Black Churches Can Help Communities Navigate New SNAP Requirements 

The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 70 years ago was one of the most influential efforts of the Civil Rights Movement. However, the Montgomery Bus Boycott is not just a story of what Black people stopped doing to protest a racist policy; it is also a story of what they started doing in order to address their transportation needs on their own terms. They still needed to go to work, school, church, the market and more. 

How would they get there in light of the boycott?

The answer is inspiring.

The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) established in December 1955 and made up of ministers and community leaders established an intricate, largely self-sufficient system of transportation. Their system organized the use of private cars, Black taxi companies, and Black Church-owned vehicles to transport thousands of community members each day. This collectively-owned, Black-led transportation system addressed the daily needs and material conditions of the masses, thus making it easier for everyday people to stay committed to the bus boycott.

The role that Black churches and Christians played in this act of creative resistance should not be ignored. 

It is inspirational that clergy and congregations worked together across economic, denominational and theological lines to collaborate on the development of this alternative system for the benefit of their community. Territorialism and egos (which can be rampant in church spaces) were forced to the background for the sake of the collective good. Today, most people would struggle to name those who were orchestrating the daily operations of this resistance effort. What we do remember is what the masses accomplished together.

This history should help inform our responses to this moment in time. From a nationwide affordability crisis, to immigration enforcement activities that mirror slave patrols, to policies reminiscent of Jim Crow era laws, Black communities have much with which to contend. And new changes to the Supplemental Nutrition and Food Assistance (SNAP) program benefits only add to the fray. 

As of Feb. 1, 2026, the federal government mandated all able-bodied SNAP recipients between the ages of 18-64, without dependents, be required to do a minimum of 80 hours of paid or volunteer work to maintain SNAP benefits. The changes, which appear rooted in the racist belief that Black people are receiving something they neither deserve nor have earned, will not address the fundamental issues facing communities across the nation – economic insecurity. 

Throughout history, SNAP work requirements have not increased employment or job stability, nor have they removed economic barriers in a meaningful way. Rather, they are counterproductive in an economic sense. Evidence suggests work requirements are associated with decreased participation in SNAP, including for those who experienced acute food insecurity. 

While we don’t have specific numbers on SNAP participation among Black church members, nationwide studies have found that more than 60% of Black churches donate food to their congregations and community members.  

As someone who has spent years urging Black churches to grow food on their land and work with Black farmers, I am intimately aware of the challenges associated with this new work requirement policy. However, for those who look closely enough, this challenge also brings an opportunity.

In response to this unjust policy, Black churches should be designated as authorized sites to offer volunteer opportunities to persons affected by the new SNAP mandates. Congregations are already characterized by high levels of volunteer activity. In fact, without volunteer labor many churches would cease to operate. Black churches, then, are uniquely positioned to respond to the new SNAP work and volunteer requirements by creating lanes of service that are sensitive to the situation of their food-insecure members and neighbors. This would provide people with a supportive and flexible means of meeting new requirements from the Black-led institutions they may already frequent or live near.

Churches with gardens, pantries, soup kitchens, or other outward-facing initiatives can promote the existing volunteer opportunities within these efforts to those who need to fulfill new SNAP work requirements. Instead of food insecure folks just being on the receiving end of the church’s charity, they can work side-by-side with the church in solidarity against an unjust policy. In the process of their volunteerism, they’d not only meet the SNAP requirement for the sake of their benefits, but would also be recipients of the overflow that would naturally come from being in community with the congregation. (For example, people who volunteer at gardens could take home some of the excess food as well.)

Opportunities abound for recipients of SNAP benefits and for congregations. The “faithful few” of our churches need help with mailing cards to homebound members, making phone calls to the hospitalized, visiting seniors, tutoring children in the afterschool program, managing the social media pages, accompanying the sick to doctors visits, creating care packages for college students, designing the newsletter and so much more. All of these efforts are potential mutually beneficial avenues to help both SNAP recipients and congregations. What churches already do from week to week can be transformed into the kind of volunteer role that could fall within SNAP work requirement parameters.

With proper training and commitment to minimize territorialism and egos both in pulpit and pew, our churches could find new vitality by being in deep solidarity with those who are food insecure. Moving from a charity mindset to a solidarity mindset is not always easy, but if done well, it can be a great demonstration of the truest essence of the gospel of Jesus lived out in public.

For many of us, it is clear that new SNAP rules are rooted in a desire to deprive Black people and poor people of access to nutrition, despite the many barriers that have systemically been placed before us and continually enforced.

However, our history informs us that we have the muscles to meet this moment. We just have to flex them while using what we have to create what’s needed for our collective good. We’ve done it before. It’s time now for us to do it again!

 
Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III, is an author, community organizer, and founder of The Black Church Food Security Network.

SEE ALSO:

When The Government Starves Us: How SNAP Cuts Target Black Survival

Policing The Plate: The Politics Of Texas’ New SNAP Restrictions