SNAP Benefits Frozen
We are thirty-seven days into the government shutdown with no end in sight. At the start of November, SNAP Benefits were suspended.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the largest federal program to combat hunger in the U.S. by providing food assistance to low-income people and families. There are about 3 million Floridians who rely on SNAP, and about half a million here in Central Florida.
While Federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds it has available to provide SNAP benefits, the administration says it will only pay half of what the amount would normally get and those payments are already delayed.
We spoke with Mena Alexis, a 32-year-old mother living in west Orlando. Before the shutdown she was relying on SNAP benefits to feed her children. She shared with us the challenge of feeding multiple kids with the government’s support.
We also heard from Ivey Jones, a 53-year-old Grandmother who lives in the Paramore community. Her 27-year-old daughter has three kids, ages 8, 6 and 1. They were also relying on SNAP. She told us she and her daughter are focused on trying to keep the kids happy and unaware of the struggle. She wants legislators to remember who they serve.
Central Florida food banks are seeing an uptick in people who are coming to them for food since SNAP benefits ran out Nov. 1.
As residents are looking for more food options, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is expanding its school partnerships program, which feeds kids inside of local public school districts, with a new school market opening today at a Volusia County public school.
Second Harvest’s Briana Rebello spoke with Engage about the shutdown and the challenges families are facing.
The federal shutdown is affecting programs beyond food, as well. There are also tremendous health implications, too. Community Health Centers is a major provider of primary care in Florida. The federal funding that helps to keep it going paused when the government shutdown. Now, its leaders are hoping Congress can figure things out before its reserves run low.
Community Health Centers are in all 67 of Florida counties and serve 1.8 million patients in Florida, according to its website. About 28% of those patients are uninsured. The Florida Association of Community Health Centers President and CEO Jonathan Chapman spoke with Engage about what a prolonged shutdown would mean for the healthcare center.
Cuts To HIV Prevention and Treatment Funding
HIV testing, treatment, and prevention could be facing large cuts next year. That’s especially tough news for Florida, which has the third largest amount of HIV diagnoses in the country behind Texas and California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, included about $800 million in cuts to HIV research and prevention funding, according to KFF estimates, which includes funding started by President Trump. Carl Schmid is the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in Washington D.C. He’s been on the Hill speaking to legislators to ease up on the cuts. He joined Engage to discuss what these cuts, should they go into effect next year, would mean for Florida.
In 2019, the federal government began its End the HIV Epidemic Initiative, which sought to reduce HIV cases by 90% by 2030. Orange County was one of 48 priority jurisdictions in the country due to its high rate of new diagnoses, which consistently outpace the state’s rate, according to the Florida Department of Health.
In 2024, Orange County had the third highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in Florida, behind Miami-Dade and Broward. Local clinics and healthcare centers are bracing for the worse should the cuts go into effect. Ethan Suarez is the executive director of Pineapple Healthcare – a primary care practice in Orlando with a strong focus on HIV prevention and testing. He joined Engage to describe the impacts these cuts are having on his clinic and community.
That stigma has been presenting the same challenges since HIV/AIDS was first identified in the early eighties as it devastated gay communities across the country. It’s the same stigma that caused a community to ostracize a 13 year old student named Ryan White in Indiana . . . and a political antagonization of LGBTQ Americans that has been ramping up since the 80’s. The Central Florida HIV Stigma Taskforce is trying to flip that script with the 2nd Annual Shatter the STIMGA Poetry Slam at Three Masks Orlando.
Bartow’s Hero of World War II
The General James Van Fleet State Trail is a 29 mile long hike crossing three Central Florida counties from Polk City south to Mabel in Sumter County. The trail is named for a legendary native of Bartow – James Van Fleet served in the Army in World Wars I and II . . . and later in Korea. He is best known for his heroic leadership during D-Day – the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy that began the offensive that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany.
James Van Fleet and other Central Florida heroes of D-Day will be the topic of discussion tomorrow at the Orange County Regional History Center – at noon, historian and fifth generation Floridian Thomas Tart will share the stories of the Central Floridians who helped lead the Allied Forces to victory on that June day in 1941. Tart joined Engage to share the heroic exploits of Bartow’s General James Van Fleet.
