*Correction. This story has been updated to refer to the shutdown as a government shutdown.
On Friday, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) toured locations and organizations around Mercer County that assist our most vulnerable neighbors and have been impacted by the government shutdown.
Organizations like HomeFront, The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen,and the CEAS Center in Trenton have been working for years, often on shoestring budgets, to help struggling families and individuals find housing and services to reestablish themselves. The recent funding cuts have strained the ability to provide these services before the shutdown.
“Too often, we don’t look at individuals holistically or examine their specific needs. Then we fail to get them access to the basic resources they need. We know damn well that is insufficient,” said Watson Coleman. “The Republican Congress and President Trump may have decided that our communities are not worth investing in, but we’re not a throwaway community; we’re not a throwaway people.”
Following the tour, the Congresswoman sat down with staff and community members at the Children’s Home Society in Trenton to hear from them how the cuts to WIC, SNAP, Head Start, Maternal Health Services, and Medicaid are impacting their service to the community.
