McDowell County, West Virginia, birthplace of food stamps, faces a dis

McDowell County, West Virginia, birthplace of food stamps, faces a dis

For nonprofits in McDowell County, West Virginia, the federal cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act threaten a lifeline. Many of McDowell’s 17,000 residents rely on federal programs and the nonprofits they fund to get by. The county’s tax base and population have significantly declined since 1950, when McDowell was the top coal-producing county in the nation and had about 100,000 residents. Now, more than half the children in the county receive…