H.135/S.76: An Act establishing basic needs assistance for Massachusetts immigrant residents

Headquartered at Boston Medical Center, since 1998, we have interviewed over 80,000 caregivers and analyzed data from those interviews to determine the impact of public policies on the health and development of young children and their families’ well-being. [...] Access to basic needs, including food, housing, utilities, and health care, is critical for the health and development of young children as well as parents’ mental and physical health. [...] We know that compared to children of US-born adults, children of immigrants are more likely to be food insecure and in poor health, particularly among those most recently arrived.1,2 This is due, in part, to the fact that even when they are eligible, families are not able to access the vital supports they need. [...] An Act to lift kids out of deep poverty would set a floor for TAFDC grants at 50 percent of the federal poverty line – currently $1,036 a month for a family of three – to ensure that no family in Massachusetts is living in deep poverty. [...] By raising family incomes, this bill would work to interrupt the chronic and generationally persistent condition of deep poverty, and improve the health, well-being, and future economic mobility of affected children.