Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2019.01.24 - 30967MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION #19018 ILRA.sk-v- Ckto BY: Commissioners David Woodward, District #19 Li (-V- -a I 41( ei,J(6,7e. IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS — ASSISTANCE FOR OAKLAND COUNTY RESIDENTS SUFFERING FROM A FOOD EMERGENCY DUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN To the Oakland County Board of Commissioners Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen: WHEREAS on December 22, 2018, the President of the United States and the United States Congress failed to agree on the timely appropriation of sufficient funds for the 2019 fiscal year or a temporary continuing resolution, resulting in a shutdown of Federal government offices and services that continues to this day; and WHEREAS the lapse of funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs means that millions of families are facing uncertainty in meeting their nutritional needs; and WHEREAS the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation's largest anti-hunger program, reached roughly forty million low-income individuals nationally and roughly eighty thousand within Oakland County according to the USDA; and WHEREAS the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) serves about seven million pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children until age 5 nationally and, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy, an estimated seventeen thousand are recipients of the program in Oakland County; and WHEREAS a prolonged shutdown would lead to many of the programs such as SNAP and WIC which serves the low-income individuals and their children, to run out of funds and miss payments as soon as February 2019; and WHEREAS halting funding for programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Child Care and Development Block Grant, Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), Commodities Supplemental Food Program and more, exacerbate the welfare of our most disadvantaged Oakland County residents; and WHEREAS the USDA has taken steps to protect millions of low-income households, if only for a short period of time, including millions of poor children by providing the February SNAP benefits early, the vast majority of these individuals will not have this availability if the shutdown continues; and WHEREAS school meal programs such as the Free and Reduced Lunch and Breakfast will no longer be reimbursed as of March 1, 2019, impacting millions of students, schools will have to make the difficult choice of being forced to discontinue or front the cost of the programs; and WHEREAS meal programs for children in childcare programs and adults receiving adult care will be impacted, the USDA announced that funding for the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) will not be available if the shutdown continues into March; and WHEREAS without intervention the harm to Oakland County residents from the Federal government shutdown is immediate and on-going, and will continue to be felt long after the shutdown ends. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby authorizes $1,000,000 from General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance Account for the purposes of assisting Oakland County residents who are suffering from a food emergency due to the Federal government shutdown. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Oakland County Board of Commissioners express their concern for the welfare of Oakland County residents who are unjustly affected from the on-going Federal government shutdown and reliant upon federal food assistance programs for survival, Chairperson, I move the adoption of the foregoing resolution Affit _ A l lmissioner avid Woodward Commissioner District* )4 Commissioner District # /g Commissioner District # A41, Lg--ejS Commissio r District# I to Commissioner District# 17 Commissioner District # Commissioner District* 1114/1,-rA Commissioner Commissioner District # 5 District # Commissioner Commissioner District # District # Commissioner Commissioner District # District # Commissioner Commissioner District # District* Commissioner Commissioner District # District # Commissioner Commissioner District # District* Commissioner Commissioner District # District # Resolution *19018 January 24, 2019 The Chairperson referred the resolution to the Finance Committee. There were no objections.