SNAP-Ed's Federal Money Ran Out Sept. 30, 2026 — 7 U.S.C. § 2036a Is Still on the Books

TL;DR: Required federal SNAP-Ed funding ended with the fiscal 2025 grant, the last carryover dollars had to be spent by Sept. 30, 2026, and 7 U.S.C. § 2036a — the section defining who the program served and how states ran it — remains in the U.S. Code.

Oregon's Department of Human Services said on Oct. 22, 2026 that the state's SNAP-Ed program had closed, one of a run of wind-downs that followed the Sept. 30, 2026 deadline for spending the last federal SNAP-Ed dollars. The program lost its funding, not its statute: Section 10107 of Public Law 119-21, which President Donald J. Trump signed on July 4, 2025, amended Section 28(d)(1)(F) of the Food and Nutrition Act so the fiscal 2025 allocation is the last one required by law, according to an April 20, 2026 Federal Register notice.

The section still describes eligible participants, state plan rules, allowable uses and reporting duties. What it no longer carries is required funding beyond fiscal 2025.

What 7 U.S.C. § 2036a sets up

The section, titled "Nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program," lets state agencies run programs that encourage healthy food choices and physical activity consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published under 7 U.S.C. 5341, according to the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

"Eligible individual" reaches beyond SNAP enrollment: people eligible for SNAP, people eligible under three cross-referenced provisions at 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A), 1766(c)(4) and 1773(e)(1)(A), residents of communities with a significant low-income population as the Secretary determines, and other low-income people the Secretary finds eligible.

States can run the work themselves or contract with other state and local agencies and community groups. A state that opts in files a nutrition education state plan identifying local project uses, showing that interventions fit participants with limited resources who may qualify for federal food assistance, and explaining how an electronic system will measure projects and track administrative costs, from salaries and travel to rent, indirect costs and publicly owned space.

Allowable uses are identified by the Food and Nutrition Service Administrator with the CDC director and include one-on-one and group nutrition teaching, health promotion efforts, intervention strategies, multilevel institutional approaches, and community and public health work. The Administrator must also consult the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's director and outside experts, including researchers, practitioners, state and local officials and community organizations serving low-income residents. An online clearinghouse of best practices and technical assistance for state agencies are also part of the section's design.

States must tell applicants and participants about available services as far as practicable, may coordinate with the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program with the Secretary's approval, and file annual reports by Jan. 31.

The funding clause that ran out

The money moved through a formula. 7 U.S.C. 2036a(d)(1)(F) set each year's amount from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025 at the prior year's level adjusted for consumer price inflation, based on the published code text; Section 10107 stopped it at fiscal 2025.

States then had two options, according to USDA's index of SNAP-Ed questions and answers: close the fiscal 2025 grant and return unspent money, or file a state plan by Aug. 15, 2025 — or Aug. 31, 2025 with an approved extension — committing to have the money spent by Sept. 30, 2026.

The April 20, 2026 notice renewed the plan and report paperwork, OMB control number 0584-0683, so states could file final annual reports before closeout. It listed 197 respondents and 186,455 total burden hours, with comments due May 20, 2026.

What closed at the end of September

The University of Georgia said its program finished on Sept. 30 after 13 years, having reached nearly 65,000 low-income Georgians through education since its 2013 launch and about 3.3 million people a year through social marketing campaigns. Jung Sun Lee, the program's principal investigator, said the team built partnerships with roughly 150 organizations statewide.

Oregon's human services department said its program drew roughly 28,000 participants a year to classes and workshops, and more than 100,000 people to Food Hero community events, with about $9.5 million in federal money annually. Oregon State University Extension, the implementing agency, said the money accounted for about three-quarters of its Family and Community Health Extension budget and that SNAP-Ed reached all 36 counties and nine federally recognized Tribes in 2024.

In New York, SNAP-Ed concluded on Sept. 30 after more than 30 years. Cornell Cooperative Extension reported that the program reached about 1.8 million New Yorkers in 2025 through more than 35,000 workshops at over 900 sites with more than 1,500 partners, and that 58% of evaluated participants improved fruit intake while the same share improved vegetable intake.

How large the program had become

Reuters reported in September 2025 that the 30-year-old program reached nearly 2 million people in 2022. USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture traces it to the Food Stamp Act of 1977: seven states used $661,000 in federal funds in 1992, and by 2004 the effort ran nationwide on nearly $460 million, including $228.6 million from SNAP administration funds. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 made it a formula-funded grant program.

A May 30, 2025 Food and Nutrition Service memo projected a national fiscal 2026 SNAP-Ed allocation of $550 million, with California's share estimated at $136,518,377; it described the figures as planning estimates. The Congressional Research Service reported that the Congressional Budget Office estimated the nutrition subtitle of P.L. 119-21 would reduce federal spending by almost $187 billion from fiscal 2025 through fiscal 2034, counting the end of mandatory SNAP-Ed funding among the changes.

What outlasts the grants

States file plans and annual reports through the National Program Evaluation and Reporting System, the April 20 notice said. Closeout guidance also covers property: in a summary published by Thompson Grants, USDA said equipment bought with SNAP-Ed funds may stay in use while needed, then pass first to other FNS-funded programs, then other USDA programs, then other federally supported programs.

Where the materials went

Some resources stayed online. Oregon's Food Hero site, which the state said holds more than 500 recipes, was expected to remain available, and Oregon State University Extension said it would keep offering nutrition and health education under a new regional framework. SNAP-Ed New York said its materials would remain online for as long as possible. The University of Georgia urged former participants to keep applying the healthy eating and active-living strategies they learned.