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City briefs council on Virginia plan to backfill SNAP benefits if federal payments stop

Alexandria City Council · October 28, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Alexandria staff outlined the state's proposed Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA) program that would deliver equivalent benefits via existing EBT cards beginning Nov. 3 if a federal shutdown persists. The city said it will coordinate outreach and limited food distributions for affected households.

The City of Alexandria's Department of Community and Human Services told council on Oct. 28 that Virginia plans to operate a parallel program to SNAP — the Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance Program, or VENA — if federal SNAP payments stop.

Kate Garvey, director of the Department of Community and Human Services, said the state declared a state of emergency that enables an alternative benefit distribution. Under the state plan,…

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