City of Chicago SNAP Protection Resolution
WHEREAS, No resident of Chicago should have to be food-insecure; and
WHEREAS, 581,558, or 1 in 5 residents in Chicago are experiencing food insecurity, meaning they lack access to adequate nutritious food for a healthy lifestyle; and
WHEREAS, 145,261, or just under 1 in 4 children in Chicago are experiencing food insecurity; and
WHEREAS, Food insecurity is experienced in every community area in the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Hunger increases health care costs, lowers workers' productivity, harms children's development, and diminishes children's educational performance; and
WHEREAS, Fighting hunger is a public-private partnership; in Chicago, a strong private network exists that has provided 680,000 million people in Illinois with more than 66 million pounds of food in Fiscal Year 2013; however, private charity cannot do it alone and a strong federal hunger relief safety net is required; and
WHEREAS, The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the cornerstone to the federal food and nutrition safety net; and
WHEREAS, SNAP is the cornerstone of the nutrition safety net, with 693,360 Chicago residents enrolled in the program; just under half of those utilizing the program are children; and
WHEREAS, SNAP provides an important economic stimulus to Chicago's communities, with every dollar in SNAP support spent generating $1.79 in economic activity; and
WHEREAS, any reduction in funding of or change in policy that seeks to exclude individuals participating in SNAP will increase the number of food-insecure people in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, threats to SNAP, exist in the current effort to reauthorize the Farm Bill; and
WHEREAS, Congress has proposed to cut up to $40 billion from SNAP in the Farm Bill, which would result in tremendous hardship for Chicago residents; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago seeks to encourage Congress to protect SNAP and support a Farm Bill with a strong Title IV that protects and strengthens federal food and nutrition programs; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and members ofthe Chicago City Council assembled this 11th day of September 2013 , are hereby opposed to cuts in SNAP in the Farm Bill or the federal governments annual budgeting process; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the members of the Illinois congressional delegation, the President of the United States, and the United States Secretary of Agriculture.
William D. Bums Alderman, 4th Ward City of Chicago