The Redlands City Council has approved the creation of a new task force to connect residents to food-assistance programs.

Council members unanimously approved the task force Tuesday. Mayor Mario Saucedo was absent due to illness.

Councilmember Denise Davis said the creation of the task force is in response to recent reductions in federal and state nutrition benefits, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and its state version, CalFresh.

“It’s clear to me that there’s a gap … not only the gap of food being served and benefits being frozen but I think there’s an information gap too,” Davis said, “and I really want to create this task force as a way for us to all talk to each other, to identify what the need actually is in Redlands, especially when it comes to children.”

The Food Security and Child Nutrition Support Initiative, as outlined by the city, will focus on identifying city-owned sites for food access programs, expanding youth meal partnerships with Redlands Unified School District, exploring community mini-grants to support local organizations, and advocating for the restoration and expansion of state and federal nutrition assistance programs.

The task force will be made up of city staff assigned by the city manager. City staff is set to return in February 2026 with a progress report that will include measurable goals and funding recommendations.

According to Davis, the delay of SNAP and CalFresh benefits in recent weeks made the initiative necessary more than ever before.

Following the government shutdown, food benefits were delayed at the start of November. The delay comes weeks after a study conducted by UC Riverside found that Inland Empire residents are “struggling to get by” in areas such as healthcare, housing, education, safety and economic opportunity.

Inland Empire food banks have also felt the pressure due to the recent lapses in food-assistance benefits.

Kyra Stewart, executive director of Family Service Association of Redlands, a nonprofit that provides housing, family and food assistance, said the local impacts of cuts to SNAP and CalFresh are already hitting families in the area.

“That kind of cut can mean skipping meals or choosing between rent, gas and groceries,” Stewart said.

On Monday, she said, the nonprofit saw lines of people as soon as it began daily operations.

“It was kind of sad and overwhelming,” she said.

Davis asked the council to consider reallocating city funds for immediate food aid, but didn’t find immediate support for that effort.

“I don’t know about relocating funds, only because we go through the budgeting process, we approve all of the projects that are proposed by staff, and so when something like this comes up and changes potential projects, we’d have to, as a council, figure out where something like that would come from,” Councilmember Eddie Tejeda said. He supported creating a hub on the city’s website where residents could find free or low-cost meals.

Mayor Pro Tem Marc Shaw agreed.

“Information is probably the key … we can do a better job on some of that,” he said. Meantime, he noted, the city’s grocery gift card program is funded through the middle of December.

Though the gift card program has reached 2,200 households, Davis said she remained concerned about food security for the city’s neediest residents.

“People are going to have to choose between paying their rent or buying groceries, and that’s not a position that anyone wants to be in,” she said.

“If our goal is really to support people in need and reduce homelessness, I think we need to be allocating some resources towards food security as well.”

City Manager Charles Duggan said that while reallocating city funds wasn’t on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, there were other options available, such as tapping into unused funds. Duggan also suggested that the task force could look into recommendations for potential funding.

The council did not address whether the task force would continue after federal and state food support services are restored.

“I think this is something that we should have already been doing, and we should continue to do, especially as we again have a real focus on homelessness and helping our community,” Davis said. “Food security goes hand in hand.”