The Montgomery County Council introduced a $7.75 million plan Tuesday to help address the loss of federal funding for programs that provide food and housing assistance.

The shortfalls come amid the government shutdown and Trump administration policies that have drastically cut many social service programs.

“We have entered a new heightened phase of our community’s needs, and we need to stand up. We need to do more,” Council President Kate Stewart said during a press conference Tuesday. “This Trump administration is actively going after and targeting members of our community.”

State officials have warned that federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will run out on Nov. 1 due to the shutdown. There were nearly 70,000 people in Montgomery County, the state’s largest county, relying on the program in March, according to the Montgomery County Food Council. Statewide, 680,000 people, 40% of whom are children, count on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“We can’t do everything, but that doesn’t absolve us of doing anything,” said council member Andrew Friedson. “We have a moral test of government.”

The plan addresses five areas of need:

• $3.5 million in food assistance for nonprofits that provide groceries and meals to residents in need.
• $2.25 million for nonprofit grants ($1.5 million to offset canceled or delayed federal funds and $750,000 for other assistance).
• $1 million toward the county’s Short-Term Housing and Resolution Program.
• $500,000 for the MoCo Pride Center to fund LGBTQ+ specific services.
• $500,000 for local business development and expansion grants.

The funding comes from the county’s budget reserves. Stewart said that while it is not possible for the county to fill every gap, the size of the reserves approved by the council in the previous budget cycle allows the council to make this appropriation without cutting into other funding.

The legislation will be formally introduced on Nov. 4 and will be subject to a public hearing prior to the vote on Nov. 18. Stewart said the goal is to get funding in place before the winter holidays.

Heather Bruskin, the director of the county’s Office of Food Systems Resilience, said a survey found that 80% of the county’s food assistance providers said they were seeing people who are coming for support for the first time in recent weeks.

She said that the county is prioritizing ways to connect people to resources they need and make sure they are aware services are available.

“In every other [local] jurisdiction, the number of food-insecure families that are not connected to resources is going down, but here it’s growing,” Bruskin said.

Manna Food Center Director Craig Rice said that one way the organization has been working to connect people impacted by federal layoffs with food assistance is by partnering with WorkSource Montgomery’s new career center aimed at federal workers.

“These kinds of commingling of nonprofits together has not traditionally happened before, but we know that this time is different, and we need to react differently. We need to maximize our reach,” Rice said.

Phillip Alexander Downie, CEO of the MoCo Pride Center, said there has been an increased demand for resources and services from the local LGBTQIA+ community as federal programs are cut. He said the funding will be used to bolster the center’s budget and provide more free health programming and dinners for queer and trans county residents.

“We are living through an administration that is systematically dismantling protections, stripping away rights, defunding critical programs and advancing policies that threaten to erase entire communities from public life,” Downie said.

Council member Natali Fani-González said she hopes other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., metro area will also find funds to help fill the gaps left by federal cuts and the shutdown.

“This needs to be seen as a regional effort,” Fani-González said, “because when people lose their home, it’s not like they always stay in the community. They move around.”