As Chairman of the Elder Affairs Committee, Rep. Stanley addressed his colleagues about budget priorities for the state’s older adult population. He explained the need for increased Mental Health support for seniors to help bring them through unprecedented times of stress, insecurity and loss brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. He also stressed that the legislature must make workforce investments that recognize human service workers as the essential elements they are in senior health delivery. The healthcare workers need to be paid fairly and allowed opportunities to develop and stay in the healthcare industry. The state must fund nursing facilities and make a commitment to ensure best practices are in place while also ensuring older adults can receive services at home and in their communities. Lastly, the legislature should continue to identify opportunities to improve services and protect older adults in the weeks, months and years to come.

During the budget debate, Rep. Stanley filed budget amendments to restore $1.3 million in funding for the Elder Case Management and $776,495 in funding for Elder Protective Services to their FY21 appropriation levels. Both amendments were partially restored. The Elder Home Care Case Management and Elder Protective Services programs offered through the Commonwealth’s network of 25 Aging Services Access Points have remained open and serving our most vulnerable older adults each and every day throughout the COVID19 crisis. During the height of the pandemic, Elder Protective Services case workers were out in the field, conducting home visits in response to some of the most egregious reports of abuse and/or neglect. With the COVID19 vaccine rollout underway and MA moving through Phase 4 of its reopening plan, demand for these programs is increasing every day.

The Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. in Lincoln and The Gore Place Society in Waltham each received $3,000 in Massachusetts Cultural Council Universal Participation (UP) grants to seed innovation and access to culture. Designed to help mitigate risk and inspire creative approaches to barrier removal, the UP Initiative’s Innovation Fund awarded $3,000 grants to 27 cultural organizations named as UP Designated Organizations, organizations that fully embrace accessibility systems and ideals. The UP Initiative aims to break down barriers and bring full civic participation in Massachusetts’ cultural sector. Both a movement and a designation, our UP Initiative creates opportunities for leadership, peer networking, and education in universal design principles, audience engagement strategies, and ADA compliance.

Rep. Stanley is pleased that three of his FY22 budget amendments were included in House budget negotiations. Rep. Stanley secured $150,000 in funding for the Fragile Beginnings and Project NESST Programs at Jewish Family & Children’s Services (JF&CS). Fragile Beginnings provides expert guidance, emotional support, streamlined access to community resources, and connections to other parents who understand the stress of caring for a premature and/or medically fragile infant. Project NESST address the challenges faced by substance exposed newborns by supporting parents in meeting the dual challenges of parenting and recovery from substance use disorder.

Rep. Stanley also secured $150,000 for Lincoln to help assist with Lincoln's unfunded financial burden for the preK-12 education of retired-military residents of Hanscom Air Force Base. Lincoln is required by state law to educate non-active retiree high school students who attend Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, located in Sudbury, unless their families move off-base. Hanscom Air Force Base remains a significant generator of jobs and economic activity for the Commonwealth. The Town of Lincoln has long been a supporter of the Base and its mission. Yet, the educational expenses of non-active retiree children are a big burden for a small municipality with limited resources.

Rep. Stanley also secured $100,000 for More Than Words, Inc.'s (MTW) young parents program to support the staff working with young parents and provide job training, case management, and individualized advocacy. MTW empowers youth who are in the foster care system, court involved, homeless, or out of school to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business and has recently adapted programming to better support young parents to participate in programming and find success for themselves and their families. Young parents access adapted scheduling to work around childcare commitments and individualized support and advocacy from the MTW Advocacy and Community Engagement team, with a particular emphasis on ensuring that all young parents at MTW have stable housing and access to childcare.

Rep. Stanley also successfully filed an amendment for $75,000 for the Waltham Tourism Council. The money will help promote the tourism and hospitality industries in Waltham that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Rep. Stanley and his House colleagues passed its Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) budget which responds to the needs of residents and makes investments that set the state on a path toward economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded at $47.716 billion, the House’s FY22 budget continues its strong commitment to cities and towns, and includes significant investments in education, supportive services for vulnerable populations, and workforce and economic development, among other priorities.

The House FY22 budget does not cut services nor does it raise taxes, and is made possible due to strong revenue collections, increased federal reimbursement, and by leveraging funds from the state’s Stabilization Fund. The budget does not appropriate anticipated American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds. As the House Ways & Means and Federal Stimulus committees await the issuance of spending parameters by the federal government, they have begun a process to better understand the needs of Massachusetts communities and analyze past expenditures of federal funds, particularly those received from the CARES Act.

The FY22 House budget reflects the local aid commitment recently made by the House and Senate. It increases Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) by $39.5 million over FY21 for a total of $1.168 billion and Chapter 70 education funding by $219.6 million over FY21 for a total of $5.503 billion, fully funding the first year of a six-year implementation plan of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA). Enacted in 2019 to support equitable funding for our most vulnerable students, the Legislature’s funding schedule ensures the SOA remains on track to be fully implemented over the course of seven years as opposed to the Governor’s budget proposal.

The House’s FY22 budget also creates a $40 million enrollment reserve fund to help school districts whose fall enrollment is negatively impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To help students with the consequences of prolonged remote learning and address the full educational and social-emotional needs of students, the budget provides $15 million for summer education and supportive services.

Staying home has been a vital part of stopping the spread of COVID-19, and the investments made in the FY22 housing budget will ensure that residents have a safe and secure place to call home as we continue to navigate our post-pandemic economic recovery. With this budget, the House appropriated more than $360 million to key housing resources.

Some highlights from the budget include: $148 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), which works to maintain stability for families and individuals who are at risk of being homeless; $84 million for the public housing operating subsidy, which supports more than 45,000 state public housing units; $26.7 million for Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), which provides families and individuals with temporary assistance to obtain or retain housing; $8 million for Housing Consumer Education Centers which offer housing assistance, services, and information to low and moderate income residents; $3.89 million for the Home and Healthy For Good Program, which places chronically homeless individuals into permanent housing with supportive services; $14.2 million for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program, which provides rental assistance vouchers to non-elderly residents with disabilities; $56.4 million for Homeless Individuals Shelters; $12 million for Rental Subsidies for eligible DMH Clients; $14 million for Homeless Student Transportation; and $1.8 million for Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP), which acts as a neutral third party between a landlord and tenants facing eviction and helps preserve tenancies at the housing court.

The state’s new Employer Vaccination Program will allow Massachusetts employers options to easily and conveniently vaccinate their employees via group appointments at mass vaccination sites or mobile on-site employer vaccination clinics. Detailed information on the program can be found here. This webpage includes a link to a form that employers should submit to request appointments. There is no financial cost to the employer.

Rep. Stanley filed a bill with Rep. Honan to establish a community health center transformation fund. The legislation would establish a new pool of dedicated funding to stabilize community health centers facing demonstrated financial distress as well as provide a critical financing mechanism for other urgently needed investments such as the development of diverse workforce pipelines, helping to ensure the preservation of low-cost, high-quality accessible primary care at more than 300+ community health center sites across the state. With their high public-payer mix, inadequate payment, and commitment and obligation to a model of care that prioritizes community need and access, health centers have long experienced financial strain, with many experiencing negative operating margins and low cash-on-hand. COVID-19 has served to reinforce the peril of this tenuous financial baseline.

Rep. Stanley also filed legislation to ensure continuity of state-level student loans repayment programs such as those created through Chapter 224 and the Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund (now depleted), as well as the statewide investments currently funded and administered through the 1115 MassHealth Demonstration which are slated to sunset at the end of the current waiver period in 2022. Clinician loan repayment has long been demonstrated as effective workforce recruitment and retention tool, both at the state and federal levels. Loan repayment helps ensure that health centers and the communities they serve have continued access to a high-quality clinical workforce.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's (MassDEP) Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (SMRP) recently awarded grants to the Town of Lincoln and More than Words in Waltham, to help to increase diversion, reuse, composting and recycling of materials in the solid waste stream. More Than Words (MTW), a non-profit social enterprise that operates youth job training programs, was awarded $65,000 to expand their textile donation and recovery program. MTW partners with dozens of greater Boston municipalities to collect donated books and textiles for reuse and recovery. The Town of Lincoln received more than $34,000 in mattress recycling incentive grants which will pay for the cost of recycling residential mattresses that are collected and recycled by one of four mattress recycling companies on Massachusetts state contract. About 75 percent of a mattress’s components are recyclable. Recycling is a preferred management method since mattresses are bulky and costly to dispose of in landfills and incinerators.

The SMRP, created under the Green Communities Act and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), offers funding for recycling, composting, reuse and source reduction activities that will reduce the amount of waste disposed of in landfills and incinerators. Waste prevention and recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions by capturing the embodied energy in every-day product and packaging waste and converting these sources into new products with a smaller carbon footprint.

Rep. Stanley files Council resolution to establish an affirmatively furthering fair housing framework

To help Waltham meet the need for permanent affordable housing for its residents, Rep. Stanley filed a Waltham City Council resolution to establish a local ordinance affirmatively furthering fair housing framework (AFFH). The framework will require developers of new apartment buildings or condominium complexes of 35 units or more to analyze the impact of their developments on fair housing and submit plans to the municipality.

Rep. Stanley also filed legislation to establish a statewide AFFH framework

which requires developers of new apartment buildings or condo complexes to analyze the impact of their developments on fair housing and submit plans to both the municipality and DHCD demonstrating that their developments advance housing accessibility. Learn more.

Rep. Stanley recently filed a City Council resolution studying the community impact fee (CIF) on short term rentals, hoping to raise funds for affordable housing initiatives to meet the increasing need for affordable homes for individuals and families in Waltham. The state’s short-term rental tax is currently six percent of a room rental charge while the CIF is three percent of a room-rental charge. Assuming the added CIF charge does not negatively impact travel or tourism, Waltham could expect an additional 50 percent revenue from short-term rentals. Therefore, if the CIF was fully implemented by Waltham in September 2021, the City would receive $354,265 annually in additional funding (up to 50%) which could then be allocated to affordable housing initiatives. Learn more.

As a member of the Food System Caucus, Rep. Stanley and his colleagues recently sent a letter to Congressman Jim McGovern, has long championed reducing food insecurity and supporting local agriculture, and members of the United States House Committee in support of the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). The letter highlights the positive impact HIP has had on the Commonwealth, and suggests that the federal government use it as a model on which to build federal food security/agricultural initiatives.

Over the course of the past 5 years, HIP has proven to be highly effective at reducing food insecurity and supporting local agriculture. One dollar spent by a SNAP client through the HIP program invests in two vulnerable populations: the food insecure and local famers. This dual impact has been especially important during the pandemic, as food insecurity rates have skyrocketed and Commonwealth farmers have struggled to stay in business.

A response from Chairman McGovern included information on a new portal on his website which accepts stories from people with lived experiences of hunger, research, proposed solutions, and other comments. If you’d like to talk about your own personal story, click here.

The Joint Committee on Education recently released highlights of its fiscal year 2022 budget. After a challenging budget cycle last fiscal year in which Members had to delay the implementation of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA), the FY22 House budget puts us back in line with the original commitment made in 2019 to fully fund the Act by 2026. This budget phases in 1/6th of the Chapter 70 rate increases, includes the first-year phase-in towards full charter reimbursement, and includes the first year of eligibility for transportation costs in the Circuit Breaker reimbursement. This unprecedented investment of Chapter 70 dollars is a critical step towards narrowing the persistent achievement gaps, one of the primary goals of the SOA.

Recognizing the ongoing challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the House budget allocates $40M to an enrollment reserve account to mitigate any adverse effects of potential fall enrollment surges. It also allocates $15M for summer learning grants and other programs to help address learning loss due to the pandemic. Similarly, this budget furthers the House’s commitment to supporting the early education sector as they continue to provide essential care and learning opportunities for young children during the public health crisis.

In a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McCarthy, and Minority Leader McConnell, Rep. Stanley expressed his support for Congress taking action to invest in infrastructure and clean energy and passing the American Jobs Plan to create millions of good paying, union jobs and tackle the climate crisis. Cosigners of the letters emphasized that this was a prime opportunity to help our communities recover from COVID-19 by creating and sustaining millions of good paying jobs, putting us on the path to 100% clean energy and building a more equitable and just society.

Rep. Stanley co-sponsored a joint resolution recognizing the week of May 2-8 as Children's Mental Health Awareness Week. Developed by families of children with emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs, Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week is dedicated to increasing public awareness about the triumphs and challenges in children’s mental health and emphasizing the importance of family and youth involvement in the children’s mental health movement. In Massachusetts, Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week is sponsored by the Department of Mental Health, the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership (MBHP), the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, and the Children's Mental Health Campaign. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented mental health challenges for many in our communities, particularly our youth. This year, it is especially important to raise awareness of this critical issue, as well as resources and support available for those that need them.

Eligible claimants can now apply for the Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) program that was part of the Continued Assistance Act. MEUC was created to assist workers who qualified for traditional unemployment, but also had income from self-employment or gig work that is not included in the calculation of their regular unemployment benefits. MEUC applies only to traditional unemployment claimants. Claimants who receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) are ineligible for MEUC. MEUC provides an additional $100 weekly benefit to eligible claimants. Learn more.

In a letter to the Waltham Community Preservation Committee, Rep. Stanley expressed his support for

Nelson Memorial Apartments, Inc.’s application for Community Preservation Act (CPA) Community Housing Funding. This funding would help finance an affordable housing development located at 14-16 Eddy Street. The Nelson Memorial Apartments, Inc. seeks to purchase this property and convert it from market rate to four units of affordable housing. Housing costs in Waltham have climbed sharply in recent years and many working families are being priced out. Action needs to be taken now to increase the amount of permanent affordable units in the City. This was one area the ad-hoc Committee on Affordable Housing, which Rep. Stanley chaired, identified as critical to addressing our housing challenges.

Rep. Stanley cosponsored a joint resolution congratulating the University of Massachusetts at Amherst men’s ice hockey team on winning the 2021 national collegiate athletic association championship for the first time in the school’s history. A statement from the resolution included, “The student-athletes overcame adversity during a pandemic to not only win the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship and the 2021 Hockey East Association Championship but to do so with a team grade point average of 3.” Congrats team!

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the REAL ID full enforcement date from October 1, 2021, to May 3, 2023, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning May 3, 2023, every air traveler 18 years of age and older will need a REAL ID compliant driver’s license or identification card, or another TSA-acceptable form of identification, for domestic air travel and to enter certain federal facilities. TSA publishes a list of its acceptable identification documents on its website. Learn more.

The City of Waltham is currently accepting applications for the SummerWorks Program. Applicants must be Waltham residents, at least 15 years of age and must be going to school full-time in the fall. Applications can be placed in the gray mailbox outside of the= front of Government Center, 119 School Street. Preference will be given to those candidates that apply by Friday, May 28, 2021 at 4:30. Students may participate in SummerWorks program for two years. Returning students must reapply and receive preference. Positions offered vary in areas such as landscaping and yardwork, clerical, information technology, GREAT program and the School Department. Learn more.

Building Pathways, a 200+ hour pre-apprenticeship training program designed to prepare qualified applicants for an apprenticeship in the building trades, is recruiting for its September 2021 training cycle. Through Career Readiness and Occupational Skills Training, with classroom and hands-on learning experiences, Building Pathways provides participants with the knowledge and skills they need to apply for and enter a state-registered union Building Trades apprenticeship program. Participants also receive coordinated case management and placement services to help them achieve their career goals.

In order to be eligible for Building Pathways, applicants must be a resident of Suffolk, Norfolk or Middlesex counties, be at least 18 years of age, be authorized to work in the US, have a valid driver’s license, and a high school diploma or equivalency. They must also have no prior building trades union affiliation either as an apprentice or journey worker. Click here to learn more or apply.