What's new at MLS

Our colleagues at NASW Massachusetts Chapter - and co-chairs of the Common Apps Coalition - have drafted a fantastic sign on letter for MA social workers and social work students. The goal is to both draw more attention to the growing crisis of healthcare patients who also present with significant…

Important updates below! Pat and I will be in touch soon regarding our next Coalition meeting (we typically combine meetings in November and December to one meeting in early December due to the holidays - stay tuned!).     Replacement SNAP - power outages from…

We hope you are all safe and warm.    Yesterday, House Ways and Means released their draft proposal on how to spend the $5.3 billion from our federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to help Massachusetts families recover from the pandemic.   Please…

  This could not be more urgent.  We need your help THIS WEEK to get the Massachusetts Delegation firmly behind protecting funding for the child nutrition provisions in the Build Back Better Act, or we are building backwards!   WRONG!  Under the core framework of the…

We hope you are enjoying this lovely October day.  A few things on the horizon for today and next week. SNAP Coalition Meeting – Tuesday, October 26th Our next (4th Tuesday) SNAP Coalition meeting is Tuesday, October 26th from 10 to 11:30 AM.  Here’s the meeting…

More about LTSS expansion for immigrants in Family Assistance   We are still waiting for release of the Eligibility Operations Memos that should provide more information about how this will actually work--but forwarded here is the first written communication from MassHealth about the Nov…

Hello all, and happy Monday! A real quick action alert on the Cover All Kids legislation:   Please contact your legislators TODAY and ask them to co-sponsor Cover All Kids.   In July, the Cover All Kids bills had a hearing before the Joint Committee on…

Good morning - Important updates below. In general, please let us know what the households you work with are experiencing when applying for SNAP or interacting with DTA! Our next Coalition meeting is next Tuesday, 10/26 from 10-11:30. Agenda to come!   DTA updates guidance on getting…

  Health Updates Oct 15, 2021   Immigrant Health MassHealth Policies during COVID Health Connector Open Enrollment for 2022 Basic Benefit Training for Oct & Nov    Immigrant Health Coming Nov 1, 2021 –Expanded scope of long term care…

Our next Health Care Working Group meeting is Wednesday (Oct 13) from 3-4:30pm. I will separately send a calendar invite with zoom information today.    This meeting will be an open forum on your problematic health access cases, and issues you're encountering. We hope…