For many working families and seniors, getting access to healthy, affordable food is not taken for granted. I know this because I see this every day in my job. But right now, the communities I serve are going to face a whiplash from funding cuts that help put food on the table.
On July 4, 2025, a bill was signed into law that quietly gutted a program serving some of the most vulnerable people in our country. SNAP-Ed, the educational branch of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, was created to do more than provide food. It helped families stretch their limited benefits, taught kids to choose fruits and vegetables over junk food, and provided seniors with tools to eat well on a fixed income. Now, with the stroke of a pen, that lifeline is gone. As someone who has benefited from nutrition education and spent the last 20 years teaching it in communities across Macomb County, I know this loss is not just about budgets. It is about lives.
When I was first introduced to nutrition education, I was a new wife and mother living in low-income housing. We relied on SNAP benefits and learned how to stretch every dollar to feed our family. I participated in the very classes I now teach, learning about meal planning, basic nutrition, and how to prepare affordable, healthy meals. Those lessons helped us get through some of our toughest seasons. Over time, I became a nutrition instructor for Michigan State University Extension and earned three degrees while working in this role. Today, I am a homeowner and able to support my family. SNAP-Ed didn’t just teach me how to eat better. It helped me grow into a better wife, mother, teacher, and advocate.
SNAP-Ed reaches people of all ages, from preschoolers to senior citizens. It fills the gap between having access to food and knowing how to prepare it. I have seen children light up when they learn how to make fruit smoothies instead of grabbing a candy bar. I have seen grandparents tear up after learning how to lower their blood pressure through simple food choices. These are not abstract policy wins. These are lives changed.
Now that the bill has passed, SNAP-Ed programs across the country are being dismantled. Staff are losing their jobs. A program that has helped millions make healthier, more affordable food choices is being discontinued. This cut does not just affect workers like me. It will ripple into schools, clinics, food banks, and family kitchens. Without these classes, people will struggle in silence, with fewer tools and even fewer options.
We need our lawmakers to understand what has been taken away. And, most importantly, we need our communities to speak up. Contact your state and federal representatives. Support local food education efforts. Advocate for the reinstatement of SNAP-Ed. Nutrition education is not a luxury, it is a lifeline. I know because it changed my life.
Tiffany Stevens, MA, is a community nutrition instructor at Michigan State University Extension.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
