Philadelphia officials announced a $600,000 emergency grant program aimed at helping small food retailers, corner stores, and grocers weather the financial strain caused by the federal government shutdown and interruptions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in October that SNAP payments were suspended due to the federal government shutdown. City and state officials moved quickly to bolster food banks and direct emergency funding to the program, but many enrollees still went without benefits for weeks.
About 472,000 Philadelphians, or 30% of the city’s population, are enrolled in SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and was previously known as food stamps…