Brown Rudnick and MLRI Win Ruling for Massachusetts Families
BOSTON, June 15, 2023 – Brown Rudnick and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) obtained a favorable ruling for children and families in a lawsuit filed against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF).
In this case, a Superior Court justice found that DCF had violated the due process rights of a mother when it denied her the right to an agency hearing to challenge DCF’s finding of a “substantiated concern” that she had neglected her child.
MLRI Senior Policy Advocate recognized by the Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Update 5/25/22: Due to the rising COVID-19 numbers, the Commission has postponed the June 8 luncheon to a later date.
The Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren will award MLRI Senior Policy Advocate Patricia Baker the 2020 John Lepper Advocacy Award on June 8, 2022 (award ceremony delayed due to the pandemic), in recognition of her successful advocacy on behalf of children with severe disabilities who are being raised by grandparents and other relatives.
Senate Ways and Means FY 2023 Budget Proposal: Preliminary Analysis of Key Issues Affecting Low-Income Massachusetts Residents
On May 10, 2022, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 (FY 23), which is referred to as Senate 4. The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute prepared this analysis of selected budget topics impacting low-income residents of the Commonwealth:
- Cash Assistance, SNAP and Related Items Administered by DTA
- Child Welfare: DCF and Related Items
- Criminal Justice Reform
- Health Issues in MassHealth and ConnectorCare
- Homeless Services
- Housing
- Legal Services/Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation
In 2020 and 2021, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Helped Thousands of Low-Income Families and Individuals across the Commonwealth
Working with Massachusetts Legislators Has Eased Food Insecurity, Kept People Housed, Moved Children Out of Deep Poverty
Boston, Mass. (December 21, 2021) – Through legal, policy, and legislative advocacy, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) helped thousands of families and individuals living in poverty throughout 2020 and 2021. MLRI is a nonprofit poverty law and policy center that advocates to advance policies and practices that secure economic, racial, and social justice for low-income communities.
“No period in recent memory has placed as much stress on people living in poverty than the last 18 months,” said Georgia Katsoulomitis, MLRI’s executive director. “MLRI has spent more than five decades fighting on their behalf at both the state and national levels. We have an expansive network of advocacy partners and community organizations we collaborate with to advance high impact initiatives. This strong foundation allowed us to move quickly to work with Massachusetts legislators and with the Baker-Polito administration to help the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Those efforts have had considerable impact on the lives of thousands of Massachusetts residents throughout 2020 and 2021.”
House HWM Legislation a Good Start but Legislature Should Address Opportunities
On Monday, October 25, the Commonwealth’s House Ways and Means (HWM) Committee released a bill that details how the state will spend the billions of dollars that Massachusetts received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In total, the Commonwealth received $8.7 billion from the federal government, with $5.3 billion allocated to the state and $3.4 billion designated for municipalities.
Unfortunately, some key priorities that will help the most vulnerable of the state’s residents — those who this funding is supposed to help — were left out of the HWM bill. The bill includes no support for Right to Counsel, despite the fact that the COVID Eviction Legal Help Program (CELHP) has been successful in preventing evictions. There is also no increase in grants for children living in deep poverty.
President Biden and Congress made their priorities clear when they passed ARPA this past spring. These funds are meant to help the most vulnerable, the people struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, and have access to health care. This current iteration of the bill is a good start, but does not go far enough in meeting those goals and investing in the Commonwealth’s human capital.
Massachusetts Takes Another Step Toward Lifting Kids Out of Deep Poverty
In July 2021, Massachusetts made further progress towards Lifting Kids Out of Deep Poverty with a 9.1 percent increase in cash assistance grants for families with children, elders, and people with disabilities. Thanks to the incredible advocacy and leadership of Senator Sal DiDomenico and Representative Marjorie Decker, together with 121 legislative co-sponsors of the Act to Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty, the FY 2022 budget in July 2021 included this significant step forward.
MLRI is proud to lead, along with Greater Boston Legal Services, the Lift Our Kids Coalition, a group comprised of 147 organizations throughout Massachusetts committed to Lifting Kids Out of Deep Poverty in Massachusetts.
People living below half the poverty level – currently $915 a month for a family of three – are considered to be in Deep Poverty. In January 2021, the Legislature took a historic first step with a 10 percent increase in cash assistance grants, raising the maximum benefit for three from $593 a month to $652 a month. This was the first increase in two decades.
MLRI Applauds the American Rescue Plan Act
Last month, President Biden signed the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan Act. The law will not only provide much-needed support to the American people as we all continue to manage hardships related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will also lead to a substantial reduction in poverty in this country.
The American Rescue Plan Act recognizes a fundamental reality – this pandemic has been particularly difficult on already vulnerable individuals and families. People living in poverty, Black and Brown communities, and immigrant families all have suffered disproportionately from COVID-19. The rescue plan means more resources and opportunities for those communities, which will in turn mean better public health and economic outcomes for all of us – because we are one society, one economy – and collective success and opportunity benefits everyone.
In particular, the new law – which was introduced by President Biden on the first day he assumed the Presidency and finally passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in March – will have a tremendously positive impact on child poverty in this country.