- Black Lives Matter South Bend is asking the city to use $4.8 million in cash reserves to aid residents affected by a halt in SNAP benefits.
- A federal government shutdown has suspended the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, impacting about 20,000 South Bend residents.
- Community leaders and some councilmembers are urging quick action, warning of potential crises like increased crime if the food shortage is not addressed.
SOUTH BEND — Black Lives Matter South Bend is calling on city leadership to use $4.8 million in cash reserves to help those impacted by the disruption of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits because of the government shutdown.
SNAP, also known as food stamps, is a federal program that provides low-income families with monthly benefits to afford healthy food.
In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture — which oversees the program — warned that SNAP money for November could be in jeopardy if the shutdown continues. But in a prominent new message on its website as of Oct. 27, the USDA said no benefits will be issued on Nov. 1.
Around 20,000 South Bend residents rely on SNAP benefits, according to previous Tribune reporting.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 29, community leaders, including representatives from Black Lives Matter South Bend, councilmembers Oliver Davis and Sherry Bolden-Simpson, and former councilmember Henry Davis Jr., urged the city to use reserves like the $12 million Rainy Day Fund and the $80 million General Fund to provide temporary food assistance to SNAP-dependent residents.
Kat Redding, vice president of Black Lives Matter South Bend, said the organization is calling on the Common Council and Mayor James Mueller’s office to hold a public hearing “to consider how our city can leverage its resources to help families in need.” Over 120 community members signed a petition calling for the hearing, she said.
“We have determined that the city can safely spend down, responsibly, $4.8 million to feed 20,000 SNAP recipients,” Redding said, “averaging $60 per household for up to four weeks.”
In a statement to The Tribune’s newsgathering partner, WNDU, Mueller said the city doesn’t have the resources to “fill the role of the federal government or backstop federal programs.”
“The City is always open to fiscally-responsible partnerships that advance our shared goals like food security,” Mueller said. “… The reckless partisan brinkmanship in Washington is the cause for this emerging crisis, and the only sustainable solution is for Congress to reopen the federal government and resume essential programs like SNAP. I hope Congress acts to meet the urgency of this moment and encourage our community to rally around our neighbors during these uncertain times.”
But others, like Davis Jr., said addressing this issue is Mueller’s job.
He added that ignoring it could lead to other problems, like increased crime, as people struggle to find food for themselves and their families.
South Bend needs to act quickly to address the issue, councilmember Bolden-Simpson said.
“We’re ignoring a storm that’s about to come, and we can tell,” she said. “Usually, things kind of sneak up on us. This is not a sneak attack. We can see it, and we need to prepare.”
Councilmember Davis said other cities in states like Ohio, California and Colorado are already putting money into food banks and other programs in response to the suspension. He and Bolden-Simpson are proposing a resolution to call for a public hearing at either an emergency meeting or the Common Council’s next scheduled meeting in November, Davis said.
The council meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, so the next scheduled meeting is for Nov. 10.
“We’ve got to make sure that everybody eats, no matter where you are coming from on the spectrum of life,” Councilmember Davis said, “because hunger is truly a bipartisan issue.”
Email South Bend Tribune staff reporter Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@gannett.com.
