Technology nonprofit mRelief has already helped people access nearly $1 billion in SNAP benefits since its inception, and now it is looking to food banks nationwide to help it unlock even more funds.
The Chicago-based firm, founded in 2014, specializes in increasing awareness of SNAP and simplifying the bulky process of applying for it. Its eligibility screener, available via text message, makes it easy for people to find out if they qualify for benefits, then steers them toward assistance in applying. The process seeks to replace traditional SNAP applications that can be up to 17 pages long.
Now, mRelief has developed a way for food banks to play an assist in getting more people onto SNAP. It recently introduced a client relationship management system that connects applicants in need of assistance by phone to food bank staff who can help. Executive Director Zareena Meyn reported that hunger relief agencies that partnered with mRelief saw a 54% increase in SNAP-eligible leads in the community on average.
“We work really closely with local community-based organizations like food banks and social service agencies who have been doing SNAP outreach for decades,” Meyn said. “Those partnerships with those organizations are a really powerful way for us to build trust with communities and also spread awareness of our products.”
After partnering with mRelief, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, saw a 200% increase in its SNAP applications, specifically in rural communities. That increase translated into more than 2,000 families in rural Kansas being provided with SNAP information and the unlocking of almost $2 million in SNAP benefits in the region.
“Of course, that’s not going to be true across all partners, but I think that speaks to the potential overall increase in being able to help more people apply for benefits using our technology,” Meyn said.
mRelief so far is working with food banks and hunger relief agencies in 12 states, and would like to expand its hunger-relief partnerships to six additional states over the next year. It will prioritize states that have particularly onerous application processes and/or high rates of food insecurity.
Different regulations of the SNAP program nationwide have proven to be challenging for mRelief. The challenges that clients face when applying for the program are similar to those that the startup has to face.
“While SNAP is a federal program, each state administers it differently,” Meyn said. “In order for us to help people in each state apply, it takes a lot of research and pre-work to understand the policies in that specific state before we can introduce a process that works well with the system there.”
Clients have the most issues after the application is submitted, Meyn reported, as states are not explicit when instructing clients to submit documentation. mRelief hopes to empower people with as much information as possible about the process before clients have difficulty.
In addition to its food bank partners, mRelief has built relationships with 15 Chicago-based community food charities and social service agencies to build trust and bring more awareness to SNAP and its benefits. Through these relationships, mRelief has been able to connect over one million households there to SNAP benefits since its inception in 2014.
Partners of mRelief report that the technology is a time saver and that being able to help people with a simplified application and screening processes is gratifying.
“The most impactful thing to hear from someone is that it was so easy, it wasn’t an overwhelming process,” Meyn said. “Our mission is really to transform that process and the feedback that we hear speaks to the impact we’ve had.” – Adrianna Pray
Adrianna Pray is a first-year journalism student at Emerson College. In addition to Food Bank News, she writes for Emerson College’s student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon.
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