Office of Food Justice asks to maintain funding for farmers‑market coupons, Double Up Food Bucks and food recovery hub

The Boston Office of Food Justice (OFJ) presented its FY26 operating request May 1 to the City Council committee and highlighted a level-funded budget with personnel cost-of-living adjustments alongside continued contract funding for community partners that run food-access programs.

"Our mission at the Office of Food Justice is to build a food system that is equitable, resilient, sustainable, and just," Director Aliza Wasserman told the committee. She said OFJ currently has seven permanent staff and fellows and that most of the office's budget supports contracted services to community organizations that operate the city's food-access programs.

Wasserman reviewed several ongoing programs and recent investments: a farmers‑market coupon program that provided $420,000 in assistance last summer through 20 farmers markets and 33 community distributors; expansion of the Double Up Food Bucks incentive to eight stores in Roxbury, Dorchester and East Boston with more than $800,000 in fresh produce redeemed since 2018; and a community outreach leaders pilot that funded five organizations to train peer outreach workers in eight neighborhoods. The office also described a $2.5 million ARPA‑seeded Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub, a partnership with the YMCA of Greater Boston and multiple nonprofits to provide cold storage, distribution capacity and a retail pilot to increase recovered-food distribution.

Community speakers urged continued funding. Michael Zayas of Eastie Farm and the Boston Food Access Council told the committee the incentives and coupons "directly increase the purchasing power of low-income residents using SNAP while also supporting local farms and small food businesses across the city." Residents who run neighborhood popups likewise testified that local distribution programs rely on OFJ support to serve hundreds of families each week.

On measurement and sustainability, staff said OFJ is developing dashboards and evaluation approaches and will complete assessments of Double Up and the farmers‑market coupon programs in partnership with Boston Public Health Commission and market operators. Wasserman said BPS Food and Nutrition Services is rolling out a five‑year plan to serve fresh, scratch‑cooked meals to roughly 49,000 students daily, with targets to increase Northeast sourcing to 30% and procurement from Black, Indigenous and people-of-color vendors to 5%.

The committee did not take a vote at the session; councilors pressed staff on funding paths once federal nutrition-incentive grants expire and on operational details of the collaborative food hub. OFJ staff said they would return follow‑up information and that several program continuations are contingent on future federal or philanthropic funding.