The Battle Creek-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation has announced $1.2 million in funding to help provide low-income people in Michigan with improved access to healthy, fresh food by doubling the value of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits used at farmers' markets.

Operated by the Detroit-based Fair Food Network, the Double Up Food Bucks program enables shoppers using SNAP benefit cards to purchase fresh food at farmers' markets. For every $2 spent, shoppers receive $2 in bonus tokens, up to $20 per visit. The tokens can be used to buy more fresh, locally grown foods. The program is serving residents in Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Saginaw, and Traverse City, communities in which an average of 17 percent of residents receive SNAP benefits and 30 percent of children receive food assistance.

"Low-income communities have less access to fresh, healthy foods," said Fair Food Network president and CEO Oran Hesterman. "Double Up Food Bucks provides an incentive to use SNAP benefits at markets filled with fresh food rather than stores with few healthy choices. This not only stretches residents' food dollars, it keeps those food dollars in the local community, supporting local farmers."