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County officials and advocates urge Durham residents to oppose proposed SNAP cuts
Summary
At the May 12 meeting, Durham staff and public-health advocates warned that proposed federal cuts to SNAP would harm food security, increase local health-care costs, and hurt farmers; Commissioner Jacobs asked staff to produce a county letter to the delegation.
Durham County social-services and public-health staff told commissioners May 12 that cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under consideration at the federal level would have immediate and damaging effects on local families, food-insecure households and the regional economy. County staff provided enrollment and usage figures and urged residents to contact federal elected officials to oppose reductions.
"So if SNAP benefits are cut, then families are gonna be forced to either have to pay other utilities, rent," said Latoya Chambers, assistant director of Family Economic Independence at Durham County Social Services, describing how SNAP benefits support household food security and free school meal eligibility for children. Chambers said Durham administers nearly 35,000 FNS participants and about 17,563 households and that staff process roughly 1,100 applications per month.
Kelly Wernott of Durham County Department of Public Health pointed to economic impacts: SNAP purchases generate local economic activity and support farmers markets; she said SNAP customers spent roughly $70,000 at local farmers markets and that investing in SNAP reduces downstream health-care costs. Commissioners, led by Commissioner Jacobs, asked staff to prepare a county letter on county letterhead to the federal delegation and state associations urging preservation of SNAP, and they encouraged residents to share stories and contact senators and representatives.
Board members framed the issue as a county vulnerability: several commissioners said Durham lacks capacity to backfill federal cuts locally and that paired programs (school meals, health-care access) would be strained. Staff agreed to coordinate on outreach materials and a formal letter to the delegation.
