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The Eat Well, Be Well
Rewards Program
The Eat Well Be Well Rewards Program (EWBW) offers an innovative approach to address food insecurity by making fresh produce more affordable through a monetary SNAP incentive.
- Program Overview
The Eat Well Be Well Rewards Program (EWBW) offers an innovative approach to address food insecurity by making fresh produce more affordable through a monetary SNAP incentive. EWBW will provide all ~140,000 SNAP recipients in Rhode Island with 50% off their fresh fruit and vegetable purchases at participating retailers across the state. SNAP recipients will receive this incentive automatically at the cash register. SNAP customers will receive an additional 50 cents for every SNAP dollar spent on eligible fresh fruit and vegetable purchases up to $25. This will be applied to their EBT cards immediately after the purchase is complete and can be used to purchase any SNAP-eligible item. The Rhode Island Eat Well, Be Well Rewards Program is the first and only statewide retail SNAP incentive program in the United States.
- Why is the Eat Well Be Well Rewards Program Important?
According to the RI Community Food Bank, food insecurity, defined by the USDA as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food, currently impacts nearly 1 in 3 households in Rhode Island. Additionally, the Food Bank Status Report on Hunger stated that people of color are disproportionately impacted by the burden of food insecurity; 48% of Black households and 51% of Latinx households experienced food insecurity versus 23% of white households in Rhode Island. SNAP supports low-income families, but healthy food items, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are extremely cost-prohibitive for this population. The average household in Rhode Island receives approximately $315 in benefits per month which is equivalent to $3.75 per household per meal according to the Brown University School of Public Health. It is difficult to imagine that this amount is adequate to feed your family a healthy, nutritious meal with this budget. The goal of this program is to substantially alleviate food insecurity for Rhode Island’s most vulnerable families.
The Eat Well Be Well Rewards program is a market-based solution to help alleviate food insecurity and promote healthy eating for Rhode Island’s lowest-income families while supporting the state’s retail grocery businesses.
- Eat Well, Be Well Rewards Advocacy Efforts
Rhode Island has approximately 140,000 SNAP recipients, comprised of the state’s most vulnerable community members, including over 46,000 children and 30,000 seniors. Several published studies have found SNAP recipients consistently report that their benefits do not last the whole month. Access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food is a basic human right and the Eat Well, Be Well Rewards program is critical to ensuring this right for thousands of low-income Rhode Islanders.
This program has been funded by a one-time state budgetary appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly during the 2022 legislative session. The EWBWR will currently operate until funds are expended or additional funding becomes available. To secure additional funding robust advocacy efforts are needed. Tell your legislators and the Governor today how important it is to keep funding the Eat Well, Be Well Rewards program in this year’s state budget.
- Eat Well, Be Well Rewards Program Evaluation Overview
The Rhode Island Public Health Institute (RIPHI) has been contracted by the Department of Human Services (DHS) to lead the evaluation of the Eat Well, Be Well Rewards program. This evaluation is multi-purpose:
- Learn the impact EWBWR is having on food and nutrition security as well as fruit and vegetable consumption for SNAP recipients.
- Improve the EWBWR program over time.
- Gather lessons learned to promote RI as a nationwide model.
- Serve as an advocacy tool to seek continuous funding from the General Assembly.
To measure the program’s impacts, RIPHI staff will be conducting quantitative surveys with grocery store customers before and after the EWBWR program has been implemented. Using this methodology, we will be able to determine if there was a change in reported food and nutrition security status as well as fruit and vegetable consumption after the EWBWR program was implemented. Grocery store customers will receive up to a $40 gift card to the retail store for participating in the survey. We do not ask customers for identifying information in taking the survey.
To determine the effectiveness of the program implementation, including the barriers and facilitators of implementation, RIPHI will conduct qualitative focus groups and key stakeholder interviews. These interviews and focus groups will take place with individuals who were involved in implementing this program or impacted by this program at all levels, including retail grocery store management, cashiers, policy makers, IT professionals and members of the DHS team.
The Eat Well, Be Well Rewards program is the first statewide program of its kind in the country and the evaluation is crucial to understanding both the short- and long-term impacts of this program. The data from this evaluation will be published in a publicly available report upon completion.
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Eat Well, Be Well Rewards program is a nutrition incentive program operated by the Rhode Island Department of Human Services. This program enables all SNAP recipients in the state of Rhode Island to receive a monetary incentive reward for their fresh fruit and vegetable purchases at participating retailers throughout the state.
You can visit the Rhode Island Department of Human Services website to find a complete list of all retailers participating in the program: https://dhs.ri.gov/SNAP-Eat-Well-Be-Well
- Fresh Fruits and vegetables that are cut or whole.
- Edible seeds (e.g., sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds)
- Fresh herbs
- Salad Kits – inclusive of products that have cheese, croutons, dressing, etc. included.
- Pomegranate cup (fresh arils)
- Potted fruit, vegetable and herb plants (i.e. basil)
- Fresh garlic
SNAP participants are eligible to receive a 50% rebate on eligible fresh fruit and vegetable purchases for every dollar spent up to $25.
There is a monthly cap of $25 per SNAP household. This means a SNAP household can spend $50 per month on eligible fresh fruits and vegetables and receive up to a $25 reimbursement incentive back onto their EBT card.
The reward incentive is given to the SNAP recipient as an automatic reimbursement directly on the participants’ EBT card. The SNAP recipient does not need to take any additional steps to receive this incentive. The incentive will be reimbursed immediately after the purchase of any eligible items back onto the recipients’ EBT card.
There are two ways you can check your EWBW rewards balance:
- It is printed on the bottom of the receipt when you check out at the grocery store.
- You can access it via phone or your online SNAP portal like you would normally to find your monthly SNAP balance.
Please email the Department of Human Services at dhs.ebtinquiry@dhs.ri.gov
This program was funded through an $11.5 million budgetary appropriation of the Rhode Island General Assembly to the Department of Human Services during the 2022 legislative session.
Currently, this program will operate until funds are expended or additional funding becomes available.
Visit here to contact your legislators and the governor to let them know how important this program is to you and your family and to ask that they continue to fund the EWBW Rewards program.
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