Coalition 1/23 Agenda, SNAP 101 Training 1/24, Child Tax Credit Action Steps

01/18/24

Greetings Coalition members. Our next statewide SNAP Coalition meeting is Tuesday, January 23rd from 10 to 11:30 AM.  Here’s the ZOOM link.  

 

The AGENDA will include:

  • Federal updates from FRAC and introducing FRAC’s new SNAP Director Salaam Bhatti

  • State Legislative Updates (note deadline for submitting testimony on key bills is Feb 7th)

  • DTA updates including:: 

    • Cost of living adjustments (COLA) to Social Security/SSI benefits and impact on SNAP benefits

    • Upcoming 200% FPL SNAP gross income test - see federal poverty level  increase just announced here, 

    • Status of roll out of state-funded SNAP (for legally-present immigrants)

    • Status of skimming replacement reminder and more!  

  • Discussion of SNAP access barriers and application denials - look out for MLRI slides with approval/denial data on Monday. Please share what you are seeing and your recommendations.

  • Updates and announcements from partners 

 

SNAP 101 Basic Benefits Training: 

Wednesday, January 24th from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

This training is party of MLRI’s 2023/24 annual Basic Benefits Training series. The training is offered both in person at Mass Continuing Legal Education, 10 Winter Place in Boston and on line. More info and registration HERE. Check “non-lawyer advocate” for discount rate. 

SNAP Quality Control FAQ:

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recently issued a “Guide for Recipients” to explain the “Quality Control” (QC) process. A very small number of Massachusetts SNAP households are randomly selected by “Quality Control” for an in-depth case review. 

 

The purpose of QC is for both DTA and USDA to confirm if the benefits paid or actions the state SNAP agency took were correct. Under federal QC rules, states are required to randomly pick SNAP cases for a deeper QC case review. This can include asking for more proofs and/or DTA or USDA reaching out to third parties. SNAP households picked are required to participate, even if they recently did a SNAP application, recertification or interim report. 

 

Please reach out to MLRI if you work with a client who gets letters about Quality Control and you need help advising them on next steps. 

Help us get Congress to support the Child Tax Credit expansion!

We need your help reaching out to family and friends in sister states, and thanking the MA Delegation for their support. See overview from our partners at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).