Nine months after its formation in July, Gov. Maura Healey’s Anti-Hunger Task Force has released about 50 recommendations charting pathways to address hunger across the state.
The task force was established through an executive order signed by Healey on July 17, bringing together Cabinet secretaries and agency leaders (or their designees), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, farmers and small business owners, plus leaders of food banks and nonprofits.
According to Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) Commissioner Ashley Randle, who served on the task force, the group was formed in response to the One Big Beautiful Bill’s “significant and historic” cuts to SNAP.
“We really looked at a cross-sector of both state agency representatives, legislators, private entities, nonprofits [and] food banks in order to make sure that all of the voices that would be impacted by SNAP cuts were included,” said Randle, adding that representatives of retailers that accept SNAP benefits like Big Y also helped craft the recommendations. “When we look at policy recommendations, it really does impact every corner of the commonwealth.”
Kirsten Levitt, executive director of Stone Soup Cafe in Greenfield, said, “It was an honor to be asked to be part of the working group.”
“I really felt like western Massachusetts needed to be represented by somebody who was on the ground doing the work,” Levitt said. “And that’s what Stone Soup does.”
Stone Soup Cafe, which operates out of All Souls Church in Greenfield, offers pay-what-you-can community meals, a community store where people in need can access free groceries and produce, and a culinary institute program. The organization was invited to join the Anti-Hunger Task Force by Randle, who is a native of Deerfield.
For Levitt, the task force is “about Massachusetts ensuring that it’s trying to take care of its citizens — we’re not looking to the federal government to fix all of our problems.”
“There are a lot of people that are doing this work, and when you get them together in a room, then you’re not working in your own silo and in your own echo chamber,” Levitt said. “With many minds come many ideas.”
Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Public Policy Manager Laura Sylvester and United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region Executive Director Geoff Naunheim also served on the task force.
Over five meetings as a task force and six listening sessions with other stakeholders, the roughly 50 members crafted recommendations falling under five categories — supporting and strengthening SNAP clients and infrastructure; maximizing other nutrition programs; supporting the emergency food system; and building rural resiliency and sustaining local food systems.
Across the five categories, the recommendations range from codifying the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) into law and expanding existing programs like the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP), to filling the gaps left in the shadows of federal cuts by exploring new programs for those no longer eligible for SNAP and spreading awareness of resources that are already available for Massachusetts residents facing food insecurity.
“A common thread across all of the recommendations is increasing access, so people know ways in which they can access their benefits, ways that we can help to support and fill in some of the gaps, knowing that we won’t be able to fill in all of the gaps,” Randle explained.
She added that the recommendations also aim to build resiliency in local food systems, “so when there are additional challenges in the future, we’re better prepared, knowing that the challenges we see at the federal level continue to exacerbate hunger in the commonwealth.”
Randle, Levitt and Naunheim stressed that the issue of food insecurity stems from a complex collision of contributing factors.
Although a recent report from the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham found that 40% of households statewide — and 48% of households in Franklin and Hampshire counties — face food insecurity, Levitt said, “Food bank data is not all of the data.”
According to Levitt, access to housing, transportation, health care and a living wage, along with employment status and health barriers, represent a few of the “many other factors that go into being food insecure.” In rural communities, like the majority of Franklin County towns, Levitt said these barriers tower higher.
“The report really focuses on the food portion of food insecurity, but so much of what’s causing these challenges in western Massachusetts and across the whole state is the increase in price of everything,” Naunheim added. “Food insecurity is a symptom of poverty.”
He described addressing food insecurity as an important cause, but also a “Band-Aid” — “helping people with a short-term or immediate need.”
For Naunheim, the task force’s report is “step one” in reducing this need.
“This is almost the easy part,” Nauheim said. “Implementation, that’s where the hard work starts.”
According to Randle, the Anti-Hunger Task Force will continue to meet to strategize turning the recommendations into tangible steps forward.
“We don’t want the report to simply sit on a shelf,” Randle said. “Now is really the time for action.”
