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As November looms, thousands of Massachusetts households face more than the usual late-fall chill. Many are watching the monthly arrival of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits with the uneasy knowledge that funding uncertainties at the federal level could interrupt that support.
SNAP serves as a vital food-security safety net. In Massachusetts alone, about 70% of SNAP households have gross income below the federal poverty level . More than one quarter of these households include children (or had children under 18 in them) and nearly a quarter include older adults aged 60+. In fiscal year 2024, SNAP reached over 1.1 million Massachusetts residents and injected more than $2.6 billion into the state economy.
Here in the Commonwealth, SNAP households are spread across cities, suburbs and rural towns. In fact, the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) reports that SNAP serves one in six Massachusetts residents.
The potential freeze would arrive at the worst possible moment: just as heating bills rise and families are planning for the holidays. In cities like Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, where the cost of living outpaces wages, the loss of even one month’s SNAP support can mean missed meals, skipped produce, or parents cutting back to feed their children first. Over time, these coping strategies can accumulate into developmental, educational and health disparities.
This is where organizations like Link Health matter. At Link Health, we partner with clinics, community-based agencies and state systems to help families enroll in and remain connected to benefit programs like SNAP. We don’t set policy or control federal benefit timelines, but we do help families understand and navigate the systems designed to support them. Our goal isn’t to suggest anyone should rely on these programs forever, it’s to make sure people can access the support they’re eligible for, using it as a springboard toward stability and opportunity. We do this by ensuring they stay connected through applications and eligibility changes. When the timing of a benefit is uncertain, our work focuses on connecting families to alternative or supplemental resources so that a pause in one program doesn’t become a broader crisis of food or health insecurity.
Still, while organizations like ours can help people navigate the system, we cannot ignore the systemic challenges a SNAP freeze would bring. If benefits are delayed, local food banks and mutual-aid networks will see spikes in demand, clinics might encounter more patients, and communities will face avoidable strain at a time when many already struggle with high costs and winter heating burdens.
There are steps Massachusetts residents, service providers, and community organizations can take right now:
- SNAP users: Stock up on frozen and non-perishable food items and check your DTA Connect account to ensure contact information is up to date.
- Clinics and social service providers: Include food-insecurity screening in your workflow, ask if clients are aware of upcoming benefit timelines and provide community referrals proactively.
- Food pantries and aid networks: Expect and plan for increased demand, coordinate with local agencies and consider extending fresh-food distributions that could buffer benefit gaps.
- Policy-makers and state administrators: Consider contingency plans or additional funds and ensure clear communications to households facing delays.
- Massachusetts residents: If you are able, consider volunteering or donating to local food banks and pantries.
Access to nutritious food is not a political bargaining chip, it’s a public health necessity. When SNAP freezes, the ripple effects reach beyond one month’s groceries. They touch children’s development, family stress levels, chronic-disease risk and community resilience. Keeping SNAP strong means keeping Massachusetts healthy, and that’s something we can all stand behind.
Author: Shelby-Ann Neal
