SNAP Back Rally: Students highlight impact of benefit cuts and demand economic justice and food security
"“Now that food stamps and other assistance programs are under threat by the current government, my mother has started working longer shifts to make up for the lost support..."
“Growing up with a single mother and seeing the constant struggle it took for her to bring food to our table every day was an experience that did not fill our home with joy,” said Manuel Urizar Granados, a senior at Hope High School and a member of the leadership team at the Providence Student Union. Urizar Granados was speaking on behalf of an anonymous teen who has been affected by the federal government shutdown. “Over time, grocery prices have been steadily increasing, reaching very high levels, making life significantly more difficult, especially for mothers like mine who have to provide for multiple children.”
Urizar Granados continued:
“For this reason, I’ve been grateful to receive SNAP benefits for the past several years. My younger brother is an autistic 7-year-old who is very picky when it comes to the textures of his food. Receiving SNAP benefits has helped us find foods that he enjoys and eats. This was a huge weight off my mother’s shoulders and helped to leave some money aside to pay for other necessities like rent, clothing, and sometimes, a special treat for us throughout the month.
“Now that food stamps and other assistance programs are under threat by the current government, my mother has started working longer shifts to make up for the lost support. She has been working six days a week, with shifts lasting eight to 10 hours. This month, my family received $91 in benefits, which, in my perspective, is still a blessing as many families will receive nothing at all. Families and their children should not have to struggle to find food to eat. Parents should not have to feel like they’re not working hard enough. Instead, food should be easily accessible because food is a human right, and nobody should be denied access to it.
“Lastly, I would like to remind everyone to look for resources in your community and share them with those who need them. Stand strong and remember: When under pressure, SNAP back.”
Youth activists, community organizers, and impacted residents gathered outside the Providence City Hall on Saturday for the SNAP Back Rally to highlight how the federal government shutdown and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are impacting Providence youth.
SNAP is a lifeline supporting low-income households, including families with children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and working families with low-paying jobs. However, the failure of lawmakers to pass a federal budget, which led to a partial shutdown starting on October 1 and continuing to this date, has put this crucial resource in jeopardy.
This crisis, along with the actions of a belligerent and uncaring Trump Administration, is impacting more than 90,000 Rhode Island households, which translates to approximately 144,000 people, according to the Economic Progress Institute. These cuts affect not just SNAP recipients but also farmers, grocers, and state and local governments, impacting everyone in the country.
The SNAP Back Rally also drew attention to the severe economic disparity in the state. While the median family income in Providence County was $65,461, a comfortable living for a two-parent household with two children requires an approximate annual income of $100,950, according to the Economic Progress Institute.
The SNAP Back Rally was organized around three core goals:
Advocate for Resource Redirection: Support the immediate redirection of state resources to address poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity.
Share Food & Mutual Aid Resources: Collect and redistribute non-perishable food items for youth and community members and provide community resource information.
Increase Awareness of the Crisis: Provide context on the immediate context and amplify the voices of those most affected by the loss of the SNAP program and budget shortfalls.
Here’s the video:
The following transcript has been edited for clarity:
The SNAP Back Rally was co-emceed by high school students Alisson and Jaylenn.
“We’re here because food is not a privilege, it’s a right,” said Alisson, a PSU Youth Leader and Junior at Classical High School. “We’re standing together to demand that our government fully fund SNAP and prioritize our community’s needs over unnecessary spending.”
“Throughout today’s rally, you’ll hear stories from youth directly impacted by food insecurity and budget decisions that leave our community struggling,” said Jaylenn, PSU Cultural and Arts Director. “You’ll also hear from community leaders who are fighting for change here in Rhode Island.”
“I have watched my mother work more than one job to support me and my sister,” said high school student and PSU Youth Leader Subriel Contreras Cotto. “She has to work all day and night to pay bills, then, having nothing left for me and my sister, coming home at 12 and working her butt off, just to get money.”
Contreras Cotto continued:
“Food stamps made it easier for us to buy food. Now, my mom still works two jobs and sometimes comes home late. My mom works an hour out of Providence to support two kids. Since there have been cuts to food stamps, we will have less access to food, and I am worried about having to choose between feeding my family and paying bills.
“I think about how much a cart of food costs: $300 to $400. That’s more than one arm and one leg. That’s a life, getting food and supporting your kids. I try not to worry myself about bills because I am young. I am just a student, but I get worried when my mom can’t pay a bill on time or we’re late with rent, because I don’t want to see my sister without a roof over her head or a place to sleep. I don’t want to see a mother who feels depressed and sad and like she’s a failure just because she couldn’t take care of two kids when she has no support for herself. For a federal government that says it prioritizes human life, why make it harder for us to support ourselves and our children, as 39% of SNAP recipients are children younger than the age of 18?”
“I moved here when I was three years old, from Ecuador, a very small country, to the smallest state,” said Alisson. “My parents are very hard workers. They worked to keep us together because my sister and I were too little. We arrived here without much, and everything felt new. We had new cities, new schools, and new routines we had to follow, and it was tough on us.”
Alisson continued:
“One thing that helped us get through was SNAP. SNAP made sure we had food on the table when everything else felt unstable. It wasn’t about luxury, which is a very common misconception. SNAP is not giving people a reason not to work; it’s about having enough.
“My mom worked very hard. SNAP gave my mom time to find steady work and helped us focus on getting our feet on the ground, instead of worrying about every single meal. My mom now technically makes above the SNAP margins, but that doesn’t mean that things are suddenly easy. Groceries are still expensive, and payments are still high.
“Even though we are above the line, we still struggle sometimes, but SNAP worked the way it was supposed to. It helped us stop struggling, which is why programs like these are so important. They don’t create codependence; they create stability. No one deserves to choose between eating and surviving, so when we talk about funding stuff, we’re talking about funding people’s futures - families like mine and families like yours. We’re proof that when the community gets what they need, we rise.”
“I’m standing here today because I’m sick and tired of how things have been going and how the government has been making families like mine and others struggle due to the national government shutdown,” said Christopher A. Garcia Diaz, a Senior at Central High School and youth leader with ARISE. “The government has cut SNAP benefits. Many states fought to get SNAP fully funded, but what the government is doing is cruel towards every mother, child, and person who depends on SNAP to survive.”
Garcia Diaz continued:
“This is a direct attack on me, my mother, my baby brother, and all of us who are forced to fight twice as hard to get half as much. The government is choosing who gets to eat and who doesn’t. They are protecting billionaires while families like mine barely get by.
“I was raised by my mom, alone. She’s everything to me. She has worked herself to the bone to make ends meet and support my little brother and me so that we can survive. SNAP helped. These inhumane decisions, made by politicians, are harming Black and brown communities the most. If you aren’t struggling now, you will be, because our system is built to starve us to cater to the wealthy. You can’t tell me the system is fair.
“You can’t tell me that in the land of the free - this country is so rich - but we have no choice but to work hard and allow ourselves to be exploited. We constantly have to choose between paying bills and providing a proper meal for the table. And we’re supposed to lie down and take this? We’re supposed to stay quiet and starve?
“No, we won’t. We can’t. Not only that, but we’ll not starve in silence. We will not let them dehumanize us while pretending it’s fiscal responsibility. We are not statistics. We will show them that we are people. It’s crazy that we must fight so hard just to be seen. We are this country’s backbone. We are deserving of recognition, and we shouldn’t be begging for the bare minimum. We shouldn’t have to suffer for crumbs. The system was built to starve us, and we can’t keep pretending it’s normal.
“We’re opening our eyes to see what’s going on, and we aren’t going to stay victims. Today, I’ll speak for every person who had to wait in the pantry line with their heads down, defeated, for every mother who skipped dinner so her kids could eat, and for every kid who’s ever gone to sleep hungry and wondered why the world forgot about them. To the people who think they can smother us: We don’t need your permission to survive. We will rally, march, and speak louder for our rights.
“It is a human right for us to have access to food. This isn’t political; it’s a matter of life or death. We will fight until we can no longer and we’ll win. This didn’t start with SNAP cuts, but if we don’t stop it there, they’ll take more. They’ll take our house, education, healthcare, and everything that gives people a chance in this country.
“Our flames are too bright to be put out, and we won’t stop until we secure a future where no one needs to beg to eat, and where every child can dream of a future they want because that’s what we deserve. I demand that those in power invest in our communities and listen to our needs.”
“I have relied on SNAP my entire life,” said Jaylenn. “I lived in New York for seven years and moved to Rhode Island eight years ago. SNAP has been my primary source of food for a long time. Food prices have become significantly more expensive than usual. Sometimes, my mom doesn’t have enough money to put food on the table, so we have to ask family members for food.”
Jaylenn continued:
“My house consists of five people - my older sibling likes to come over and she chills with her partner all the time. It’s hard to feed a family of five with so few SNAP benefits, especially since food is getting more and more expensive because of inflation. It’s hard to sit in my house and think that my mom didn’t eat today because she doesn’t want to waste so much money. Honestly, it makes me a little emotional because I work, but I can’t make enough money to help my mother with anything. Oftentimes, when I can, it makes me emotional. She gets emotional herself when she has to sit back and watch her 16-year-old daughter pay bills. I don’t think any parent wants to sit there and let that happen. I don’t think that SNAP cuts are reasonable.
“Food isn’t everywhere for everybody. Some families can’t get food, even with SNAP. Food pantries aren’t receiving enough food due to budget cuts. It’s hard to see that when people go to food pantries, there’s nothing left for them to have. And families work a lot. They work all the time, and even then, paycheck to paycheck, there’s not enough money for them to put food on the table.
“It’s hard for people to get SNAP, too. I’ve heard from people that when they apply for SNAP, they keep getting rejected and say, “You make too much money...”
“Families don’t get enough money, and paycheck to paycheck, it’s hard for them to put food on the table. With inflation and income cuts, food is becoming harder to obtain. It’s challenging for families to use SNAP because they often spend half of their benefits within a week. As of right now, Rhode Island is the only known state that has its SNAP benefits back. However, it’s not coming from the federal level; it’s coming from the state. And as inflation keeps happening, SNAP benefits aren’t going to have the effect we want them to have.”
“You guys are part of the change,” said Alisson. “You guys can all do something. Often, when we hear about these issues, we think they don’t impact us. If we don’t have SNAP, it’s fine. We’re going to get by. It’s no big deal.
“I used to work at a food pantry when I was 13, and I worked there for about two years,” continued Alisson. “While working there, I saw many young people who would come by and offer their volunteer hours to help us. They’d bring us food and donations. You can too. It doesn’t have to be big; it can be small, but this can impact and help us all. Even if you can’t give money, giving a few hours out of your day to help in a food pantry when they’re swamped is really helpful.”
The last speaker was State Representative David Morales, who is running for Mayor of Providence in 2026.
“Our Providence youth are leading the way, because we have seen, over the last several months, the constant attacks coming from the federal government as they try to starve our neighbors, and as they try to kidnap and detain our community members,” said Representative Moraled. “But we’re not giving up hope because community is all we’ve got. We are all that we’ve got. It is the power and strength of our neighbors coming together to organize food drives and prepare free hot meals, ensuring that all our neighbors, regardless of their immigration status or socioeconomic background, receive essential items and are fed. This happens because the community looks out for each other.
Representative Morales continued:
“To every person who has donated to their local food pantry, helped cook a warm meal for someone in need, and taken the time to check in with our friends and classmates during a time period when mental health is constantly being attacked, thank you.
“Community strength is what pulls us together and allows us to move forward. However, this is not sustainable in the long run. We need to guarantee that our government is going to have our backs at the local level, starting here at City Hall and going to the State House.
We could have guaranteed full SNAP benefits for every Rhode Islander had we had a governor willing to allocate emergency funding from the $330 million already available in our rainy day fund. We could have guaranteed full SNAP benefits for everyone.
“We know the attacks from the Trump regime are not going to stop, so I will be working this upcoming year alongside all of you to guarantee that we are using state funds to fund SNAP, make sure no one loses their Medicaid, and ensure that our neighbors and immigrant communities are not feeling constantly threatened and under attack.
“But this will only happen when we collectively engage in the practice of mutual aid. In addition, we must show up and have our voices heard. We must ensure that the governor’s office, representatives, senators, and our mayors recognize that this time of crisis is an emergency. These are the times we use the emergency funds we have stored away. These are the times we must act on behalf of our neighbors, whose voices are being silenced, and who are being forced to work two to three jobs to make ends meet.
“To our young people: Thank you for leading the way and informing adults and decision-makers about what we should focus on and pushing us forward. This is a movement. It is a movement of working people and young people that recognizes the system is broken, and it is up to us to push for a new system that prioritizes the needs of all. Thank you for organizing this important rally and drawing attention to issues that would otherwise be ignored. Together, we’re going to ensure that all our neighbors are taken care of.”
About the Providence Student Union (PSU): PSU is a youth-led organization that empowers high school students across Providence to build collective power. PSU has been a powerful force for education justice in Providence and Rhode Island since Hope High School students came together in 2010 to defend their school’s popular block schedule. Since then, PSU’s youth-led campaigns have prompted decision-makers to end high-stakes testing throughout Rhode Island, expand free transportation for thousands of students, launch Providence’s first Ethnic Studies courses, and introduce civics education in all Rhode Island schools.
PSU hosted the event in partnership with OurSchoolsPVD, Young Voices, Youth In Action, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Rhode Island Center for Justice (CFJ), Parents Leading for Education Equity (PLEE), Indivisible RI, and PSL Rhode Island.
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Very sad! Hope this changes quickly!!