2 weeks Ago
This winter, thousands of low-income Massachusetts families will have less food on their tables — unless we take action now. The state needs to allocate an additional $10 million to HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program, to stave off program cuts that are set to take place in December, and you can help to make that happen by calling the governor and legislative leadership. HIP is a state program that provides nutritious food for low-income households and a vital income stream for local farms and markets.
It works as a rebate, so when a shopper uses SNAP (formerly food stamps) to buy vegetables or fruit directly from a participating farm, farmers market or farm stand, they receive an instant rebate on their EBT card of up to $80/month, depending on household size. At least, that is what the 180,000 Massachusetts households who use HIP have come to rely on over the years. The state Department of Transitional Assistance announced that, starting on Dec.
1, HIP benefits will be cut to just $20/month for all households. This is because HIP received only $15 million in the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget, despite estimates that the program needed $25 million to be fully funded for the whole year. That’s why we are calling on our legislators and the governor to approve the additional $10 million to keep HIP fully funded for the rest of the fiscal year.
HIP has been a point of pride for Massachusetts, and its benefits are clear. The extra money allows low-income people to buy fresh, local, healthy, culturally appropriate food, which offers immense benefits to health and well-being. And for the hundreds of farm businesses that have signed up as HIP-approved vendors, it has created a new income stream and revitalized markets that aim to provide food to low-income communities.
There are 38 farmers markets, 12 mobile markets with 109 stops, 59 farmers with 66 farm stands, and 25 farmers with SNAP CSA programs that accept HIP and that will be open in December. For the CSA farms, who have seasonal agreements with customers, this cut is especially direct. The losses to the households who rely on HIP will be serious.
The most vulnerable members of our communities will see an immediate loss in their grocery budgets, amounting to a 50% reduction in benefits for the vast majority of HIP households, and that will increase food insecurity. Cutting a family’s food budget right before the year-end holidays and throughout the cold winter months is an especially painful blow. Many HIP shoppers make a special trip to a farmers market or farm stand so they can take full advantage of their benefit, which can be costly in time and transportation fees.
This steep reduction in HIP benefits will change the calculation about whether that trip is worth the costs, which may force many HIP shoppers to forfeit their entire benefit as a result. Article continues after..
. Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess The longer-term impacts are no less important. Low-income people who rely on SNAP and HIP to feed their families deserve security and continuity in their food budgets, and this cut will undermine their trust in HIP.
After even a short-term reduction in benefits, it will take many months to return to earlier usage rates and for customers to feel secure in using their benefits again. For the hundreds of farmers who have shaped their business plans and crop production so that they can serve their low-income neighbors through HIP, this will result in an immediate loss in much-needed income. Farmers have made significant investments in training staff to manage the additional administrative costs of HIP, in hiring multilingual staff to better serve HIP customers, in staffing markets that rely on HIP customers for financial viability, in signage and outreach.
They will be on the front lines of communicating these cuts to customers, and rebuilding trust in the program. The state made a tacit promise to HIP vendors: If you grow the food to serve this new market and create, staff, and manage the infrastructure that makes it possible, it can be a reliable income stream for your small business. These cuts break that promise.
You can help reverse this wrong. Call the governor’s office and legislative leadership and urge them to fund HIP fully through the rest of the year. You can find contact information and talking points at CISA’s website, buylocalfood.
org . Claire Morenon is the communications manager at CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)..
