NBFJA Peoples Statement on the SNAP Halt
The National Black Food & Justice Alliance (NBFJA), a coalition of over 60 Black-led organizations representing hundreds of farmers, food systems organizers, and community stewards advancing leadership, local food economies, land access, and food sovereignty, is deeply disturbed by the interruption of benefit disbursement of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). For more than 60 years, SNAP has been a lifeline for over 41 million families, a dependable budget line for small food businesses, and a safety net for Black, Brown, and poor communities.
The current administration’s deliberate strategy used hunger as a political weapon, starving families and deepening poverty to create crisis conditions. We urge Congress to take permanent legislative action that safeguards SNAP and guarantees that in the future benefits continue without lapse and cover all eligible households, with special attention to how funding disruptions disproportionately impact Black and other underserved communities. As we continue to see the exposed inadequacies of our food system during times of emergency and crisis, local farmers are the ones stepping in to ensure our communities are fed. Thus, we demand a substantial commitment to sustainable resources for direct support to local food economies, mutual aid networks and collective models such as local buying clubs and food and farm cooperatives.
This country’s leadership can no longer look away. Congress must be held accountable, not only for the policy failures that deepen health disparities and economic inequalities, but for the immoral violence of forcing people to prove their worthiness to eat and live. Now is the time for elected officials to recognize that safeguarding programs like SNAP is not charity, it is justice, and it is the bare minimum for a nation that owes its people more than survival. Congress must align federal food and land policy with the leadership and vision of Black farmers and communities.
The following statements were submitted by NBFJA members and ecosystems partners in the midst of the SNAP halt and before Congress passed a spending bill that reopened the government. Their message was unequivocal: reinstate SNAP now.
We have not updated or revised the statements as a collective record of clarity, urgency, and commitment from our people.
Dreaming Out Loud, Inc. — Systemic racism doesn't go away because the individuals and institutions of oppression want to deny it, and erase the memory of its construction.
“They think they killed you.
But I saw you yesterday,
with your back against the wall,
muscles bulging against the chains,
eyes absorbing truth.
Lips speaking it.
Heart learning how to love.
Head learning who to hate.
Blood ready to flow
towards freedom.
Youngblood!” - Assata Shakur
Gangstas To Growers/ The Come Up Project — Food is a basic need and a human right.
Manzanita Capital Collective — Cutting the social safety net of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program is not only inhumane but it also severs a vital food and economic system that farmers, small businesses, and our communities rely on.
Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network — The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) sees the dismantling of SNAP as a direct attack on both food access and economic justice. Cuts to this vital program not only cause immediate suffering for vulnerable families but also destabilize the already fragile infrastructure of our Black-led food system. We urge Congress to prioritize the dignity of all people and immediately restore funding, while also making the necessary, substantial investments into local, community-controlled systems to secure Black food sovereignty for the long term.
Symbodied — Symbodied stands in solidarity with the National Black Food & Justice Alliance. A nation that deliberately withholds food sabotages its own people's health and potential. We urge Congress to immediately restore SNAP and fund a resilient, equitable food system for all.
Feed'em Freedom Foundation — Food access is a foundational issue, and the decisions Oregon makes now amid rising food costs, shifting federal policies, and ongoing debates over SNAP funding will determine whether families can maintain food security with dignity. Black Oregonians are among those most vulnerable: approximately 55,000 African American households rely on SNAP benefits, and many more depend on food pantries and emergency networks. These challenges compound long-standing economic inequities; Black households in Oregon have median incomes nearly $27,000 below the state average and a homeownership rate less than half that of white households (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023). Local food banks have reported a 40% increase in demand since 2022, underscoring the urgent need for targeted, equity-centered interventions. Reductions or delays in SNAP benefits, increasing food prices, limited food access in rural and urban food deserts, and inconsistent pantry distribution threaten to deepen existing racial and economic disparities. Without a coordinated statewide strategy grounded in equity and community partnership, Black families will continue to experience disproportionate levels of food insecurity, restricted access to culturally relevant foods, and long-term setbacks to health, stability, and economic opportunity. We urge the State of Oregon and its partners to commit to an equitable and proactive response, one that ensures food resources reach Black Oregonians in every region, from Portland to Pendleton, and that emergency food systems are designed with the input and leadership of those most affected. We seek five primary responses: a Targeted Emergency Food and SNAP Stabilization Fund, Transparent Data Collection and Reporting, Culturally Specific and Reparative Policy Measures, a Community-Led Food Security Council, and Advancing Equitable Food Sovereignty in Oregon:
Southside Food Co-op — Southside Food Co-op strongly condemns the SNAP cuts enacted under the Trump administration. These harmful policies have deepened food insecurity for millions of families, including many in our own communities who rely on SNAP to meet basic needs. Access to healthy, affordable food is a human right, not a political bargaining chip. We stand with those affected and call for the full restoration and expansion of SNAP benefits to ensure that no one in our community goes hungry.
Fountain Heights Farms Cooperative — As the one of only two Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in Alabama able to accept SNAP benefits, Fountain Heights Farms Cooperative stands in solidarity with families harmed by the current cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. These cuts don’t just affect households—they ripple through entire communities, including the small farmers and food cooperatives who rely on SNAP sales as part of our livelihoods. When families can’t use their benefits, our local food systems lose critical income, and the progress we’ve made toward increased food access and community health is set back. For years, we have worked to make fresh, local food accessible to everyone, regardless of income. SNAP and Double Bucks programs have allowed us to meet that mission while keeping dollars circulating locally and supporting small, local farmers who are too often excluded from federal aid. The halting of these benefits disrupts that balance and inflicts harm on both sides of the table. We urge Congress to act swiftly to restore SNAP, reimburse lost benefits, and protect the small, community-rooted farms that feed our neighbors. Access to food is not a privilege—it is a right, and we will continue to grow, organize, and speak out until that truth is upheld.
BOUJONNEN Nascent Foundation, Inc. — BNFI stands in solidarity with the National Black Food & Justice Alliance in demanding the full restoration of SNAP. Hunger is not a political tool — it is a human right. In our work with small farmers and families in Haiti and the U.S. diaspora, we see daily how withholding food and resources is used as a weapon to control, divide, and devalue lives. Programs like SNAP are not mere benefits; they are essential tools of justice, survival, and self-determination. We join NBFJA in demanding Congress act immediately to restore SNAP funding, safeguard local food programs, and reinvest in community-led systems that honor land, labor, and life. Food is sacred — and no government has the right to starve its people.
The Black Church Food Security Network — The Black Church Food Security Network recognizes the importance of SNAP and strongly urges lawmakers to restore funding to this critical program.
Braiding Seeds Fellowship — Braiding Seeds Fellowship stands alongside our fellow NBFJA members to demand the immediate restoration of full SNAP funding, a lifeline for millions of families. We call upon Congress to recognize the moral crisis of this moment and to act accordingly by protecting baseline safety net programs like SNAP and making a real commitment to resourcing farmers and community-led local food economies, as firebreaks against the escalating weaponization of hunger.
North Star Fund — North Star Fund is a social justice fund that supports grassroots organizing led by communities of color building power in New York City and the Hudson Valley. We organize people across race and class to give in support of these movements.We envision a world in which resources and power are equitably shared, and a future where everyone can live with dignity and thrive. We are proud to support the food justice and land justice eco - system in New York through grassroots organizations working the land to produce fresh , locally food to those advocating at the local and state level to advance just food policy. We stand in solidarity with NBFJA in calling for an end to this injustice in SNAP cuts and call for an immediate and full restoration of funds.
Pan-African Connection Bookstore and Resource Center — The recent cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are expected to disproportionately affect Black children and families. This reduction in assistance will lead to increased food insecurity, which will impact children's health, nutrition, and overall emotional and mental state. Many Black families rely on SNAP for essential support, and these cuts will increase disparities in access to nutritious food, increase poverty rates, and hinder educational and developmental outcomes for children.
EFOD Collaborative — This uncertainty is putting many community organizations under pretty significant pressure to meet the increased demand in their communities. These organizations are lifelines in times of crisis, but are facing many of the same funding shortages affecting their communities. We believe the only answer forward is both strengthening the social safety net (of which SNAP is an integral component) and the community infrastructure to meet future shocks and crises.
Soul Fire Farm — Soul Fire Farm stands with our fellow NBFJA members to demand the immediate restoration of full SNAP funding. Weaponized hunger is an unconscionable violence and a violation of basic human rights. Our tax dollars are NOT for militarized violence, mass deportations, or tax breaks for billionaires - they are for a social safety net and protections for our natural world.
Jubilee Justice — We stand in absolute unequivocal solidarity !!
Other signatories:
Central Brooklyn Food Co-op
Farms To Grow, Inc.
Minnow
HEAL Food Alliance
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National Black Food and Justice Alliance
The National Black Food & Justice Alliance (NBFJA) is a coalition of Black-led organizations working towards cultivating and advancing Black leadership, building institutions for self-determination, and organizing for food sovereignty and land justice. NBFJA currently has over 50 member organizations representing hundreds of urban and rural farmers, organizers, and land stewards based throughout the U.S. NBFJA members are building power through an intergenerational, urban/rural alliance of organizations that trains, connects, and deepens grassroots efforts toward protecting Black land, advancing food sovereignty, and supporting a climate-resilient future.
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