North Dakota’s healthy living educators for low-income families await their fate after federal cuts – InForum

BISMARCK — For over three decades, North Dakotans have learned about healthy foods and lifestyles through a federally funded program that connects low-income and rural communities to their local food systems through the Family Nutrition Program.

The Family Nutrition Program is the name for North Dakota’s SNAP-Ed program. It deploys educators to teach people about all things healthy living, from eating to exercise, and is administered through North Dakota State University Extension. It has 12 employees and serves thousands of families and individuals yearly.

According to the USDA,

North Dakota’s Family Nutrition Program received over $1.1 million from the federal government in 2025. However, come October, it will receive zero dollars after Congress chopped all funding for every program nationwide.

“It’s a half-billion dollars annually in spending, and with that half a billion dollars, it’s actually not putting food in any bellies,” Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., told Forum News Service. “That’s just strictly non-food programming. So, I think we’re looking for ways to save money and streamline the federal government and really focus on the things that are most important.”

The Family Nutrition Program is separate from the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,

known as SNAP or food stamps. The two programs often overlap and are both federally funded, but SNAP specifically works to provide financial food assistance to low-income people, whereas SNAP-Ed focuses on health education and outreach services.

Those services take a variety of forms, from gardening classes to exercise education.

The distinction between SNAP and SNAP-Ed is important when imagining the major funding shifts happening at the federal level, according to Jan Stankiewicz. Money for each program comes from different places and, therefore, changes to each under the passage of the “big, beautiful bill” will impact people differently, she said.

Stankiewicz is a community health and nutrition specialist and a tribal liaison at North Dakota State University. She supports SNAP-Ed educators working in communities across the state — big and small.

“SNAP-Ed is one of the only organizations in North Dakota that provides nutrition education to kids and families in schools or community organizations with community partnerships,” Stankiewicz said.

“Food access is a driver of health. And so when somebody has more food access, when someone is less food deficient, it tends to lead to healthier outcomes. And this is for kids and adults,” she said. “When it’s tougher to access food, it tends to couple with poor health outcomes both in the near future but also long term.”

Generally, the job of a SNAP-Ed educator is to help those who are eligible for food assistance find ways to “stretch” their assistance money and spend it on nutritional foods, she said. The 90-minute Healthy Cent$ class, for example, teaches people the cheapest, healthiest ways to plan meals and shop for groceries.

The services provided through the program can apply to populations beyond those on food stamps, according to Stankiewicz. She said it’s especially important in rural areas where people tend to have fewer healthy food options compared to people living in urban areas.

“If folks live further from a grocery store or place where they procure food, it’s just more difficult to get food. Food access also means: ‘What time does a grocery store operate? How far away is it?’ Transportation to a store can be difficult in North Dakota, as well,” Stankiewicz said.

After SNAP-Ed is eliminated, similar services will still be available through other programs, but not as many.

Stankiewicz and NDSU Extension told Forum News Service the office is awaiting further guidance from the federal government before announcing any job losses that may result from the program’s elimination.

Other Midwestern states have announced hundreds of eliminated positions. Minnesota, for example, has 60 full-time positions on the chopping block, and Michigan is looking at approximately 120, according to reporting from the

Minnesota Daily

and the

Michigan Advance,

respectively.

Fedorchak said she supports the cut because reports by the Government Accountability Office on SNAP-Ed and its success haven’t shown “any real measurable results.” She called it duplicative to programs that already exist, like the USDA’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, which is active in North Dakota, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s food assistance and food system resources.

“I don’t doubt that it’s valuable to educate people about how to spend their SNAP dollars more wisely,” she said.

According to the national 2024 SNAP-Ed impact report, every dollar spent on the program saved between $5.36 and $9.54 in health care, education and other productivity costs.

In 2024, over 2,400 adults and nearly 2,100 kids participated in North Dakota’s Family Nutrition Program.

Fedorchak said she doesn’t recall receiving the SNAP-Ed impact report and hadn’t heard from constituents about cutting the program. She also said she is confident nutrition education will continue without the SNAP-Ed dollars.

While nutrition education will go on, some North Dakotans will likely see a “gap” in it — specifically in low-income schools and community organizations, like food banks, according to Kelsie Tucholke, an NDSU Extension lead program coordinator and SNAP-Ed specialist.

“I know there’s a lot on their shoulders when making decisions, but they were given the information,” she said about the 2024 report and the state’s federal delegation.

Stankiewicz said the

North Dakota-specific data

shows the program has positive impacts in the seven counties where it’s active — Ward, Grand Forks, Stutsman, Burleigh, Richland, Cass and Benson counties.

“Our staff educators are the heart of the program,” she said. “They live in and with and alongside each community, and they do really meaningful work.”