Governor Maura Healey recently signed an Executive Order creating an Anti-Hunger Task Force that will work to prevent Massachusetts families from going hungry as President Trump cuts food assistance for children, older adults, veterans and people with disabilities.
The task force is a public-private partnership that will bring together leaders from state and local government, food banks, non-profits and business leaders, as well as those who are directly impacted by federal cuts, such as SNAP recipients, farmers and small business owners. They will advise the Governor and produce recommendations for how Massachusetts can mitigate against President Trump’s cuts to SNAP and other food assistance programs and adopt long-term solutions to hunger.
Earlier this month, President Trump signed a law that cuts SNAP benefits, imposes new and burdensome eligibility requirements, and fundamentally alters its cost-sharing partnership with the states. As a result, thousands of Massachusetts residents who rely on SNAP to keep food on the table may lose this assistance. These cuts will also hurt farmers and small businesses by taking away business from them. President Trump has also previously cancelled $12 million in federal funding to provide local, healthy food to child care programs and schools, $3.4 million from a program that provided food to food banks, and another $6 million to a program that purchased food from local farmers to provide healthy local food to families in need.
The task force will work in coordination with existing food security initiatives in Massachusetts, including Make Hunger History, a statewide, cross-sector initiative of 300+ organizations led by Project Bread to create a coordinated, community-informed roadmap to end hunger in Massachusetts.
The Greater Boston Food Bank recently released their Cost of Hunger in Massachusetts 2025 report, which found that 1 in 3 Massachusetts households experienced food insecurity in 2024. Rates of hunger in Massachusetts have steadily risen over the past five years, growing from 19 percent in 2019 to 37 percent in 2024. Programs like SNAP and school meals, which President Trump has targeted for cuts, have been proven to be effective in reducing food insecurity.