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 fe...
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