What's new at MLS

Some upbeat news! We did not have a chance at yesterday's SNAP Coalition meeting to update folks on the great work being done by DTA and community orgs to launch a Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) in Massachusetts. HIP Project Director Frank Martinez-Nocito of DTA sent on the following…

You or your clients can now use DTA Connect to send documents to DTA! On Monday DTA released the second phase of DTA Connect, allowing clients to submit documents to DTA directly through the app!! This is very exciting for our clients who have access to a smartphone. Sending…

Possible DTA Calls Going to Incorrect/Out-dated Client Phone Numbers: We are writing today with a specific problem we need your help with. A few months ago DTA changed the process for the SNAP application interviews. Instead of DTA workers manually making the phone calls, DTA uses an…

SNAP Interview Calls: We have been seeing cases where clients do not receive an interview call  from DTA at the scheduled interview time. The client then receives a "notice of missed interview."  First, please let us know if you have any clients who do not get an interview call…

See also last week's Boston Globe opinion piece on same: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/09/26/facing-hunger-college-campuses/5YuqiPlgugUwIUhuv3SsBI/story.html ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: James Dubick <james@studentsagainsthunger.org> Date: Wed, Oct 5,…

Settlement in Wage Match case We are writing to alert you to a settlement in wage match lawsuit filed a few years ago against the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA). In 2014 and 2015 DTA sent hundreds of thousands of notices to SNAP households based on a match with Department of…

We're writing to alert you to a couple of items that may impact children in your community: 1. More MA School Districts Elect the Community Eligibility Provision to provide universal free school breakfast and lunch! This AM, the Department of Early and Secondary Education…

We wanted to share a couple pieces of recent information we learned this week DTA that may have an impact on your clients. 1. Quincy DTA Office to Open Soon At a recent meeting with SNAP Coalition members, Commissioner McCue announced that DTA will be reopening a local office Quincy. The…

Change to DTA Interview Calls DTA is making a change to how interview calls are made in SNAP cases. This change is scheduled to happen this Thursday, August 11.  Clients applying for SNAP are required to have an interview. Clients doing a recertification are also required to have an…

MLRI has gotten some calls about whether strikers qualify for SNAP. As you likely know from the press, unionized Verizon workers have been on strike since mid April. DTA recently issued some SNAP guidance which we think is misleading because it does not mention when someone is NOT considered to be…