The Federal Supplemental Nutrition Program, SNAP, used to be called food stamps. In 2008, along with the new name, it launched its diet information campaign aimed largely at older adults.

But the Ohio State University Extension Service that administers “SNAP-Ed” here had a different idea: Focus on the kids. Project Director Pat Bebo says, “They actually are the change agents for the family.  Interestingly they often look at the behaviors of the family, not to make themselves healthier, but to make other people in the family healthier.”

In three years since the change in emphasis, the number of youngsters and teens in Ohio SNAP-Ed has gone from just over 18,000 to close to 180,000.