State-SNAP for Immigrants Action Alert; EITC sign on letter, DTAConnect training and More!

04/05/24

Greetings SNAP Coalition members. Hope you all weathered Thursday’s crazy Nor’Easter. Reminder that SNAP households that lost power for 4 or more hours and had to toss food can request SNAP “misfortune” replacement benefits to replace food purchased with SNAP.  More information from MLRI here. 

 

We have a couple of important updates and announcements:

 

  1. URGENT advocacy needed to continue state SNAP after April

The state-funded SNAP program serving immigrant households may end in early May unless the MA Legislature authorizes additional funding.  How did we get here?

  • In early December, the MA Legislature authorized $6 million for DTA to issue to some legally present immigrants who are not eligible for federal SNAP. DTA started issuing state SNAP in mid February (retroactively to 12/4/23). 

  • Nearly 3,500 legally present immigrant households currently receive these benefits.

  • The $6M is not enough to issue state SNAP until the end of this state fiscal year (June 30). After April, it is possible that families will receive a partial or “prorated” SNAP benefit in May. We do not know what DTA will do, but unless the legislature authorizes more funds, we expect May to be the final month of state SNAP (or DTA will have to significantly reduce the benefit amount). 

  • It is possible that DTA would need to start sending reduction or termination notices in the next few weeks, unless the legislature authorizes funding. 

 

ACTION STEP:  Please call your State Senator and State Representative today and early next week.  Ask them to urge House and Senate Leadership to provide an additional $2.5 to $3M in one of the pending FY24 Supplemental Budgets. Additional funding will avoid interruption in these critical benefits as we work toward fully funding the program in the FY25 budget.

 

See also call to action from La Colaborativa’s Gladys Vega at on March 28th, Immigrants Day at the State House.  And if you haven’t joined Feeding Our Neighbors yet, we would love to have you! Join us here. 

 

  1. Organizational Sign-on Letter re EITC for Working Immigrants - Deadline 5 PM Monday 4/8

The Healthy Families Tax Credits Coalition is pushing to extend the state EITC to working immigrants in FY2025. This would impact 26,000 families in MA who are excluded from the EITC if even 1 member of the family is ineligible for a SSN.  Children’s HealthWatch has organized an organizational sign on letter to Chair Rodrigues and Senate President Spilka. Here is the sign on form and letter, and here is an e-blast CHW sent out if helpful. The deadline for sign on is EOD Monday (4/8).

 

  1. Dept of Higher Education letter to 140K MA students about SNAP!

The MA Department of Higher Education recently sent an e-letter to 140,000 low-income Massachusetts students who applied for financial aid through the FAFSA portal. The letter tells low income students they may be eligible for SNAP and how to apply. (Small letter typo - the max SNAP amount is $291/mo vs $281). MLRI and the Mass Hunger Free Campus Coalition have advocated with DHE over the last few years urging them to directly communicate with low income students about who qualifies and how to apply for SNAP. We are thrilled they agreed to do so again - especially since some of the federal SNAP rules changed in 2023. 

 

  1. SAVE the Date!  DTA Training on 4/24 on DTAConnect update - households can now report changes right on DTAConnect!

DTA recently made some significant and important changes to DTAConnect. Households can now update their rent/shelter costs, childcare costs, medical expenses, and more right on DTAConnect. In many cases DTA’s eligibility system (BEACON) will automatically adjust SNAP benefits based on the reported change. DTA calls this page the “Update My Information” page (or “UMI”). We are thrilled about this change - another example of DTA leading the country in changes that make it easier for families to maximize SNAP! 

DTA has offered to do an in depth training for communities organizations about this change. On Wednesday, 4/24 from 11:00-12:30, To join, use the Zoom information below.  DTA’s SNAP Outreach unit will cover:

  • Logging on and setting up a DTA Connect account 

  • How to navigate/use DTAConnect 

  • Goals of the Update My Information page 

  • What clients can update on the Update My Information page 

  • Technical assistance (ie. troubleshooting, what to do when having DTAConnect issues, etc).

Zoom link for this training: https://zoom.us/j/98796946986?pwd=MzUrV1RMelNCYkZUZlBxSzRhMGZoQT09

Meeting ID: 987 9694 6986
Passcode: 508095

  1. MCLE Basic Benefits Trainings in April and May.

We just want to remind folks about three upcoming trainings in April and May. Remember, community based orgs and legal services qualify for the lower registration fee.

 


For a full list of the basic benefits trainings, see here: MCLE.org/main/MLRI