Food Stamps Can Mean Healthy Meals for You and Your Family

Applying for Food Stamps Has Never Been Easier

Despite the help the Food Stamp Program can offer, there are still many eligible Massachusetts residents who could enroll. In today’s economy, too many families are struggling to make ends meet. Food stamps can help you ensure that you and your family are getting consistent, healthy meals at home. Food stamps come on a debit card that automatically deducts from your monthly benefits each time you use it at the grocery store—an easy, convenient way to provide nutritious food for your family!

Project Bread is partnering with community-based organizations across the state to increase enrollment and awareness of the Food Stamp Program by providing application assistance to clients. This program, in partnership with the Department of Transitional Assistance, gives eligible applicants a convenient, supportive, and secure way to access benefits online. The initiative provides greater convenience: applicants can apply in their neighborhood, and they can work with a counselor who speaks their language and coaches them through the process.

The food stamp application is also available to anyone online, thanks to the Department of Transitional Assistance. You can apply from a home, library, health center or any location with access to the Internet at www.mass.gov/dta. It is fast and convenient and you can apply anytime!

Interested applicants can find the latest information about times and places to apply—online, in person or by mail and fax—at www.gettingfoodstamps.org, www.mass.gov/dta or by calling Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline at 1-800-645-8333.

Solicitar los cupones de alimentos nunca ha sido tan fácil

A pesar de los recursos que el Programa de Cupones de Alimentos le puede ofrecer, muchos residentes elegibles de Massachussets todavía no están participando. En la economía de hoy, muchas familias están luchando para ganar lo suficiente para vivir. Utilizar los cupones de alimentos puede asegurar que usted y su familia tengan comida saludable en casa. Se puede comprar comida con los cupones de alimentos usando una tarjeta de transferencia electrónica que automáticamente paga de su cuenta de beneficios mensuales–una manera fácil y conveniente de proveer alimentos nutritivos para su familia.

Project Bread se ha asociado con organizaciones comunitarias en Massachussets para trabajar juntos y aumentar el nivel de participación en el programa de cupones de alimentos. Si usted quiere ayuda con la solicitud, muchas agencias están ofreciendo asistencia. Este programa, en asociación con el Departamento de Asistencia Transitoria, le da una manera conveniente y segura de acceder a sus beneficios en Internet. Esta iniciativa facilita el proceso de solicitar los beneficios; usted puede llenar la solicitud en la comunidad donde vive, y puede recibir ayuda de un asesor que hable su idioma y le ayude con el proceso.

Si usted quiere llenar la solicitud sin la ayuda de un asesor, ahora cualquier persona puede acceder a la solicitud para cupones de alimentos a través del Internet, gracias al Departamento de Asistencia Transitoria. Se puede llenar la solicitud en Internet (ubicada en la página www.mass.gov/dta) desde su casa, una biblioteca pública, un centro de salud, o cualquier lugar que cuente con acceso al Internet. ¡Es rápido, conveniente, y usted puede solicitar cuando quiera!

Si está interesado, puede encontrar la información más reciente sobre agencias que pueden ayudar con la solicitud (no importa si es por Internet, en persona, o por correo o fax), en las páginas web www.gettingfoodstamps.org y www.mass.gov/dta, o puede llamar al FoodSource Hotline de Project Bread al 1-800-645-8333.

Free FileMaker Campus Productivity Kit

The makers of FileMake Pro offer a free version designed for students to help them manage their time and be more productive. This specialized runtime version of the FileMaker database runs on both MACs and PCs and can be used by more than students. We think job seekers may find it very useful as well.
Some ways to use it are to:

• Manage Contacts
  
• Organize Research Material & Lecture Notes (job seekers: think company research and interviews!)
  
• Tracking Group Projects and Assignments
  
• Coordinate Events & Registrations
  
• Track & Prioritize To Do Lists

They'll ask for your email address and mailing address to sign up; that's often the price of getting something for free. They want more business from you later. But if you need a way to organize your community projects, job search, or school life, then this may be the tool for you.

Where to Get Your Annual Free Credit Report

You don't have to pay anyone or subscribe to any fee-based services to get your free annual credit report from each of the nationl consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

The ads you see on TV are not really free because you have to subscribe (or accept a trial offer) for a product. So while the website name is easy to remember -- remember this -- it's not free and it's not the site you want!

Annual Credit Report is what you want: http://www.annualcreditreport.com will get you to the correct site.

Tip: Don't order from all 3 credit reporting agencies at the same time. Instead, order your free credit report from one agency every 4 months. Over the course of a year, you'll have an updated, free credit report and gain a better idea of how you are doing in the credit area.

Candidate Seeker: An Alternative Job Search

CandidateSeeker.com delivers job opportunity notices via email to you the candidate. We are the only major online recruiting and employment service that DOES NOT post resumes or application forms for viewing by the public OR subscribers. We never circulate resumes to employers.

Candidates are never charged to use our service. And, we do not allow placement agencies who charge applicant fees to use our service!

Job Central "replaces" America's Job Bank

For people and organizations who relied on America's Job Bank to list job openings or search for jobs, the Dept. of Labor's decision to close the website was unwelcome news. America's Job Bank had been a significant resource for many employers that did not have funds to pay for job postings on commercial websites such as Monster and CareerBuilder. The job bank also helped many organizations fulfill their Affirmative Action outreach because it covered every state and thus reached incredibly large numbers of job seekers.

However, a group of leading U.S. employers pooled their resources to create Job Central as a public service, achieving the same nationwide coverage. Take advantage of the free job search if you're job hunting and the free job listings if you're an employer.

Health & Human Services Internet Gateway

Launched in 2004, Virtual Gateway is an Internet portal that provides the general public and human service clients, providers, and front-line staff with online access to health and human services information and services. For additional information, please visit the Virtual Gateway page.

Information and services on the Virtual Gateway are organized according to what human service clients, providers, and staff need and how they seek information and conduct business today. The Gateway is the result of collaboration across multiple government agencies to meet three common goals:

• Provide a single point of access to services,
• Promote worker and provider productivity, and
• Support the relationship between the Commonwealth and its community partners.

Over 12,000 individuals, many of them employed by more than 500 state agencies and provider organizations, use the Virtual Gateway today to conduct business with agencies within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and within the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Health Insurance Requirements

Big changes are happening in Massachusetts health care. Most adults must now carry health insurance, effective July 1, 2007. The Commonwealth Health Connector is the official website to go to for information about the new law and to find the right health plan for you and/or your family.

Whether you are employed by an organization that does not offer health insurance, self-employed, or unemployed, there are choices there for everyone. And if you qualify for a plan at no or low cost, they’ll let you know. Health insurance is an important decision.

This site will help understand your otions and make the right choices.

How "Good" is the Information on the Internet?

You can do research about almost any topic by searching the Internet. But how good is the information you find? Sometimes you can find very good information but there is also a lot of "misinformation disguised as fact" mixed in. There are a few sites that provide you with more reliable results because professionals have reviewed the sites they link with.

One of these is the Librarians' Internet Index, a publicly-funded website that lets you search and browse its website for the best of the Web. The site contains more than 20,000 entries, maintained by their librarians and organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics.

New Web Site Provides Information to Protect Wage Earners from Consequences of Disability

The Council for Disability Awareness has launched a website to help workers learn about and perhaps prepare for the consequences of a long-term disability. Studies show that 3 out of every 10 workers between the ages of 25 and 65 will experience an accident or illness that keeps them out of work for three months or longer. To help wage earners learn more about the realities and financial consequences of disability, their comprehensive site is one component of a public awareness campaign aimed at empowering wage earners with information to better prepare themselves for a potential disability and its financial consequences.

Dress Professionally for Professional Success

Women who are entering or re-entering the professional work force may have a bigger hurdle to overcome than the resume and job interview. Without the right clothes, and a comfort level in those professional outfits, that interview may close the door to the job. For women in the low-income bracket, this may appear to be an insurmountable hurdle.

There is help available, though. Three organizations in our area are helping low-income job seekers "look and feel" the part so they move from "interviewed to hired." They provide help in several ways, but finding the "right" professional look and comfort level to get through that interview process is the more unique aspect of their services.

Tailored For Success, Inc. (Malden, MA) specializes in providing career development services to low-income women who are attempting to enter or reenter the workforce. They distribute free interview clothing, provide professional image consulting, and conduct individual interview coaching and career development workshops. Their services are designed to bridge the gap between domestic violence shelters, welfare-to-work, job training programs, and the professional workplace. By increasing self-confidence through image consulting and career coaching, Tailored For Success, Inc. prepares women to enter the workforce and enable them to move from dependency to self-sufficiency.

The Women's Alliance is a national organization of independent community-based members who provide professional attire, career skills training, and related services to low-income women seeking employment. The services they provide ensure that low-income women have the professional attire and career skills coaching they need to make the right impression on job interviews and to succeed in the workplace. TWA provides marketing assistance to Tailored for Sucess.

Dress for Success Worldwide is an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women located in 78 cities across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and New Zealand. Their professional clothing, employment retention programs, and ongoing support symbolizes their faith in every woman’s ability to be self-sufficient and successful in her career. They have a Boston location.

Community Resource Listing has moved!

Please update your bookmark! We moved the resource listing to its own subdomain at http://resources.maldensquare.org/ on 12/12/06. If you had it bookmarked, please update. Make sure you visit our main web site, as well, at http://maldensquare.org.

Headway Corporation for Job Search

Headway Corporate Resources provides recruitment, staffing, outsourcing, and professional development services. In 2004, they placed over 25,000 individuals with more than 1,000 businesses.

PubMed: an integrated, text-based search and retrieval system of medical articles and citations

PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.

Health and Human Services

The Department of Health and Human Services is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.

The department includes more than 300 programs covering a wide spectrum of activities. Some highlights include:

• Financial assistance and services for low-income families
• Improving maternal and infant health
• Head Start (pre-school education and services)
• Substance abuse treatment and prevention
• Services for older Americans, including home-delivered meals
• Comprehensive health services for Native Americans

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides access to essential health care services for people who are low-income, uninsured, or live in rural areas or urban neighborhoods where health care is scarce. HRSA administers a variety of programs to improve the health of mothers and children and serves people living with HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White CARE Act programs. HRSA also oversees the nation's organ transplantation system. Headquarters: Rockville, Md.

Specific areas of their website you may find useful:

• Find free or low-cost health care
• HIV/AIDS Services
• Primary Health Care
• Maternal and Child Health

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) works to improve the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services. SAMSA helps improve substance abuse prevention and treatment services through the identification and dissemination of best practices. They also monitor the prevalence and incidence of substance abuse. Headquarters: Rockville, MD.

Children's Mental Health

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which provide health care to about one in every four Americans. Medicare provides health insurance for more than 42.1 million elderly and disabled Americans. Medicaid, a joint federal-state program, provides health coverage for some 44.7 million low-income persons, including 21.9 million children, and nursing home coverage for low-income elderly. CMS also administers the State Children's Health Insurance Program that covers more than 4.2 million children. Headquarters: Baltimore, Md.
Web sites you may want to check:
Medicare
Children's Mental Health,

Health Insurance

Today there are more types of health insurance, and more choices, than ever before. Our independent insurance professionals will help you make the most informed decision possible. Whether you are looking for health insurance for the first time or you are looking to change or compare your current insurance, whether you are single or have a family to protect, our service will help you get the coverage you are looking for at the best possible price.

You can search for Health Care Plans, Accident & Health Insurance, Medicare Supplemental & Long Term Care, Dental, and Hospitalization coverage in the SuperPages.

Cheap Prescription Plans: Join the nation's leading prescription medical and dental discount plan. Guaranteed acceptance and satisfaction. (800) 254-1047

Health Care Advantage
This Benefit Plan is neither insurance nor a health insurance policy. The plan provides for discounts on health care services from participating providers only. The plan does not make payments to providers. The member is responsible for paying for all health care services, but will receive a discount from participating providers contracted with HealthCare Advantage.

Compare Multiple Health Insurance Quotes: Save Money with NetQuote
Since 1989, NetQuote® has providedconsumers with a free, simple, and effectiveway to fulfill their insurance shopping needs. Free quotes available in All 50 States. NetQuote® works with hundreds of partner companies that provide insurance quotes based on information that you supply. Low rates and great deals. Fast, free and secure online health insurance quotes. Nationwide.

Low Cost Health Insurance
Learn how to select a health insurance plan that's right for you. Our friends in the government can help, with guides and information at

Learn the local rules. Regulations differ by state, so know what you're dealing with and what protections are offered you. (For example, having a pre-existing condition isn't necessarily a deal-breaker in every state.) At HealthInsuranceInfo.net, you can look up information for each state.

If you're tough to insure because of serious pre-existing conditions, some states have help for you. Click over to Naschip

Affordable Health Insurance custom tailored around your needs and budget at insurance Pad.