What's new at MLS

I’m writing about two sets of upcoming deadlines:  (1)   Deadlines to apply for the one-time IRS stimulus payments, authorized by the CARES Act, of up to $1200 for eligible adults and $500 per qualified child (also known as the Economic Impact Payment (EIP)): Sept. 30 for…

We have two piece of BIG news in P-EBT land:   1.  P-EBT for September:  DTA and DESE pursued and were approved for September P-EBT benefits for Massachusetts students. This includes P-EBT for the delayed start of schools as well as P-EBT for any children in remote learning…

MassHealth has operated under a comprehensive 1115 Demonstration program for most people under 65 and not needing nursing home care since 1997. The 1115 Demo has been renewed at 3 to 5 year intervals ever since then.  The current demonstration authorization period runs from July 1,…

Thank you to all of you who joined yesterday’s Zoom call.  102 participants! Wow, we figured you were all vacationing. It was a pleasure to have you on the call along with our national partners from FRAC. THANK YOU for all you do to serve low income Massachusetts…

Hi Folks, We're forwarding lots of good info fr SNAP coalition including 2 upcoming trainings: June 1 on DTA benefits & June 17 for the  rescheduled Basic Benefit Training on Immigrants & public benefits.    We also want to alert you that IRS is sending out…

Thanks to everyone who called in to yesterday's Coalition meeting after the long weekend! At this point, we will be moving to bi-weekly SNAP Coalition Zoom calls. The next SNAP Coalition Zoom will be on June 9 from 10-11:30. In between Coalition calls, we share critical updates we…

We are forwarding this notice from the state with links to new flyers informing MassHealth members & providers about available resources for food, and with information about an MTF training on June 2 & 3  on proposed new MassHealth cost-sharing rules scheduled to take effect July…

  P-EBT update - notices/cards were mailed to kids who don't get DTA benefits    Notices and P-EBT cards for non-DTA families began going out this week to hundreds of thousands of kids across the state. The notices - addressed to the eligible child - will arrive prior…

During many of our SNAP Coalition weekly calls, a number of the SNAP outreach partners have shared updated information on the changes they’ve made to continue to take SNAP applications during the pandemic.  We know the SNAP caseload is rapidly increasing, but so is high unemployment.…

We continue to be amazed by the huge amount of important work the SNAP Coalition members are doing throughout the state to support low income families access to food – schools, food pantries, food banks, community organizations, health care workers. THANK YOU!   SNAP Gap Victory -…