NC’s online food assistance program produces long waits, frustration, By Thomas Goldsmith and Annalise Frank, August 5, 2013, News & Observer: “The state’s new electronic benefits payment system, aimed at greater efficiency, instead has Wake County food aid recipients waiting as long as eight or nine weeks for funds to arrive to put food on their tables. Longtime Southeast Raleigh activist Octavia Rainey told Wake County commissioners Monday that the problems have caused dozens of people to show up at her house to ask for help in getting food from churches, food banks and other sources. Known as NC FAST, the $48.2 million system was supposed to provide a new way to pay into recipients’ electronic bank accounts, but has been beset in Wake by repeated glitches and slowdowns…”
Tag: Electronic benefit transfers (EBT)
EBT Card Balances – Massachusetts
Massachusetts cracking down on individuals saving up high levels of welfare or food stamp benefits, By Shira Schoenberg, July 10, 2013, The Republican: “The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance is cracking down on individuals who have saved up high levels of welfare or food stamp benefits. The review by the department is designed to protect benefits for those who need them most, by eliminating a small number of cases in which the benefits are not immediately needed…”
Welfare Reform – Massachusetts
Massachusetts Senate leaders take wraps off bill to overhaul welfare, By Dan Ring, June 17, 2013, The Republican: “Senate President Therese Murray and other Senate leaders Monday unveiled a bill to overhaul welfare in Massachusetts, including requiring photo identifications on electronic benefit transfer cards and creation of a program to connect able-bodied applicants with jobs before they receive benefits. Murray said the welfare system is stagnant and the Senate wants to shake it up, while helping recipients…”