{"id":362775,"date":"2025-11-07T18:45:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T18:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/362775\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T18:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T18:45:22","slug":"jacksonville-councilman-to-request-2m-in-emergency-funding-to-help-those-impacted-by-snap-benefits-disruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/362775\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville councilman to request $2M in emergency funding to help those impacted by SNAP benefits disruptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 A Jacksonville councilman said Friday that he will be crafting legislation to formally request $2 million in emergency funding to help local families impacted by the disruption of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits amid the federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Councilman Rahman Johnson held an emergency meeting at City Hall to address the impact of the suspension of SNAP benefits and explore some possible options to help families in need. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThis is about dollars, dignity and decisions,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd Jacksonville is not going to abandon our people, our neighbors, to bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><b>RELATED | <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/04\/city-releases-data-on-snap-delay-effect-on-local-businesses-households\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/04\/city-releases-data-on-snap-delay-effect-on-local-businesses-households\/\"><b>City releases data on SNAP delay effect on local businesses, households<\/b><\/a><b> | <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/06\/the-shutdown-is-affecting-those-who-rely-on-snap-but-those-who-dont-are-struggling-with-rising-food-costs-as-well\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/06\/the-shutdown-is-affecting-those-who-rely-on-snap-but-those-who-dont-are-struggling-with-rising-food-costs-as-well\/\"><b>The shutdown is affecting those who rely on SNAP. But those who don\u2019t say they\u2019re also struggling with high food costs<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Johnson, who was joined by Councilwoman Ju\u2019Coby Pittman and Councilman Reggie Gaffney Jr., said he would like to see $2 million allocated to help those impacted by the SNAP suspensions. He also proposed some possible sources where the money could come from:<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><b>Option 1<\/b><\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p>A proposed legislation on workforce development, which includes millions of dollars for renovations to the University of North Florida and Edward Waters University and more, includes $3 million in funds that could come from the Tourist Development Council (TDC). Johnson said if that\u2019s the case, the city council could allocate $1 million from the $3 million to fund half of the amount requested.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p>The other half would come from the reserve. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><b>Option 2<\/b><\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p>Request $2 million from the reserve.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Johnson said if approved, he wants the funds to primarily go to Feeding Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe will gather, we will plan, and we will act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Dr. Parvez Ahmed, Chief of Analytics for the City of Jacksonville, joined the councilmembers during the meeting to go through some of the data and identify the areas that need the most help. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to the data, District 10, which is Pittman\u2019s district, has the highest percentage of households receiving SNAP benefits, at 14.5%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Pittman said she is concerned $2 million won\u2019t be enough to address the population\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI must say, this is a crisis,\u201d Pittman said. \u201cThis reminds me of COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Here\u2019s a breakdown of the percentages of households that rely on SNAP benefits, per ZIP code.<\/p>\n<p>Households receiving SNAP per household (City of Jacksonville)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Another major concern that Gaffney and Pittman raised was the lack of access to food pantries in some districts, particularly for people without transportation who cannot reach food distributions held in parts of town outside their districts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Johnson, who serves on the Jacksonville Transportation Authority board as a city council liaison, said he\u2019s had conversations with officials to facilitate transportation for those in need.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThis is an emergency,\u201d Johnson said. &#8221; JTA stands ready to do what we need to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Johnson said the legislation would need a 13-vote supermajority for it to move forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe want to be clear. We are not here because Washington failed. We are here because Jacksonville will not fail. Food is not a partisan benefit; it\u2019s a human right,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville councilman said Friday that he will be crafting legislation to formally request $2&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":362776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8314,3188,723,7310,6974,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-362775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-duval-county","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-snap","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115509901742378629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}