Your stories, our campaigns

Accessing healthy and affordable food

Big chains do not come to Lawrence because they don’t see the value. There are over 90 corner stores in the city of Lawrence that are always full because people can’t get to the supermarkets. Public transportation is not reliable or accessible, and when you do get on the bus, you can only get on with the stuff you can carry. The Massachusetts Food Trust will help the local bodegas, where many residents buy the majority of groceries and meals for their families, expand their healthy food options. It will also motivate supermarkets to come to Lawrence.

Lesly Melendez,
Groundwork Lawrence

Championed by MPHA, the Massachusetts Food Trust will use capital funds to seed new and expanded healthy food retailers and local food enterprises in low- and moderate- income communities throughout the Commonwealth. Moving forward, MPHA and its partners will work vigorously to make sure that the Food Trust is implemented, spurring significant private investment, driving economic growth, and creating strong local job opportunities.

Leveraging community-clinical partnerships

Each individual that has participated in a Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund (PWTF) program has worked to prevent developing a chronic health condition by taking matters into his or her own hands. Enabling people to take charge of their health is what the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund is all about, and why it is so important to the South Shore YMCA.

Katelyn Szafir,
South Shore YMCA

Through the Prevention Trust, I have the opportunity to change people’s lives in truly sustainable ways. You can’t send people back to the environment that caused their health problems in the first place and expect to see a change. PWTF enables me and other community health workers to expand upon the clinical provider’s work to help patients better understand their health and the resources available to them. CHWs working through PWTF support people to address the underlying causes of their poor health.

Oscar De La Rosa,
Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center

The nation’s first ever program focused on community interventions to keep residents healthy and safe where they live and work, the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund sunset in July 2017. Leading a strong and faithful coalition into 2018, MPHA won’t stop fighting to ensure the continued success of PWTF.

Enhancing transportation equity

In the Berkshires, people who don’t own cars struggle to get to work, to health services, and just to get groceries, not to mention after-school activities that support the success of our students. This means that many older adults, teens and low-income community members don’t have access to the resources needed to stay or get healthy. Transportation justice in the Berkshires requires additional revenue for evening and late-night bus service—that’s why Berkshire Interfaith Organizing is supporting the Fair Share Constitutional Amendment.

Wendy Krom,
Berkshire Interfaith Organizing

Accessible, affordable, and safe transportation is essential to reducing racial and economic health disparities in Massachusetts. Working in partnership with Transportation for Mass (T4MA), MPHA provided critical organizing and educational support to advance transportation equity through the Fair Share Constitutional Amendment.

Closing the gap on food insecurity

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is the first line of defense for people experiencing hunger. In Worcester, over 40% of the population makes less than $15 an hour. They can’t make ends meet with low wages and high rent. SNAP prevents these struggling families from going hungry. SNAP is also critically important to ensuring access for the food insecure in rural areas, where we struggle to reach individuals and families in need.

Martha Assefa,
Worcester County Food Bank

Nearly 700,000 Massachusetts residents are not receiving SNAP benefits that they qualify for due to an antiquated, cumbersome application process. In 2017, MPHA and our coalition partners advocated for a simplified, one stop application process to close the SNAP Gap and increase access for food insecure individuals and families. This effort resulted in a mandatory study, due by January 2018, by state agencies to determine the feasibility of closing the SNAP Gap. Stay tuned for next steps.