Protecting Access: SNAP, Federal Policy, and Cook County's Response

Toni Preckwinkle is the 35th president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, an office she has held since 2010. She is the first Black woman elected to the position. As the top executive of the nation's second most populous county, she oversees one of the country's largest public health systems and one of its largest criminal justice systems. Under her leadership, Cook County used the Affordable Care Act to create CountyCare, a managed care program that now serves more than 500,000 residents. Before her tenure as Board President, Preckwinkle served five terms as alderman in Chicago's 4th Ward, where she became the council's prominent defender of affordable housing.

Kate Maehr has led the Greater Chicago Food Depository in its mission to end hunger since 2006, guiding strategic initiatives to distribute nutritious food across Cook County while addressing the root causes of hunger. She leads an organization with a staff of more than 250, more than 25,000 annual volunteers, and a network of 800 community-based partner organizations. She has been called to testify before Congress and the Illinois General Assembly on anti-hunger policy and was recognized as the nation's Food Bank Leader of the Year in 2021. Maehr holds a bachelor's degree from Macalester College and a master's degree in public policy and administration from the University of Wisconsin.

Carolyn Barnes is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School, whose research broadly explores the social and political implications of social policy on low-income populations, with a focus on childcare policy, family services, and supports for young children. Her current work draws on interviews with 180 workers and 400 beneficiaries of SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid to investigate barriers to accessing and maintaining social safety net programs. Her book, "State of Empowerment: Low-Income Families and the New Welfare State," published by the University of Michigan Press, examines how publicly funded programs shape the political behavior of low-income parents. to joining Crown, Barnes was an assistant professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Dion Dawson is the founder and chief dreamer of Dion's Chicago Dream, a nonprofit social enterprise combating food insecurity through logistics and last-mile delivery, providing fresh produce directly to the doorsteps of food-insecure residents across the Chicago region. After more than a decade working in governmental communications, public relations, and journalism, Dawson brought that communications background into the world of philanthropy, building a data-driven, resident-informed model that has delivered millions of pounds of fresh produce annually to Chicago communities. His work has earned him recognition as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, TED Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, Aspen Food Leaders Fellow, and University of Chicago Civic Leadership Academy Fellow, among other honors. A proud son of Chicago's Englewood neighborhood and a U.S. Navy veteran, Dawson brings both lived experience and operational expertise to questions of food equity and systems change.