SNAP cuts have Philadelphia’s food banks nervous about increased needs

The CEO of Philabundance Food Bank says President Donald Trump s Big Beautiful Bill will have several ugly consequences for Philadelphia s bulk vulnerable families The measure passed earlier this month includes deep cuts to spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Effort known as SNAP which could affect millions of Americans who rely on it Almost million Pennsylvania residents including people in and around Philadelphia stand to lose their SNAP benefits under these changes That will worsen countless measures of food insecurity including childhood hunger rates announced Philabundance s CEO Loree Jones-Brown Philadbundance serves multiple of the more than people in the area who face food insecurity What s really upsetting and concerning is that the numbers are already high and then we have this she stated Food banks across the region have already seen cuts to state and federal programs this year including the Local Food Purchasing Assistance Project which helped food banks to purchase produce and other items from Pennsylvania farmers Jones-Brown announced that for countless families food banks like Philabundance fill in the gaps between what they need and what SNAP provides Cutting SNAP will widen that gap dramatically For every meal that a food bank provides SNAP provides like nine meals she noted So we definitely are a part of the charitable food system and are a social safety net We re there for emergencies and we really help people when they have more month than money meaning they will run out of guidance before their benefits re-set with a new month Specific changes So what exactly is changing for the SNAP project There will be several differences stated University of Tennessee Associate Professor of Social Work Dr Stacia West The first thing we will see is a shift of the fiscal responsibility for SNAP administration and benefit payment from the federal ruling body down to the states she disclosed With these changes states would now be responsible for of benefit costs beginning in fiscal year and of administrative costs In the present benefits are federally funded and states cover only half of administrative costs In the state of Pennsylvania that s going to equal about million on top of an already operational deficit that we have for social services in the state West commented Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has expressed concerns about the state s ability to handle cuts to this activity In a new news conference the governor declared Pennsylvania can t backfill those cuts West explained another part of the changes is a shift in work requirements The second piece of the provision moves work requirements which were already in place from the age of all the way up to the age of she noted So previously when you were over years old you were not having to meet that monthly work requirement of exactly hours per month Now we re seeing that move up to age Largest part parents with children ages or older will also face new work requirements requiring at least hours of work each week to maintain benefits Multiple parents are currently exempt from work requirements until their children are The Trump administration proposes that rescinding work waivers would increase participation in the labor force and reduce dependency on federal aid However the U S is generally considered to be at or very near full employment and West mentioned this rationale for changes will likely not have the intended effect We don t have a dilemma with people in poverty not working she explained What we have is a labor industry that is unfriendly to people that have various other responsibilities including elder care or care of children Instead she mentioned if we were to invest in the infrastructure that allowed people to work full time and have better-paying jobs then that would veritably be a more efficient way to make SNAP less costly According to The Center on Budget and Plan Priorities families with children older adults and military veterans could be especially affected by these cuts as they often face various obstacles to employment and labor markets Also SNAP is often just partial assistance for families and does not cover the full cost of their groceries These cuts may make that gap bigger For a single adult with two kids in Philadelphia we can estimate their monthly food cost without SNAP just our average grocery store run is about she explained The average SNAP benefit in the state of Pennsylvania is about for that same size family So we ve got a pretty sizable gap there What we re talking about with these cuts is just increasing that gap more Hunger getting worse For food banks and those seeking food SNAP cuts could also affect hunger rates The definition of hunger is changing Jones-Brown explained especially as rising costs in other parts of a family s budget make food costs even more of a burden The face of hunger is really changing and expanding in this alarming and concerning way she explained adding that more dual-income households could find themselves in need of food assistance People often have a stereotype around what hunger looks like but she emphasized hunger can affect several more people than one may think Changes to other ruling body programs such as Medicaid will likely impact low-income households and increase the pressure on funds for food disclosed George Matysik executive director of Share Food Project a local food bank Share Food Operation has already seen a increase in need and folks coming to us since January of he explained If we re also gonna see cuts from the federal executive to programs like SNAP but also to programs like Medicaid that have real impacts on the folks that we serve indirectly we re gonna see that need continue to grow for organizations like ours Jones-Brown revealed cuts to all of these services can fall onto vulnerable populations specifically schoolchildren When kids don t get access to fresh healthy food they need early on from babies to adolescents we see things like babies brains not advancing properly she noted We see children not being able to pay attention in school and that affects behavior but also academic performance We see mood shifts in children Specific of the research shows that it can even lead to things as bad as mental wellness issues and suicidal ideations Moving forward What strategies are hunger and food insecurity experts implementing Experts agreed the approach moving forward would need to be multi-dimensional and would have to involve innovative strategies from all branches of governing body and nonprofits We absolutely are cost shifting explained Jones-Brown of Philabundance We re thinking about where and how we can be more efficient in other areas How do we do more with less Because we really do want to maintain that quantity and quality for our neighbors Matysik revealed food banks will likely be relying more heavily on donations and outside funders At Share Food Scheme more than ever we are gonna be needing to rely on the charity of others to help us get through this moment he disclosed With this huge increase and need of folks that we re needing to serve we need to be able to source more donations We need to be able to get more trucks on the road to get the products out to the folks that need it All of that costs money for us West explains there necessities to be help from state and local leaders to weather these changes Where the federal establishment is falling short we re seeing mayors city council leaders those sorts of folks step up with innovative programs that aims to meet the requirements of the population she mentioned And I think that s absolutely what will happen here I think there s a place now more than ever before for philanthropy to be hyperlocal and investing in our community-based organizations Even so Jones-Brown revealed the situation has her feeling uneasy I definitely believe that we have cabinet officers at every level that care about people and care about food banks but I just don t see how it s feasible that they can make up for those gaps she noted We re going to be talking with them and trying to hear what plans they have but I ve not yet heard a response to make up for those gaps The post SNAP cuts have Philadelphia s food banks nervous about increased demands appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY