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Federal budget language would eliminate SNAP‑Ed and AmeriCorps slots serving Dunn County, Extension staff say
Summary
Kristen, Area Extension Director, told the committee that House-passed budget language would “remove all SNAP dollars,” a change that would eliminate SNAP‑Ed (FoodWIse) funding that supports local educators and programming across three counties.
Kristen, Area Extension Director, told the Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee that language in a House-passed budget would “remove all SNAP dollars. So that would be a complete cut of the SNAP program, which would include the SNAP‑Ed program.”
The committee heard that SNAP‑Ed—branded in the transcript as FoodWIse—supports local educators: “We have 3.8 FTEs, 4 positions across the 3 counties,” Kristen said, naming a coordinator (Sandy) and three educators who serve Dunn, Chippewa and Eau Claire counties. Kristen described the federal provision as a congressional committee action that was included in the House budget and awaiting Senate consideration.
Kristen also reported that the national AmeriCorps program was eliminated by executive action, and that the cut removed AmeriCorps slots that had supported 4‑H: “The AmeriCorps program was cut, and the impacts for Extension is that we had 4‑H AmeriCorps members that were serving across Wisconsin.” She said state and local partners used UW–Madison funds and donations to honor commitments to those youth in the short term.
Committee members discussed notifying the full county board. Tom urged staff to forward Kristen’s memo to the county board “with a short note saying that this item was brought to our attention at the meeting,” and Bob (committee chair) said he would forward the memo if the committee agreed. The committee treated the exchange as informational; members debated whether to wait for Senate action or provide an early heads-up to the county board.
The committee also heard staffing updates tied to the potential cuts: Hillary Roth left her Chippewa County position and Macy Lean has accepted a regional assignment and will serve Dunn County if funding and hiring continue; an Extension summer intern, Sam Stevens (UW–River Falls), was hired to support youth programming.
Discussion vs. decision: committee members framed the report as an informational briefing; the group agreed to forward Kristen’s memo to the county board for awareness rather than as a formal policy recommendation. No formal policy action or vote on advocacy was recorded at the meeting.
Why it matters: SNAP‑Ed provides nutrition education and supports school and youth programming; AmeriCorps positions supplied capacity for 4‑H and other Extension activities. Committee members emphasized the local human impact even while describing the staff response as focused on serving existing participants while monitoring federal action.
What remains unresolved: the House budget language had not cleared the Senate at the time of the meeting; the committee noted funding and position counts but the total county funding figure reported in the meeting was unclear in the transcript (see clarifying details).
