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Local Extension Program Faces Staff Losses After Federal SNAP-Ed Cut
Summary
Champaign County Extension director says a congressional cut to SNAP-Ed will eliminate about 12 FTE statewide, about 10 in Champaign County, forcing program reductions and local staff layoffs; county board members discussed short-term stopgaps including ARPA funds.
Ginger Base, county extension director for Champaign, Ford and Vermilion counties, told the Champaign County Board during a legislative budget hearing that a federal cut to the SNAP-Ed program will force the Cooperative Extension to lose roughly 12 full-time equivalent positions nationwide and about 10 positions that had been based in Champaign County. The program, Base said, served some of the county’s most vulnerable residents with nutrition education, school and senior programming, and community gardening projects.
The loss will start taking effect when current funding sunsets in February, Base said, and represents about one-third of the extension’s operating budget. "This program reached really our most…
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