Transcript:

Good morning. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify on several important bills under the committee's consideration. Project Bread believes a strong safety net through robust nutrition and cash assistance programs is critical to ensure that all our neighbors and families have the resources they need. For these reasons, we urge the committee to favorably report on an act establishing basic needs assistance from Massachusetts immigrant residents.

Every day at Project Bread, we talk to families who are struggling to afford food. We connect many of them to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program which is our nation's most effective anti hunger program. Nearly half of our clients through our health care partnerships program and a quarter of callers to our food source hotline prefer using language other than English in accessing our services.

While not all of these callers are clients or immigrants, many are, and some of them are unable to access SNAP not because of their income but because of their immigration status. In fact, the number 2 reason that a caller who is screened for SNAP is ineligible is based on immigration status. Those denied benefits include individuals who are fleeing violence or humanitarian crisis and seek haven in our state. Many do not immediately have authorization to work or struggle to find consistent, well paying work.

These families deserve access to the same support provided to other residents of the Commonwealth when being faced with challenges meeting their basic needs. Our staff hears over and over how confusing it is for immigrant households that can apply and receive some forms of support and not others. Even when some households are able to apply for SNAP, they may not be able to count the family members with citizenship or the right types of visas. For example, we recently supported a family of 6 that is only getting SNAP for a single child born in the country, and they're only getting 52¢ per meal per person to spend on food.

When families in need receive little or no benefits, they must navigate and rely on the food pantry system for their daily food, a system that should be only utilized in emergencies. Massachusetts is a national leader in addressing hunger. We just passed permanent school meals for all, and thank you to all of you for doing that, and the programs and policies we lead on continue to be lifted up nationally.

We know the only way to end hunger is through systemic solutions, not charity alone. We have an opportunity here to support immigrant families who have higher than average rates of food insecurity in accessing sustainable food sources, which we know will not only benefit their families but our entire community. This ensures that they can focus on work and education and not on worrying about food. Research on SNAP consistently shows that it's proven to reduce poverty. And recent research just came out that shows 1 year of continuous participation in SNAP is also associated with lower health care costs the following year. So we're asking the Legislature to put back into place a program that existed before in Massachusetts. Thank you.