After Federal Ruling Saves SNAP Benefits, Cambridge Will Still Allocate $500,000 to Assist Food Insecurity

The City of Cambridge and the Cambridge Community Foundation will allocate $500,000 to support local food pantries and residents eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, even after a judge required the Trump administration on Friday to allocate emergency funds to the program.

The SNAP program saw its funding frozen after Congress failed to agree on a budget before their Oct. 1 deadline, leading to a government shutdown. As money for the program runs out, the Trump administration said it would not draw from a contingency fund of more than $5 billion to extend benefits beyond Nov. 1.

The City and CCF announced that they will each donate $250,000 to help meet the needs of the more than 10,000 Cambridge residents using SNAP in a Thursday press release.

On Friday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must deploy the emergency funds to maintain SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. Regardless, the City and CCF have chosen not to withdraw the pledged support, saying that there is still a persistent need in the city beyond what SNAP can cover.

“We’ve been actually gearing up for this for a while,” Geeta Pradhan, president of the CCF, said.

$200,000 of the fund will be allocated to the Food Pantry Network, a group of eight local nonprofits, to buy more food and provide greater food access. The allocation to each pantry is still being determined, but City spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick said it is intended to reflect the number of people served at each location.

Approximately $50,000 of the fund will be distributed to Food For Free, a Boston-area nonprofit, to transport food to the pantries and for other distributional needs.

The remaining $250,000 will be used to distribute grocery store gift cards to SNAP-eligible families with children, older adults, and people with disabilities. The Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee, Cambridge Housing Authority, Cambridge Council for Aging, and Cambridge Public Schools will manage the gift card distribution.

Cambridge Public Schools will provide one $50 gift card to a local grocery store to each SNAP-eligible student beginning Nov. 7, and will make changes to offer more protein, fruits, and vegetables in their cafeteria meals beginning Monday.

The CCF has also reactivated its Urgent Needs Fund, which they deployed to support residents during the pandemic. Pradhan said they have been told local pantry usage has more than doubled this year as a result of economic shifts like increasing prices and job losses.

CEOC Associate Director Rachel Plummer said their food pantry has averaged 275 to 300 visitors this year, compared to their normal average of 150.

“We relate that kind of to a combination of factors related to what’s happening with the federal government,” Plummer said. “I think one of the things that contributed to that increase is, again, just the general fear about what’s going to come and ‘How am I going to be affected?’”

“It’s not something that just actually happened as a result of the government shutdown, but it’s a problem that has been growing — and this government shutdown has really brought it to a head,” Pradhan said.

Christina Turner, CCF’s vice president of programs and grantmaking, said that even as the government provides funding for SNAP benefits, as of Nov. 1, some people currently enrolled will be ineligible under the new benefit regulations, contributing to increased need.

“We know that there are ongoing needs in the Cambridge food system that the Foundation has been working on, and this also supports and continues that work as well,” Turner said.

—Staff writer Stephanie Dragoi can be reached at stephanie.dragoi@thecrimson.com.

— Staff writer Summer E. Rose can be reached at summer.rose@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @summerellenrose.