Call to Action: Funding for HIP

Tell your legislators and the Governor: HIP needs full funding!

What is happening:

The MA DTA (Department of Transitional Assistance) announced in October 2024 that, as of December 1st, 2024, HIP (Healthy Incentive Program) benefits will be cut from a cap of $80/month, depending on household size, to $20/month for all households. This is the result of HIP having 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.

The Campaign for HIP Funding is asking the Governor and legislature to dedicate an additional $10 million to HIP (line item 4400-1004) in a future fiscal year 2025 supplemental budget to avoid this programmatic change. We need your help to keep this vital program running at full capacity!

If you use HIP, this HIP Program Change page on the DTA website is the best place to find details about the change and ongoing updates.

What you can do:

Review the extremely helpful phone and email templates put together by the MA Food System Collaborative.
Call the Office of Governor Maura Healey and LG Kim Driscoll at (617) 725-4005 and ask them both to support $10 million in a future supplemental budget, and share how this change will affect your farm or household.
Share your story with DTA leadership (dta.hip@MassMail.State.MA.US) and MDAR leadership too, and ask that they work with the legislature to stop the cut!
Call legislative leadership to ask that they support $10 million for HIP in a future supplemental budget, and share how this change will affect your farm or household:
- Senate President Karen Spilka: (617) 722-1500 and Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov.
- Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues: 508-646-0650 and Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov.
- Speaker of the House Ron Mariano (617) 722-2500 and Ronald.Mariano@mahouse.gov.
- House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz (617) 722-2990 and Aaron.M.Michlewitz@mahouse.gov.
Call and email your state legislators (find them here) to ask them to sign on to the Food System Caucus’ ask of $10 million in a supplemental fiscal year 2025 budget for HIP to avoid this programmatic change, and share how this change will affect their district. Share pictures of what consumers can buy with $20 vs $40 per month to make this change very concrete for decision makers.

Stay connected to the MA Food System Collaborative for updates on this effort!

Why this matters:

HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program, is an essential state program that provides nutritious food for low-income households AND a vital income stream for local farms and markets. Thousands of people across the Commonwealth rely on HIP every week, year-round, to access locally grown produce for their families, and hundreds of farmers have shaped their business plans, staff training practices, outreach, and crop production so that they can serve their low-income neighbors through HIP.

The immediate impacts of this reduction are obvious: the most vulnerable members of our communities will see an immediate loss in their grocery budgets, amounting to a 50% reduction in benefit for the vast majority of HIP households, and it will increase food insecurity. For this change to be implemented right before the winter holidays is an additional blow.

For the farmers and markets that have shaped their business models on serving HIP customers — through investments in staff training, growing more food and more culturally relevant crops, and choosing sales outlets that are accessible to people who are using HIP — this will mean immediate financial losses. There are 25 farmers that run SNAP CSA programs, 38 farmers’ markets, 12 mobile markets with 109 stops, and 59 farmers with 66 farm stands that are open in December that will be affected by this change. (Source: DTAfinder).

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 changes to a program like HIP undermines their trust. 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. Much of the burden of communicating program changes to customers falls to HIP vendors, and they will continue to be on the front lines of communicating those changes and rebuilding that trust. This is a significant expense — in staffing, signage, and outreach — for small local businesses to absorb alongside the loss of income.

Press Coverage:

My Turn: Stop the cuts to HIP and keep our communities fed
Opinion piece by Claire Morenon, CISA Communications Manager
11/7/24, The Recorder

NEPM: HIP and Tuesday Market
Fabulous 413 “Local Hero Spotlight”
11/7/24