Letter: Use Emergency Funds Now to Prevent a SNAP Crisis in Florida

Equal Ground
5 days ago
3 min read

Southern Poverty Law Center

400 Washington Avenue

Montgomery, AL 36104

Thursday, October 30, 2025

The Honorable Ron DeSantis

Governor of Florida

Office of the Governor

400 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

(sent via email to g overnorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com)

RE: Use Emergency Funds Now to Prevent a SNAP Crisis in Florida

Dear Governor DeSantis,

On behalf of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the undersigned community, we urge you to deploy state emergency resources immediately if the federal government shutdown continues and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits lapse on November 1. We recognize that SNAP benefits are federally funded and administered. We also know the State of Florida has tools to cushion the blow when Washington stalls.

The Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) is our nation’s largest food assistance program.

Nearly 3 million Floridians (including more than 1.5 million children) rely on SNAP to buy groceries for their families. More than 41% are families with members who are older adults or individuals with a disability. A benefit interruption at the start of the month would trigger an avoidable food security emergency across urban, suburban, and rural communities alike.

Given the critical importance of SNAP benefits, the Governor’s office must take all steps possible to ensure families do not go hungry.

This is not theoretical. Food banks and pantries are already signaling strain. If SNAP dollars stop flowing, demand will spike overnight, especially among seniors, people with disabilities, working parents with young children, college students, and military families stationed in Florida. Local providers cannot backfill a federal nutrition program at this scale without immediate bridge support from the state.

In past fiscal disruptions and disasters, governors have used flexible state dollars and emergency authorities to stabilize essential services while pressing the federal government to act. We ask you to do the same here.

Our specific requests

Activate emergency state funding to stabilize the food pipeline. Allocate immediate, time limited support to Florida's regional food banks and their partner networks to purchase food, expand cold storage and transportation, and extend hours. Prioritize high-need counties and low-access areas.
Stand up a statewide coordination hub. Direct DCF to coordinate real-time data sharing with food banks and local governments; publish county-level need indicators; and issue weekly public updates until federal SNAP benefits resume.
Cut red tape for rapid response. Temporarily streamline state procurement, logistics, and pass-through grants so providers can buy and move food quickly. Where permissible, waive or suspend non-essential state-level paperwork that slows disbursement.
Protect children and keep families stable. Work with school districts to maintain access to breakfast and lunch programs and to stand up emergency meal distribution where needed. Ensure WIC clinics have clear guidance and contingency plans if federal systems are disrupted.
Fund community outreach. Provide small, rapid grants to trusted local organizations to run multilingual outreach, point families to food resources, and counter misinformation about benefit status.
Contact Congress, the White House and the Administration to restore federal funding without delay. Floridians need clarity and urgency from every level of government. This includes urging: o Congress and the White House to end the shutdown by passing a funding deal that protects health care and federal funding
The White House and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use all available tools to enable SNAP benefits to be paid through or close to the end of November, including using the contingency funding that is available for SNAP or transferring legally available funds from other USDA nutrition programs.

Why acting now matters

Every SNAP dollar lost is a grocery purchase not made at Florida stores and markets. The program’s stabilizing effect on local economies is well-documented- for every dollar in SNAP benefits generates $1.79 in economic activity. A lapse would ripple from kitchen tables to checkout counters to small distributors and farms. Emergency state action cannot replace SNAP, but it can prevent a humanitarian and economic shock while Washington resolves its impasse.

Your administration has often emphasized resilience, local problem-solving, and fiscal stewardship. A targeted, time-limited state bridge for food access reflects those values. It keeps families fed, reduces pressure on law enforcement and hospitals, and buys Florida the time it needs until the federal government restarts benefits.

We stand ready to help. Our organizations can assist with coordination, outreach, legal analysis, and on-the-ground logistics. We ask for a meeting with your office and relevant agency leads within 48 hours to align on an emergency plan and implementation timeline.

Florida families cannot eat promises. They need groceries in the cart on November 1.

Respectfully,

Southern Poverty Law Center

Common Cause

Equal Ground Action Fund

Equality Florida

Florida For All

Florida Policy Institute

Florida Rising

Florida Student Power

NAACP Florida State Conference

State Voices Florida