When most people picture hunger in America, they think of food pantries. Yet for every meal a pantry provides, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP – quietly supplies nine more. Formerly known as food stamps, SNAP is the nation’s most effective anti-hunger initiative, helping more than 42 million Americans put food on the table each month. In Illinois alone, about 1.9 million people rely on SNAP, receiving an average monthly benefit of $192 per household. While designed to supplement rather than fully cover a family’s food needs, SNAP remains a crucial lifeline for millions of low-income households — many of which include working adults, children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities. Beyond the direct benefit of helping families buy groceries, SNAP provides the financial breathing room to afford other essentials like rent, utilities, diapers, and medicine. 

SNAP is also an important contributor to Illinois’s economy. Across the state, more than 8,000 retailers redeem more than $2 billion in SNAP benefits. These benefits don’t just support SNAP participants, they are an important revenue source among our local grocers and their employees, many of whom live and spend money in the same community in which they work. It is estimated that every SNAP dollar generates about $1.50 in economic activity. Greater public understanding of SNAP ensures better policy decisions that sustain both family well-being and our region’s economic health.

In this episode of Trust Talks, we will explore the history of SNAP, discuss the economic impact of public benefits, and humanize the experience of our neighbors who depend on SNAP and other government support to meet their basic needs. The conversation is hosted by Aimee Ramirez, the Trust’s director of policy change, and will feature John Bouman, director of Legal Action Chicago; Daniel Block, chair, Dept. of Geography, Sociology, and Africana Studies at Chicago State University; and Danielle Perry, vice president of policy and advocacy at the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

This episode was produced by Juneteenth Productions and recorded at The Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub.