BOSTON, MA (Jan. 9, 2024) – The Lift Our Kids Coalition will rally on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 11 AM to voice its shock and dismay at Governor Healey’s cuts to cash assistance. The Governor eliminated an urgently needed 10% increase to cash assistance that was scheduled to start on April 1. 

Cash assistance benefit levels were frozen for decades. The Legislature enacted a series of grant increases beginning in January 2021. But grants are still woefully inadequate. 

Unless the Governor’s cut is reversed, benefits will remain stuck at current levels, $783 a month for a family of three with no income. This doesn’t meet even half of the federal poverty level, known as Deep Poverty, which is $1036 for a family of three. The maximum grant for a disabled or elderly individual is only $401 a month. 

The current cash assistance grant is worth slightly more than half as much as the grant in 1988.

 “We call on the Governor to rescind cuts to cash assistance that the state’s lowest income households rely on to meet their basic needs,” said Naomi Meyer, a senior attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services who helps coordinate the Lift Our Kids Coalition. “Families can’t afford essentials like diapers, pain medicine, soap, and winter coats and shoes. The Governor should not fill gaps in our state budget by cutting basic benefits for Massachusetts families and individuals struggling in Deep Poverty.” 

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