Consponsor amendments, Coalition Tues 5/21, updated Know Your Rights fliers

05/16/24

We have our May SNAP Coalition this coming Tuesday, 5/21. See below!

 

We are thrilled that 113 MA organizations signed onto a letter to the MA Congressional Delegation opposing proposed cuts to SNAP in the upcoming Farm Bill deliberations. A copy of the letter shipped out this morning is here. 

Still time to ask Senators to Co-Sponsor Core DTA Benefit Amendments!  

Please contact state Senators ASAP (today and tomorrow!!)  to urge them to co-sponsor the following amendments, Debate starts in the Senate on the FY25 Budget next Tuesday, March 21st and Senators can sign on anytime before the amendment is taken up: 

  • Feeding Our Neighbors Amendment #577 (Senator DiDomenico) - fact sheet here - to restore state-funded SNAP for legally present children, older adults, and persons with disabilities ineligible for federal SNAP (the benefits for 5,000 families ended April 30th).

  • Lift Our Kids Amendment #578 (Senator DiDomenico) cash grant amendment to move the cost of living increase for TAFDC and EAEDC cash benefits to earlier in the upcoming fiscal year & Amendment #552 to increase the annual children’s clothing allowance. 

  • Hunger Free Campus Amendment #647 (Senator Lovely) to provide funding for food security initiatives in 2 and 4 year public MA colleges and minority serving institutions.  

SNAP Coalition meeting next Tues, May 21

Our May SNAP Coalition meeting will be on Tuesday, May 21 from 10-11:30 (a week earlier than normal due to Memorial Day). Here is the Zoom link. 

 

AGENDA:

  • Federal updates including the 2024 Farm Bill and engaging our delegation!

  • State budget updates - Senate debate will begin Tuesday! 

  • DTA updates: Check in on access barriers, application interview, recertification interview changes, etc. 

    • See most recent April DTA Scorecard, in April 43% of calls to reach a worker were automatically disconnected due to high call volume - still very high, but the lowest percent since June 2023. 

  • Overview of overhauled MassLegalHelp.org from our MLRI colleague Marlena Idrobo

  • Overview/reminder about where to find key SNAP resources 

  • Issue sharing

Updated MLRI Know Your Rights SNAP fliers 

With thanks to our MLRI colleague Karina for her help formatting, MLRI has updated a bunch of our SNAP Know Your Rights fliers including:

 

 

And fliers on eligibility rules for federal SNAP for immigrants are HERE in 3 languages. 

 

We welcome your feedback on these fliers and on other issues that you are working on.