Urge MetroWest Senators to Support Key Food System Budget Amendments

It’s that time of year again - Massachusetts budget season. And this year, with federal threats to SNAP, the termination of local food purchasing funding for food banks and schools, attacks on our immigrant communities, and other actions that undermine food access, the stakes of our FY 2026 state budget feel particularly high.

The MA House has already voted on and passed their budget, and Senate Ways & Means has issued their budget. Several Senators have introduced amendments to the Senate Ways & Means budget that would support our farmers, students, lower-income individuals and families, and our regional food system as a whole. Senators have until Monday, May 19th to review these amendments and sign on as co-sponsors, before the Senate budget debate begins. There is no limit to the number of amendments that a Senator can co-sponsor. 

With the guidance of our coalition partners, the MetroWest Food Collaborative has defined six amendments that we are urging our MetroWest Senators to support. Please join us in calling and emailing them by Friday, May 16 to let them know you support these amendments and want them to do the same. 

1. Amendment #327: Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA), $7,000,000, Senator Eldridge. This LFPA amendment would support a previously federally funded program that was suddenly terminated by the Trump administration earlier this spring. Administered by the MA Department of Agricultural Resources, the program would provide nonprofit food assistance organizations with funding to purchase food from local farmers and fishers, to distribute to food pantries and other food access sites. This would increase access to local food in the emergency food assistance system (which is also facing decimating cuts), continue a market channel for local producers, and reduce food insecurity.

2. Amendment #328: Local Food for Schools Program, $2,500,000, Senator Eldridge. Local Food For Schools would continue a previously federally funded program that was abruptly terminated by the Trump administration earlier this year. Administered by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the program would provide K-12 schools and early education programs with additional funds to purchase local foods for use in school meal programs, increasing access to nourishing foods for all students while supporting our local farmers, fishers, and food producers.

3. Amendment #469: Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) Enabling legislation, no cost, Senator Tarr. This amendment mirrors the language in the HIP enabling bill (S.104 / H.222), which would enact the program into law permanently, and re-create a trust for program funds. We will continue to support the Senate Ways and Means' proposal for $25.4 million for HIP during the next steps of the budget process.

4. Amendment #625: Food Literacy, $1,000,000, Senator Lewis. This funding would support DESE in expanding opportunities for students to learn about nutrition, culinary skills, and other food system issues via another level round of FRESH grants and district wellness policy development and implementation coaching.

5. Amendment #829: Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs), Senator Kennedy. Increases general RTA operating dollars by $3 million, bringing the total RTA funding level to $217M. This level of funding ensures that agencies are able to keep pace with inflation, sustaining transit services in the over 250 cities and towns that rely on RTA service to get where they need to go.

6. Amendment #501: Funding to Replace Stolen Nutrition Benefits, Senator Kennedy. Provides $10 million to replace stolen benefits for SNAP customers until DTA can implement chip EBT cards. At the federal level, the U.S. Congress ended the replacement of SNAP benefits stolen after December 20, 2024. (Currently, around $1 million in benefits are stolen from low-income SNAP households in Massachusetts each month, and 7,800 families had SNAP benefits stolen and not replaced between January and March of this year, according to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, MLRI.)

Need to find your Senator? Go here: malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

When you call, you will most likely speak with a legislative staff member. Make sure to:

• State your name,

• State your town of residence and zip code,

• State the amendments that you are calling in support of,

• Urge the Senator to co-sponsor these amendments,

• Thank the Senator for any amendments they filed or have already supported (**the Senator listed above next to the title is the person who filed the amendment).

Thank you for taking action for food access, equity, and a stronger regional food system!

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Click here to see a more comprehensive list of food system-related budget items, and their current status, in a table provided by the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative. 

For a breakdown of the Massachusetts budget cycle, see this State Budget 101 Primer from the Mass Budget and Policy Center or check out our budget blog post from last year.

The MWFC’s Perspective on the final FY25 MA State Budget and Food Access

After a challenging budget season, Governor Healey recently signed the FY25 MA State Budget into law. For those of us who have been working to build a stronger and more equitable food system, the results were mixed. Now that we’ve had some time to reflect on the advocacy efforts of the coalitions we are part of and the final outcomes - both the good and the disappointing - we are ready to share some of our key takeaways.

First, here’s a look at where our final priorities landed:

Item	FY25 Coalition Ask	Final Budget
Healthy Incentives Program	$25 million	$15 million
Universal School Meals	$200 million	$170 million
State-Funded SNAP	$18 million	$0
Regional Transit Authority Operations	$150 million	$160.5 million
MDAR Food Policy Council Grants	$250,000	$0
Food Literacy in Schools	$1 million	$1 million

Below, we share some reflections on what these wins and losses mean, and what comes next.

1. We are clear that our advocacy efforts are making a difference. It is easy to focus on the places where we fell short of our budget priorities, but first it’s important to recognize that in a difficult budget year, food policy advocates still protected and advanced funding for critical programs including:

• Securing a $50,000 earmark for the MetroWest Food Collaborative, to continue strengthening our work, thanks to the efforts of Speaker Pro Tempore Kate Hogan. 

• Maintaining Universal School Meals funding levels at $170 million. Although this final amount was lower than the FY25 budget ask, the Feed Kids Coalition successfully prevented any cuts to funding levels relative to the prior two years. 

• Winning nearly $15 million for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), to continue supporting healthy families and sustainable farms. However, we know that this will not be enough to last the full fiscal year and does not include the language the line item has had in recent years that states the program should operate year-round.

• Significant investment in Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) to support transportation equity. This funding is divided between operating, funding for free fare statewide, and grant programs. The RTAs will receive:

  • $160.5 million in funding for operations;

  • $30 million for statewide fare free grants for the entire year;

  • $10 million for grants for the creation or altering of routes that advance connectivity between existing public transportation routes;

  • $4 million for grants to transit providers to support expanded mobility options for older adults, people with disabilities and low income individuals through the Community Transit Grant Program.

• Continuing to fund Food Literacy at $1 million. This is broken out into $750,000 for the FRESH grant program and $250,000 to support local district-level wellness policymaking.

2. We are learning valuable lessons to strengthen our future efforts. One of the most disheartening food policy outcomes of this budget session was the MA Legislature’s decision to not include state-funded SNAP in the FY25 State Budget. This means that legally-present Massachusetts immigrants barred from federal SNAP, who were able to access these benefits thanks to funding included in the FY24 supplemental budget, have lost their access to SNAP. 

To give a couple of examples of the impact this supplemental budget funding had in MetroWest, between 101-250 households benefited in Framingham and between 51-100 households benefited in Milford and Marlborough. 

The Feeding Our Neighbors Coalition that worked hard to secure this funding is continuing the fight. The coalition recently re-grouped to discuss the strengths of this campaign and how to move forward, including broadening the coalition. Please consider getting your organization involved in the coalition or sharing stories of impact. We’re continuing to urge legislators to reinstate funding for this program, most recently by submitting a letter to the Special Commission on Poverty asking them to include this priority in their next report.

3. We are reminded that the struggle for food justice is intertwined with the struggle for all other basic human rights. If you were following the end of the budget session, you may have heard about - or even have been part of speaking out about - changes to the MA emergency shelter system, which will leave hundreds of children and families, and particularly migrants, with nowhere to go. These same families will struggle with food access, too. Food and housing are two of the most basic necessities for our communities, and those of us advocating for food equity must stand shoulder to shoulder with those advocating for housing equity.

4. We need to put energy into making food equity a priority at the local, state and federal levels. Many of the programs and policies that impact us locally, and that receive state funding, rely on federal infrastructure. SNAP is one major example. With presidential and congressional elections coming up in November, what comes next will matter for the work we are doing locally to strengthen our food system. It’s important to take time to learn candidates’ positions on food policy, and to get out and vote! Click here to register to vote or make sure your registration is active.

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As we prepare for supplemental budget efforts to come, and continue to reorient for the next session, thank you to all who have been part of advocating with us. We will be in touch soon with new action steps! 

Struggling to Put Food On the Table This Summer? These Programs Can Help.

Summer is sunshine, swimming, hikes, bike rides, and fresh fruit. And for far too many Massachusetts families, summer is also a struggle to put enough food on the table. 

Nearly 23% of households with children face food insecurity in Massachusetts. For Black and Latino/a households with children, this percentage is significantly higher, according to the latest data from the US Census Household Pulse Survey. With schools out and kids back at home, lower-income families across MetroWest may have an extra hard time making ends meet. 

That’s where summer meals and Summer EBT can help. Read on to learn more about this programming and what’s available in your area.

1. SUMMER EATS

Summer Eats is a federal nutrition program that provides free meals to kids and teens (under 18) across Massachusetts during the summer months. It is implemented by Project Bread in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Education and local school and community providers. 

Many of the Summer Eats sites in MetroWest are hosted by the YMCA. The current list is below, and you can also check the YMCA website for updates. 

Site	Schedule
Amazing Things Art Center, Framingham	Monday-Friday, 1pm - 2pm
Butterworth Park, Framingham	Monday-Friday, 11:30am - 12:30pm
Clearbrook Swim Club, Framingham	Every day, 12pm - 2pm
Farm Pond Skatepark, Framingham	Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, 11:30am - 12:30pm
Framingham Main Library	Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, 12pm - 1pm
McAuliffe Branch Library, Framingham	Tuesdays/Thursdays, 12pm - 1pm
MetroWest YMCA, Framingham	Monday-Friday, 4:30pm - 6:30pmSaturdays & Sundays, 11am - 1pm
West Hill Park, Natick	Tuesdays/Thursdays, 11:30am - 12:30pm

Questions? Contact Maggie Lynch: MLynch2@metrowestymca.org

Additionally, the Milford Public Schools are partnering with the Hockomock YMCA to offer meals at Memorial Elementary School:

Memorial Elementary School

11am-12:30pm, Monday - Friday, June 24 - August 16

You can visit the Project Bread Summer Eats website to learn more about the program and find an interactive map listing meal sites, times, and points of contact across the state.

Kali and her kids recently attended a Summer Eats Kickoff Party hosted by the MetroWest YMCA at the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham.

2. Additional MetroWest Summer Meals Programs

In addition to these Summer Eats sites, a few area providers and school districts in the MetroWest region are offering supplementary or complementary programming. Find these options in the table below.

Town	Site	Schedule	Program	Learn more
Maynard	Open Table	Tuesdays – 3:00 to 6:30 PM; Thursdays – 11:00 to 4:30 PM	Kids Summer Lunch Program (Meal pickup)	www.opentable.org/kids Order online, call 978-369-2275 or email orders@opentable.org
Hudson	Quinn Middle School	Monday mornings, June 17 - August 19	Summer Food Program (Food delivery for students enrolled in Hudson public schools)	Learn more: ncfrias@hudson.k12.ma.us Sign up to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E48ABAB2BA3FEC16-summer#/
Framingham	Butterworth Park	Thursdays from 11:30-12:30	Daniel's Table Full Belly Bag Program (Food pickup) in collaboration with the YMCA	Contact Daniel’s Table for information:  (508) 405-0769

Download the Open Table flier here:

Fuel up for summer 2024- Digital Version-Simplified.pdf

Download PDF • 419KB

Download the Hudson Public Schools fliers in English, Portuguese, and Spanish here:

English Hudson Public Schools Summer Food Program.pdf

Download PDF • 147KB

Portuguese- Hudson Public Schools Summer Food Program - Nely Frias.pdf

Download PDF • 120KB

Spanish-Hudson Public Schools Summer Food Program - Nely Frias.pdf

Download PDF • 148KB

3. SUMMER EBT

Summer EBT is a federal program administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) that helps low-income families with school-aged children buy food when schools are closed for the summer. The benefit is $40 per month for each eligible student ($120 for the summer).

Find answers to frequently asked questions about Summer EBT here.

For families who already receive SNAP, this benefit will automatically go onto EBT cards in July. For families who are eligible for Summer EBT but do not receive SNAP, the DTA will mail out Summer EBT cards, also in July. Most eligible families in Massachusetts do not need to apply for the program; the DTA should issue these benefits automatically. However, if your family was not automatically enrolled, you can apply online through DTA Connect. Children are eligible if they attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and if their household meets the income limits for these programs.

4. Year-Round MetroWest Food Pantries and Meal Programs

Last but not least, families can access all of the usual pantry and meals programming from area providers that we update on the MWFC calendar each month. Some families may not be accustomed to using these resources during the school year, but could benefit from a little extra support with their weekly groceries during the summer months. If you want to help spread the word about these options, you can find printable fliers on the website listing pantry and meal site information for each MetroWest town in our catchment area.

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We hope that the options above can provide support to you or your friends or neighbors this summer if needed - and, we know that no family or child should have to worry about getting food on the table during the summer months in the first place. That’s why a big aspect of our work at the MetroWest Food Collaborative is to advocate for policies and funding that expand equitable food access and alleviate food insecurity permanently. Learn about our policy priorities here, check out our latest newsletter for tips on taking action, and sign up for our emails to stay in the loop.