Three Jacksonville City Council members are preparing legislation to contribute $2 million to Feeding Northeast Florida to help offset lost funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Council members Ju’Coby Pittman, Rahman Johnson and Reggie Gaffney Jr. spoke at a Nov. 7 special meeting about their interest in finding money to help Jacksonville residents who have lost SNAP benefits amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
While the trio didn’t leave the meeting with a complete plan on how to acquire those funds, Johnson said he would finalize details over the weekend. Johnson, who represents a district with an estimated 4,887 households receiving SNAP benefits, plans to introduce legislation before the next Council meeting Nov. 12
“This is a crisis. People are hurting and we’ve got to do something,” Johnson said. “This is the little part we can do, but it’s something that could change families’ lives, at least until we get the country back open and running.”
SNAP is a federally funded program that supplements low-income households’ food budgets. It stopped distributing full funds at the end of October as the shutdown reached the one-month mark.
According to news reports, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration Nov. 6 to deliver November payments for SNAP in full to states by Nov. 7. The administration appealed that decision Nov. 7, seeking an emergency stay.
Should the shutdown end before his bill is passed, Johnson said he would withdraw the proposal.
The city estimates that 160,000 of its residents received SNAP benefits in 2023. Parvez Ahmed, city chief of analytics, said those figures have likely increased over the past two years. He estimated that Jacksonville residents were receiving $30 million a month in SNAP benefits before the shutdown.
Johnson proposed appropriating the funds from three potential sources: the city’s reserve funds, the city’s debt management fund or a funding bill proposed by Council member Raul Arias, which would allocate $15 million for education and workforce training.
Johnson, Pittman and Gaffney did not land on a funding source during the public meeting.
Johnson said he could file the bill as an in-and-out emergency item for the Nov. 12 Council meeting, which means the item would be taken up and voted on that night.
However, he also expressed interest in allowing for more rigorous debate around the bill, and said he could file it as a one-cycle emergency, which would see a full Council vote Nov. 25, or without an emergency, meaning the bill would get a vote in the new year.
Feeding Northeast Florida is a Jacksonville-area food bank that services Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties. The organization says it distributes 97,000 meals daily.
The bill’s introduction would be the city’s second action in trying to assuage the loss of SNAP benefits. The city announced the creation of the Duval Care Coalition on Nov. 5, which comprises faith-based organizations, nonprofits and community food banks to assist residents during the federal government shutdown.
Those interested in contributing to the organizations in the Duval Care Coalition can find where to donate at https://www.jacksonville.gov/snap.