The Baby Formula Affordability Fund (BFAF)
The Issue
Make Baby Formula Affordable for All Families in Illinois
Mission Statement:
Every baby deserves clean, safe, reliable and affordable nutrition-no matter their family's financial situation. The Baby Formula Affordability Fund will ensure formula is accessible during hardship, emergencies, and everyday life supported through a fair tax on luxury and non-essential goods or corporate profits from formula manufacturers.
We will feed our future together.!
Who is impacted?
Every day in Illinois, thousands of parents are struggling to feed their babies due to the skyrocketing cost of baby formula—now averaging $100 to $800 per month and $1,200 to $4,600 per year. Families affected by job loss, inflation, medical emergencies, or natural disasters face an impossible choice between paying rent/bills, buying groceries, or feeding their infants. One can of formula often doesn’t last a week, and rationing or skipping feedings is becoming dangerously common.
What is at stake?
If we do nothing, more families will be pushed into crisis—and more babies will go hungry. Without affordable access to safe and clean baby formula, infants may face serious health risks, and parents may face increased anxiety, debt, and trauma. The cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of action.
Why is now the time to act?
The price of baby formula has risen dramatically while wages and aid have not kept pace. Meanwhile, Illinois has the tools to fix this now. By creating a Baby Formula Affordability Fund, funded through a small tax on luxury or non-essential items, or corporate profits from formula manufacturers, we can make formula free or affordable for families in need—without placing the burden on parents or caregivers. This is a smart, fair, and compassionate step toward protecting the youngest and most vulnerable members of our communities.
Formula is not a luxury-it’s a basic need for infant survival.
Goals:
Provide free or highly subsidized formula to low in-come or disaster-impacted families.
Stabilize and reduce retail prices of baby formula.
Ensure emergency reserves of formula during disasters (natural, economic, or supply chain).
Support breastfeeding alternatives for families unable to breastfeed due to medical, financial, or personal reasons.
Key Benefits:
No baby goes hungry.
Reduces financial strain on new parents.
Builds community preparedness for disasters.
Supports health and developmental needs of newborns.
We, the undersigned, call on Illinois leaders to:
✅ Fund formula aid through non-regressive taxes
✅ Create disaster reserves of baby formula
✅ Ensure safe formula is available to every infant in need
Illinois—let’s feed our future. Support the Baby Formula Affordability Fund now.
4
The Issue
Make Baby Formula Affordable for All Families in Illinois
Mission Statement:
Every baby deserves clean, safe, reliable and affordable nutrition-no matter their family's financial situation. The Baby Formula Affordability Fund will ensure formula is accessible during hardship, emergencies, and everyday life supported through a fair tax on luxury and non-essential goods or corporate profits from formula manufacturers.
We will feed our future together.!
Who is impacted?
Every day in Illinois, thousands of parents are struggling to feed their babies due to the skyrocketing cost of baby formula—now averaging $100 to $800 per month and $1,200 to $4,600 per year. Families affected by job loss, inflation, medical emergencies, or natural disasters face an impossible choice between paying rent/bills, buying groceries, or feeding their infants. One can of formula often doesn’t last a week, and rationing or skipping feedings is becoming dangerously common.
What is at stake?
If we do nothing, more families will be pushed into crisis—and more babies will go hungry. Without affordable access to safe and clean baby formula, infants may face serious health risks, and parents may face increased anxiety, debt, and trauma. The cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of action.
Why is now the time to act?
The price of baby formula has risen dramatically while wages and aid have not kept pace. Meanwhile, Illinois has the tools to fix this now. By creating a Baby Formula Affordability Fund, funded through a small tax on luxury or non-essential items, or corporate profits from formula manufacturers, we can make formula free or affordable for families in need—without placing the burden on parents or caregivers. This is a smart, fair, and compassionate step toward protecting the youngest and most vulnerable members of our communities.
Formula is not a luxury-it’s a basic need for infant survival.
Goals:
Provide free or highly subsidized formula to low in-come or disaster-impacted families.
Stabilize and reduce retail prices of baby formula.
Ensure emergency reserves of formula during disasters (natural, economic, or supply chain).
Support breastfeeding alternatives for families unable to breastfeed due to medical, financial, or personal reasons.
Key Benefits:
No baby goes hungry.
Reduces financial strain on new parents.
Builds community preparedness for disasters.
Supports health and developmental needs of newborns.
We, the undersigned, call on Illinois leaders to:
✅ Fund formula aid through non-regressive taxes
✅ Create disaster reserves of baby formula
✅ Ensure safe formula is available to every infant in need
Illinois—let’s feed our future. Support the Baby Formula Affordability Fund now.
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on July 14, 2025