Sample client outreach fliers, in English, Spanish and Portuguese; eligibility charts and sample correspondence on access issues.

Detailed report by Emerson National Hunger Fellow Katy Mastman tracking immigrant access to food stamps and barriers. Report includes individual case descriptions, analysis of federal and state policies affecting access and specific recommendations to USDA and DTA to improve access barriers. Report prepared for the Mass Law Reform Institute, MIRA Coalition and Food Stamp Improvement Coalition as a blueprint for further policy advocacy statewide to improve FS participation of immigrant headed households.

Since 1996, Massachusetts has been eligible to receive $459 million a year in TANF block grant funds. There are many restrictions on how states may spend block grant funds, but there is also a great deal of flexibility. Massachusetts has chosen to use most of the funds for child care and other services rather than for cash assistance benefits. The 1996 federal welfare law that authorized TANF expires at the end of federal fiscal year 2002 (September 30, 2002). Congress will consider legislation to reauthorize the block grant, as well as proposals to change the federal rules on how TANF may be spent. This report looks at how Massachusetts currently deals with the federal restrictions and what the the state needs most in the TANF reauthorization process.