Update, 4/3/18: The House Committee on Ways and Means released their version of the supplemental budget this morning and it includes money meant to avoid the April-June HIP suspension. We need to take action NOW to make sure this happens. The full House, and likely the Senate, will take up the bill tomorrow (Wednesday, 4/4/18) morning at 11:00.

The HIP program doubles the value of SNAP (food stamp) dollars spent on local fruits and veggies and has been so popular that funding will run out this month! Take action now to keep this critical community health program going.

Launched in April 2017, the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) provides a 100 percent incentive – a dollar-for-dollar match – for each SNAP dollar spent on targeted fruits and vegetables purchased at farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs statewide. By increasing access to locally grown fruits and vegetables for SNAP clients, the program seeks to benefit family and community health, and support farms and the local economy.

Read more about the background on HIP, here.

Action needed by April 4th to SAVE HIP.

The HIP program is being suspended on April 15 due to a lack of funds.

Please use this form now to send a quick message to your state legislators, asking them to support the inclusion of HIP funding in the supplemental budget they are about to vote on.

Please note that personal phone calls have a FAR greater impact than form emails (but we know that people are busy, so we want to make it easy). If you would be willing to call, you can look up your legislators here.

Updates from Winton Pitcoff at the MA Food System Collaborative (3/29/18)

More than $3.8 million in incentives have been earned as of March 20, and all of the funds that were intended to keep the program running through March 2020 will have been spent by 4/15. Farms have been notified of the suspension, and consumers will begin getting robo-calls next Monday letting them know.

There is a supplemental budget under consideration, and amendments are being proposed that would add $1.5 million to avert the HIP suspension. It is unclear right now when we will see action on this – it could be as soon as next week – but we will circulate information as soon as we have it. If the suspension happens, DTA says it will restart the program when the new fiscal year begins on July 1, or shortly thereafter. The amount of funding we manage to get in the FY’19 budget will determine how long the program will be able to operate in the new fiscal year. The governor has included $1.35 million in his budget request, and we are advocating for $6.2 million from the legislature. The next couple of months will be critical for advocacy around this, so watch for lots of updates and calls to action.

*Please note: this action page was created by Marty Dagoberto, Policy Director at NOFA/Mass, using language circulated by Winton Pitcoff at MA Food System Collaborative. We thought it was best to give people a way to take quick action and also to help them take action over the weekend. We apologize for any errors or typos. Please contact marty@nofamass.org with any issues or corrections.