinators from Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. Among the major stigmas associated with SNAP, according to one Texas coordinator, is the perception of Snap as a welfare program; she wants people to realize it is a nutrition assistance program. One of the biggest misconceptions, an outreach coordinator in Alabama said, is that people who don't work and who are trying to abuse the system use SNAP. Even if someone is eligible for benefits, he or she might not want to be thought of as one of those folks and may feel uncomfortable using their EBT card in a store, because someone could think they're one of those people who commit fraud.

 

Source: The Guardian, 4/17/14, SNAP Stigma