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This increase in the numbers of recently unemployed and the concerted drive by the Patrick Administration to get the poor and elderly who qualify to participate in the program have elevated the numbers of those on food stamps in Massachusetts to the highest levels in history.The upward trend, which is particularly distinct in Dorchester, is reflected state-wide – in the past four years, Massachusetts has seen a 74 percent spike in program participation, with about 11 percent of the state’s population receiving assistance for food.
Julia Kehoe, the state official in charge of administering the federally funded program in her role as commissioner of the Department of Transitional Assistance, says the cause of the rise in the numbers goes beyond the hike in unemployment figures.
“The reason for the increase statewide is twofold: one is the economy, but the other is that we’re simplifying the program, improving access,” she said.In its effort to increase the impact of the food stamps program, now referred to as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Kehoe said the department reached out specifically to groups who had been under-represented in past years: the elderly, those who were unaware of their eligibility, and people who viewed the program as too burdensome to apply for.
In Massachusetts, some 750,000 people are currently enrolled in the program and Kehoe’s department anticipates the numbers of names on the rolls will continue to increase.
so we make it easier and now more people apply and received aid and it viewed as a sucesss. Crazy but I thought success would be to get as many people as possible OFF aid?
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