More than 2 million low-income individuals in Illinois rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
for food aid, but the program could face a big setback under U.S. House
Budget Committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R, WI-1) proposed budget released last week.
Ryan’s plan aims to block grant the flexible SNAP program, which has about 47 million participants.
Under
the plan, the federal government would give pots of cash to states to
run the program, leaving them to customize it to their recipients’ needs
and determine eligibility requirements.
“Like Medicaid,
SNAP suffers from a flawed structure,” the budget plan says. “States
receive more money if they enroll more people in the program — so their
incentive is to get people onto the rolls. They have little incentive to
help people get off the rolls and find work. In fact, these programs
make it harder to become independent.”
That’s not the right approach, said Beverly Henry, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Northern Illinois University’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
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Thousands of low-income families throughout Illinois could lose food
aid if Congress passes the deep cuts to federal assistance currently
being proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the
findings of a 
A federal grant could double the number of Illinois farmers markets that accept electronic payments, 
A $182,000 federal grant from the United States Department of
Agriculture could provide up to 150 Illinois farmers’ markets with free
wireless machines that accept debit, credit and Link cards.
For the first time, data pertaining to food insecurity and hunger exists on a neighborhood and suburban level for the Chicagoland area. The numbers reveal stark contrasts between Chicago neighborhoods as well as suburbs. Citywide, a staggering 20.6 percent of the population suffers from food insecurity, which is defined as reduced quality, variety or desirability in a diet that leads to disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.