Project Bread testifies, "Make HIP Permanent"

On September 29th, the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities held a hearing focused largely on food insecurity and programs administered through the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA). During this hearing, the committee heard oral testimony and received written testimony on five of Project Bread’s 2020-2021 legislative priorities. Taken together these five bills represent significant support for families with children and individuals with disabilities in accessing their basic needs including food.

Included in these are one of our top priorities, An Act Relative to An Agricultural Healthy Incentives Program which would make the Healthy Incentives Program a permanent program and help ensure its long-term sustainability. Launched in 2017, HIP provides a dollar-for-dollar match, up to a monthly limit based on household size, for SNAP dollars spent on fruits and vegetables purchased at farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets, and community support agriculture programs across the state. HIP supplements inadequate SNAP benefits while increasing access to healthy, local food. 

Project Bread's FoodSource Hotline screens callers for SNAP eligibility and provides callers across Massachusetts with information and referrals to community food resources. Through the hotline we have  also provided thousands of residents information on HIP. The following are two stories that demonstrate how critical this program is for low-income households.

Noelle from Framingham called us to apply for SNAP. During our call, the hotline staff mentioned  HIP and the benefits of the dollar-for-dollar match. Noelle called back to find a winter farmers' market. Unfortunately, the area she lives in does not have a farmers' market during the winter months, but HIP has been so helpful to her that she was willing to travel to a town close by. She talked about not being able to afford fresh veggies before applying for SNAP. Now, she loves making salads and occasionally bakes zucchini bread to share with her neighbors. She reports having more money to go towards her bills and said she hopes this program stays around forever.

In November 2020 during the pandemic, a caller from Roxbury shared that while she already received SNAP, it didn't cover enough of her grocery expenses. Her doctor told her not to eat certain foods for her health, but the alternatives were more expensive, and she was unable to purchase them. Thanks to HIP, she was able to find a farmers' market near her and afford more fruits and vegetables.

Noelle's story is particularly poignant and demonstrates the need to permanently authorize HIP as a part of the Department of Transition Assistance (DTA), as opposed to the status quo of HIP being authorized only through the annual budget process. With uncertainty and limited funding, DTA has been limited in its ability to plan and maximize the impact of HIP. In the initial implementation, farmers were recruited as vendors on a first-come, first-served basis. This left farmers from marginalized communities, such as farmers who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color out of the program, and created geographic gaps, particularly during the winter. By enshrining HIP in the general laws and as part of the regular responsibilities of the Department, the Commonwealth can more effectively and consistently reach the goals of increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables for households experiencing food insecurity and increasing economic activity for smaller farms.

In addition to the An Act Relative to An Agricultural Healthy Incentives Program, the Committee heard testimony on:

• An Act to Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty (H.199/S.96) would increase the amount of cash assistance grants to families with children living in deep poverty defined as 50% of the federal poverty level.
• An Act Concerning Public Assistance for Working Families and the Creation of a Pilot Program to Address the Impacts of the Cliff Effect (H.208/S.119) would create a pilot to ensure households receiving federal and state benefits would not be penalized for working by providing a portion of their benefits even as their income increases.
• An Act Concerning Food Insecurity and Supporting the Restaurant Industry (H.206/S.118) would enroll Massachusetts into the USDA Restaurant Meals Program allowing seniors, people with disabilities, and unhoused individuals to be able to use SNAP benefits to purchase discounted, prepared food at participating businesses.
• An Act Protecting Safety Net Access to Massachusetts Residents (H.234/S.134) creates a public process before the Department of Transitional Assistance can close a community service office. These offices are the public facing offices where applicants and clients can meet with DTA staff regarding their case or file an application for SNAP or cash assistance.

Together these bills would go a long way to helping households facing food insecurity due to low wages that keep them trapped in a cycle of poverty and hunger ensuring they have access food while building resiliency for the future. Project Bread submitted written testimony on all five bills.

• Read Project Bread’s testimony on An Act Related to An Agricultural Healthy Incentives Program
• Read Project Bread’s testimony on the other four bills referred to the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities.
• Take action to ask your legislator to support the Healthy Incentives Program