Blog Archive for July 2011

Many of you may have seen today's Globe highlighting the alarming growth in underweight and malnourished young children seen at Boston Medical Center since the on-set of the recession, with food and shelter costs rising constantly, from 12% of emergency room children of surveyed families in 2007, to 18% in 2010: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/07/28/

Hope you are withstanding the heat, getting some cool drinks and staying in the shade or have access to AC!! The LAST meeting of the summer for the Food SNAP Coalition is on Tuesday, July 26th from 10 to Noon at St Francis House. The next Coalition meeting will be on September 27th (last Tuesday of the month). We skip August!

The July 26th AGENDA will include:

* Update on the federal debt ceiling debate and potential impact on safety net programs
* State FY2012 budget: campaign to increase number of front line SNAP staff

The following are some important SNAP-related policy updates for your anti-hunger work:

1. SNAP applications filed through the Web Units:
Based on the MLRI legal clinics at St Francis House and Cardinal Medeiros, we have identified a couple of issues that are worth bringing to your attention in case your clients have had these issues:

We have received an invitation for the Mass Food SNAP Coalition to meet with USDA Undersecretary Dr. Janey Thornton on Tuesday, July 19th. The Undersecretary is in Boston on the 19th and very interested in meeting with members of the Massachusetts Food SNAP Coalition. We have scheduled a meeting from 11 AM to 12:15 PM.