Urgent action on supp budget, 3/29 Immigrants Day, SNAP misfortune

Updates and action items below, including a reminder on replacement SNAP for households who lose power for 4+ hours during this winter storm. We hope you all stay safe and warm today! Our next Coalition meeting will be Tues. 3/28 from 10-11:30, Zoom link here.

Urgent action needed on the supplemental budget to support end to SNAP Emergency Allotments, wrap-around skimming replacement & more. 

We have heard from many families and organizations about the harm the end to the Emergency Allotments is causing to household budgets and food security. And, we are continuing to hear from families impacted by skimming. Governor Healey’s proposal to use state dollars to fund extra SNAP payments - for 3 months at 40% of what households were receiving - was included by both the House and the Senate in their Supplemental Budget bill. This is very good! The Senate also, helpfully, expanded language on skimming replacement to ensure more families are made whole. The House and Senate now work to come to agreement on a final package in conference committee. 

Today and tomorrow, please urge your members in the House and Senate to communicate support to leadership for:

• Adopting in the final bill the Senate’s language for replacement of SNAP stolen by skimming. This language wraps-around what the federal government will replace, ensuring more families are made whole after they are victimized by criminals. Contact Vicky with any questions about this. 

• Including the state funded SNAP dollars in the final package (see Boston Globe article from this weekend)

• Including universal free school meals funding & additional critical funds for Emergency Shelter. 

Please continue documenting the impact of the loss of the EAs with our form here. 

Feeding Our Neighbors Coalition - Join us on 3/29 at the State House for Immigrants Day!

The Feeding Our Neighbors Coalition, led by MLRI and La Colaborativa, is advocating for state-funded food and cash benefits for legally-present immigrants who are not eligible for SNAP/TAFDC due to federal restrictions. Learn more: FeedingOurNeighborsMA.org 

How to get involved:

• Join the Coalition and become a supporting organization by filling out our form here. 

• Join us to advocate at the State House on 3/29 for Immigrants Day with MIRA! See Spanish and English language fliers here, and attached PDFs. We would love to see you in person! Let us know if you are coming by filling out this form.

• Follow the Campaign on twitter! @FeedNeighborsMA

Replacement SNAP when food purchased with SNAP is lost due to a power outage or other misfortune 

The Boston Globe has mapping here of power outage numbers across Massachuestts during today’s storm. Please encourage households who lost power for 4+ hours and therefore had to get rid of food purchased with SNAP to report the loss to DTA! Households have 10 days from the date of the loss to report to DTA. Replacement is up to one month’s allotment. Households can report and verify the loss verbally with DTA or in writing. MLRI’s overview of replacement SNAP here: Masslegalservices.org/SNAP-Replacement-Benefits-Household-Misfortune 

Updated MLRI SNAP Advocacy Guide and SNAP Calculators 

We have updated the SNAP Advocacy Guide! It is up to date as of March 1. You can find the updated PDF version here: Masslegalservices.org/SNAPAdvocacyGuide 

And, a reminder about MLRI’s SNAP calculator resources, including an online calculator, excel calculator, and 1 page paper worksheet. Those are all posted here. And, MLRI recently did a blog post about the online calculator, which has been used 4,000 times so far this year.