Food Stamps Subject of First Honolulu City Council Resolution of 2013

By /
Check out the Honolulu City Council’s first resolution of 2013, introduced last week by Breene Harimoto.

Resolution 13-1 asks for the city administration to spearhead a new program that will allow food stamp recipients to use their EBT debit cards with Honolulu’s People’s Open Market program.

The People’s Open Market provides sites around the island for local farmers and fishermen to sell their food. The idea is that the vendors will provide healthy food at a lower cost than traditional retailers. Click here to learn more about the program.

Here are a couple interesting statistics from the resolution:

  • In Fiscal Year 2011, the Hawaii Department of Human Services reported that an average of 154,496 individuals received food stamp benefits with a cost totaling more than $33 million per month.
  • The People’s Open Market Program has 25 market sites throughout Oahu, and serves close to 1 million annually.

—Nick Grube

What it means to support Civil Beat.

Supporting Civil Beat means you’re investing in a newsroom that can devote months to investigate corruption. It means we can cover vulnerable, overlooked communities because those stories matter. And, it means we serve you. And only you.

Donate today and help sustain the kind of journalism Hawaiʻi cannot afford to lose.

Donate

About the Author