What's new at MLS

Over the past few weeks we have tried to reach as many of you directly - to share very sad news about the passing of our beloved Lauren Arms Ledwith, former DTA SNAP Director and anti-hunger troubadour. We know many of you were able to attend the wake and/or funeral service, and her family was…

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Cooper, Claire F (ITD) <claire.f.cooper@massmail.state.ma.us> Date: Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 6:58 PM Subject: 1/28 Health Connector Customer Service Hours Good evening, Earlier this evening, Governor Baker announced that non-emergency state…

We are writing to ask you to reach out to low income veterans whose SNAP benefits may have been reduced or terminated because DTA incorrectly counted VA Pension monies the veteran does not receive. In addition to a host of troubling DTA "data matches" (matches involving…

We are hearing ongoing rumblings of problems getting through to DTA. One example from today from a community advocate:     "Every time I have tried to call DTA'€™s new main number or the recipient services line, I get the same message: âDue to an extremely high volume of calls,…

MassHealth and the Connector have posted the new paper application form to be used in applying for MassHealth, subsidized insurance through the Connector, CMSP and the Health Safety Net for people under age 65.  It's the ACA-3 (Oct…

USDA recently posted the state-by-state SNAP "timeliness processing" data for FFY 2013 (that's federal fiscal year for Oct 1, 2012 to Sept 31, 2013).    According to USDA, Massachusetts fell from 10th in the nation in FFY 2011 in processing SNAP applications to 39th in…

The Department of Public Health (DPH) has formally announced the WIC switch to the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system from the the more cumbersome food vouchers, This is a significant change for both WIC participants as well as retailers and should be an improvement in…

Have you heard from Massachusetts SNAP recipients about local stores/corner markets that have STOPPED accepting their EBT benefits? In the past month, we have become aware of a few stores that announced they no longer participate in EBT, and put up signs on their front doors…

We are writing to flag some issues that we have seen impacting homeless youth trying to obtain SNAP/food stamp benefits. (Many of these issues affect homeless adults and victims of domestic violence as well.) Some SNAP Coalition members and homeless youth providers have reported that homeless youth…

We have previously shared information with the SNAP Coalition about DTA's wage match system with the Department of Revenue. If your client gets a wage match notice from DTA--called a DOR Employment Verification Notice (see attached)--and does not send in the information requested, the SNAP case…