What's new at MLS

A few announcements below. Unless there is breaking news, we likely won't send another eblast until the New Year. The last year has been one of many challenges - but we have also seen time and time again that this Coalition is a powerful force in making change!! We look forward to our…

We hope you are gearing up for some relaxing and safe time with family and friends. We have a couple of items to share with you before the holiday break the next two weeks. If you are working with Haitian immigrant families, see important information below. Our next SNAP Coalition meeting…

Thanks to those of you who participated in Wednesday's Health Care Working Group meeting.  We're passing on info related to several of the agenda items at that meeting: 1. Extension of reply deadline on EOHHS Equity RFI to Jan 15, 2022 2. Copy of Kara's slide deck on…

This eblast has a number of announcements and information for Coalition tomorrow - please note the changed Zoom link for Coalition and use this link tomorrow. Note this is the LAST Coalition meeting for 2021. There is NO Coalition the week of December 20th.  The Coalition will…

MLRI is  working with uAspire and other national and state organizations to secure broad support in an organizational sign on letter for two federal bills that will permanently allow more students to access SNAP benefits. This organizational sign on letter urges House…

Many of you have asked for SNAP data by city/town or Zip code on the impact of the SNAP caseload reduction in Massachusetts.  While the SNAP caseload has indeed started to turn the corner and increase since May 2015, the MA caseload has still suffered a serious decline.  We are providing you with a…

SNAP Caseload Update - MA continues to improve USDA data shows .6% increase in Massachusetts for July 2015. For the third month in a row, the SNAP household participation has increased. The most recent available data posted in October for July 2015 shows a .6% increase for MA. The…

1. Substance use disorder services  Last year a state law improving substance use disorder services was enacted (c. 258 St. 2014). A provision requiring MassHealth & MassHealth managed care plans to cover detox and up to 14 day crisis stabilization services without prior authorization…

Please see email from Frank Martinez Nocito re second round of FINI grants announced by USDA. If your organization is interested in applying, please contact Frank at DTA directly. And REMINDER -  Statewide Food for Good Conference at UMass Amherst on Friday, October 30th! Central MA…

1. MassHealth Renewals Extension to Oct 16 for people with disabilities. In August MassHealth notified about 35,000 households containing 62,000 individuals with at least one member with a disability that they had to submit a reapplication by Sept 15 to remain eligible for MassHealth. The…