Live music from the Mike Wheeler Band blared in front of the Go Green Community Fresh Market on West 63rd Street on Saturday. Painted on the side of the market, positioned above the stage, was a large, vibrant mural, reading: “It’s our story.” Nearby, neighbors mingled with paper plates between folding tables and shaded tents.
Under other circumstances, this Englewood block party would be considered nothing less than jovial. However, there’s a grim, underlying reason that brought neighbors together on Saturday: a significant reduction in SNAP benefits.
As many as 150,000 people in Illinois’ SNAP benefits were in jeopardy of losing benefits, or did lose benefits, this month due to a program amendment embedded in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which became federal law last July 4. The law created stricter working requirements for able-bodied individuals ages 18-64 who have SNAP benefits. A majority of non-citizens are now ineligible for food support.
The block party was organized by the Save Our SNAP coalition, a group of around 90 community partners that first came together in January to connect Chicagoans to community food resources, educate neighbors about the SNAP changes, and advocate for increased state government assistance.
“When we are learning that our neighbors and many of ourselves are going to be losing something as critical as food benefits and food access, it was something we considered to be a sacred duty on ourselves as a campaign to take on,” said Andres Mur of the Save Our Snap coalition and Inner-City Muslim Action Network.
The goal of the block party was to build trust between neighbors and to raise awareness about the SNAP cuts, according to Mikha’el Amin, an organizer of the event with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network.
“There are community partners here that are stepping up and trying to provide to our communities that the government has not given to,” Amin said. “Food is a necessity, a need of every human being that should not be denied.”
SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, sometimes called “food stamps,” is a program that gives money to low-income households to purchase fruits, vegetables, and other food staples. The amount of monetary support given is proportional to their income and the number of family members.
The event featured tents with nonprofit organizations, like the Greater Chicago Food Depository, to help neighbors understand where to turn for help in the face of food insecurity. Kate Maehr, CEO of the food depository, said the need is great and growing.
“We’re saying it’s not enough to make sure there is emergency food available at food pantries. We need to use this moment to lift our voice and to advocate for justice for all of our neighbors,” Maehr said. “At the food depository, we believe that food is a basic human right. And this is a moment where we need to stand up for our belief in that.”
The pantry is currently serving more people than ever before, around double the number of households since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Maehr said she is concerned that the food depository may not be able to keep up with the demand through this lapse.
“I think the people who need us will continue to increase. I am worried about our ability to meet that need,” Maehr said.
The number of individuals using SNAP benefits in Illinois has grown over the years. Before the pandemic, in April 2019, 864,878 households received SNAP, or around 1.74 million individuals, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services. The most recent April 2026 data showed 918,453 households rely on SNAP today.
Those numbers were slashed on May 1 due to work restrictions, leaving more than 100,000 people without reliable food access. Neighbors who currently qualify for SNAP worry that they may be next to get cut off.
Englewood native Anthony Smith, 68, worries less about his own benefits lapsing because of his age, but is concerned about the repercussions for the community, though he supports the work restrictions placed on SNAP.
“In a way, it’s a negative impact for those in need, like mothers with kids, and then it motivates the ones that are able to work and rely on benefits and makes them lazy,” he said. “It makes them get up on their feet.”
Englewood resident Mayalya Smith, who relies on SNAP benefits to care for her daughter, came to the block party to better understand her benefits while they’re available to her, but worries about what would happen if they are cut due to the work requirements.
“I can get a dime. I can do this and that, but in this economy, what is that going to do?” Smith said.
