Activists push back on Gov. Healey's budget cuts to social services
Jan 12, 2024
The Lift Our Kids Coalition is made up of almost 200 organizations and their biggest concern is the elimination of a 10% cash benefit increase that was supposed to take effect on April 1.
Activists from Massachusetts arrived at the State House Thursday to rally against Gov. Maura Healey’s plans to slash $375 million from this year’s budget.
Chanting “rescind the cuts!” the Lift our Kids Coalition called on the governor to rethink the plan and the impacts it will have on social services that residents rely on.
About $13 million will be cut from the transitional aid to families with dependents program and more than $4 million from the emergency aid to the elderly, disabled and children program.
“This is something personal because it’s a challenge and a struggle that I personally went through and seeing my parents receive benefits really helped us and helped them provide for the essentials that we needed,” explained A.J. Lucky, director of advocacy at Economic Mobility Pathways, or EMPath.
Lucky says the budget cuts will impact the most vulnerable.
“This is a human issue. This cash assistance is a difference between a child or a youth having more than one pair of shoes for the school year.”
April Jennison with Coalition for Social Justice says she also knows the negative impacts this will have on low-income families like hers, explaining that growing up they didn’t have basic necessities like heat or clothes.
“I mean even these winter items you see today… I never had gloves like this, you know what I mean? I didn’t have warm things, I didn’t have the things that I needed,” Jennison said.
The Lift Our Kids Coalition is made up of almost 200 organizations. Their biggest concern is the elimination of a 10% cash benefit increase that was supposed to take effect on April 1.
“There are 27,000 families living below deep poverty. They get from this grant 783 dollars a month for a family of three,” explained Rebekah Gewirtz, executive director for the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
She called the budget cuts unacceptable.
“This doesn’t allow us to continue on this trajectory of reaching deep poverty. can you imagine? That our goal is to try to just get to deep poverty. We really need to be doing better than this in Massachusetts.”
Healey’s budget chief said Thursday that the cuts were thoughtfully crafted in a bid to protect services, adding that they believe they will be able to get through fiscal year 2024 without having to make additional cuts.