Our Top Six Victories for Anti-Hunger Work in Massachusetts During the 2023-2024 Session
Leran Minc
For the past two years, we’ve fought together for policy solutions that make it easier for everyone in Massachusetts to access food, our most basic human need. And we have some major wins related to our Legislative Agenda to celebrate and be proud of. Thanks to our donors, partners, and Action Team advocates, who have all played an essential role in these victories. These wins wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Let’s take a look at our top victories.
1. School Meals for All became permanent in Massachusetts.
As part of the state budget in August 2023, Massachusetts became the 8th state to make School Meals for All permanent. Not only did we make it permanent, but this year we successfully advocated for another year of funding during a time when Governor Maura Healey and the Legislature had to make some tough decisions about state spending. This shows just how impactful your advocacy has been in making this a policy and budget priority. Over 5,000 advocates contacted your legislators and the governor to make it loud and clear that residents of the Commonwealth support School Meals for All.
Thanks to the Feed Kids Coalition led by Project Bread and you, an additional 100,000 students ate lunch daily in October 2023 compared to October 2019 in schools that did not previously have universal free meals.
2. The first bill Governor Healey signed largely focused on funding food security programs.
Her very first piece of legislation was a supplemental budget that included funding for School Meals for All and the only state phase-down of emergency allotments of SNAP benefits. These allotments were COVID-related boosts to SNAP that the federal government ended in March 2023. The Governor proposed and the Legislature approved a reduced boost in SNAP funded by the state for April, May and June 2023.
3. Low and middle-income families received greater tax relief.
During this session, the Legislature passed a tax reform package that increased the state match to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit to 40%. The EITC has a proven track record of supporting a family's ability to pay down debt, save, or make household investments. This package also created a Child and Family Tax Credit similar to the federal Child Tax Credit, providing $440 for each eligible individual, which a taxpayer can claim as a dependent.
4. Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline and Child Nutrition Outreach Program received continued funding.
These programs are funded through the state and provide critical support for the families of Massachusetts. During the pandemic, our teams stepped up to help families seeking assistance with SNAP, summer meals, school meals, Pandemic EBT, and now Summer EBT. Recognizing the importance of our work, the Legislature increased funding to both. We were able to maintain this funding in the Fiscal Year 2023 and the Fiscal Year 2024 state budgets.
Project Bread continues to meet with legislators to spread awareness of our resources and services as well as to continue to secure robust funding for these vital programs.
5. The Healthy Incentives Program continued for its 8th year.
In 2017, Project Bread partnered with the MA Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) to launch the state-wide Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). HIP has been a state-funded boost to SNAP that supports local agriculture by enabling SNAP households to purchase fresh produce from farm stands, farmer's markets, or through farm subscription boxes. HIP faced many challenges in its first few years as a program only authorized through the state budget. Under the Healey Administration, HIP received strong support in 2023 and its highest-ever one-time appropriation in the state budget in 2024.
Unfortunately, while the $15 million was a record for the annual state budget, it falls short of what advocates and the Governor sought at $25 million. Starting in December, the HIP benefit was reduced to $20 per household monthly, regardless of size. Previously, a household of 2 received $40 per month, with larger households receiving $60 or $80 per month.
HIP was a well-used program: of an estimated 650,000 SNAP households, 95,000 households also used the HIP benefit in the last fiscal year.
Project Bread joined fellow advocates at the Massachusetts State House on November 13th to fight for an additional $10 million in funding for HIP. We hope the administration and legislature will find a way to restore the full value of this critical benefit.
6. Massachusetts provided immigrants with state-funded SNAP benefits.
In 2023, our partners launched the Feed Our Neighbors Coalition to restore cash and food benefits to legally present immigrant individuals and households. In December of that year, the Legislature authorized $6 million to provide state-funded SNAP benefits to immigrants with certain types of legal status.
The State SNAP Supplement program, which ran from December to April, issued benefits to 5,080 households. Unfortunately, additional funding was not added and the program ended. Project Bread continues to advocate for funding and permanent authorization of this benefit.
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Continue Fighting for Food Security
These successes from the 2023-2024 session were only possible thanks to your support and engaged advocacy. When it comes time to file the bills for the next session, our team will read every single one to determine what will yield the most significant impact on food security for everyone in Massachusetts. And we'll call on you — Project Bread's Action Team and our supporters — to fight for an equitable future.