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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
PROTECTION OF THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP)
WHEREAS, No resident of Cook County should have to be food-insecure; and
WHEREAS, 860,670, or 1 in 6 residents in Cook County are experiencing food insecurity, meaning they lack access to adequate nutritious food for a healthy lifestyle; and
WHEREAS, 262,240, or just under 1 in 5 children in Cook County are experiencing food insecurity; and
WHEREAS, Food insecurity is experienced in every community area in Cook County; and
WHEREAS, Hunger increases health care costs, lowers workers' productivity, harms children's development, and diminishes children's educational performance; and
WHEREAS, Fighting hunger is a public-private partnership; in Cook County, a strong private network exists that has provided 680,000 million people in Cook County with more than 65 million pounds of food in Fiscal Year 2013; however, private charity cannot do it alone and a strong federal hunger relief safety net is required; and
WHEREAS, The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the cornerstone to the federal food and nutrition safety net; and
WHEREAS, SNAP is the cornerstone of the nutrition safety net, with 1,016,210 Cook County residents enrolled in the program; just under half of those utilizing the program are children; and
WHEREAS, SNAP provides an important economic stimulus to Cook County's communities, with every dollar in SNAP support spent generating $1.79 in economic activity; and
WHEREAS, any reduction in funding of or change in policy that seeks to exclude individuals participating in SNAP will increase the number of food-insecure people in Cook County; and
WHEREAS, threats to SNAP, exist in the current effort to reauthorize the Farm Bill; and
WHEREAS, Congress has proposed to cut up to $39 billion from SNAP in the Farm Bill, which would result in tremendous hardship for Cook County residents; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County seeks...
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