The Trump Administration reported on Monday that it would partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, after two federal judges ruled that the program must be paid for, despite the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the shutdown.
The program serves approximately 1 in 8 Americans and is a significant component of the nation’s social safety net, as reported by the Associated Press. It costs more than $8 billion per month nationally. The government says an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion — enough to cover about half the normal benefits.
The timing of when SNAP recipients receive funding in their accounts and the amount they will receive is currently unclear, but many in the nation have come to rely more heavily on food banks and other service agencies to make ends meet.
The United Way of Greater Cincinnati keeps a database of various agencies in the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati region that offer some kind of food assistance.
You can use the map below to search for agencies on both sides of the river. You can also consult the list of local agencies below. Alternatively, you can search the United Way database directly using its online search tool.
NOTE: Some agencies have screening criteria or other limitations on who and how they can distribute food. It’s recommended you reach out to them directly first to learn more.
Editor’s note: We know that there are a lot of local agencies doing meaningful work in Northern Kentucky to help people get food, even if they fly under the radar. If we missed any agencies in our list, send us an email at news@linknky.com, and we’ll update the list.
Geoff Mulvihill and Kimberlee Kruesi of the Associated Press contributed reporting to this brief.
Disclaimer: A generative AI program was used to extract information from the United Way database so it could be sorted and filtered to list agencies in Northern Kentucky. All writing, editing and graphic creation, however, was done by human beings per LINK nky’s AI policy. You can read LINK’s full AI policy here.