Boston Food Access Director Details Farmers Market Coupons, Emergency Meals, and SNAP Programs

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston's food access director outlines citywide hunger programs on community TV. Catalina Lopez-Ospina, director of the Mayor's Office of Food Access, appeared on Commissioner's Corner to describe the city's food security network, developed under Mayor Kim Janey's food access agenda through community surveys and input sessions. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, her office coordinated roughly 1,200 food deliveries per day, seven days a week, with more than 80 city employee volunteers from agencies including the MBTA and Police Academy. Current programs include farmers market coupons worth up to $75 per household per month through partner organizations, a Double Up Food Box program at 12 stores covering up to $10 of SNAP users' produce purchases, and the state-run Health Incentive Program offering SNAP recipients $40 to $80 monthly in farmers market rebates — benefits Lopez-Ospina said expire at month's end: "You have to use it every month." The federally funded Pandemic EBT card for school-enrolled children had been extended through the summer, but Lopez-Ospina said federal authorization beyond that period remained unconfirmed, urging eligible families to enroll immediately.