Massachusetts Launches Media Campaign to Increase Welfare Rolls
       Believing that there are likely hundreds of thousands of residents unaware of the program, state and federal officials in Massachusetts today launched a media campaign to encourage more low-income people to sign up for food stamps.
       "Good Food Good Health" posters have been tacked up inside MBTA stations encouraging residents to sign up for the program that helps the poor buy food.
       Other steps are being taken to boost enrollment.  Taking a novel approach, state officials will now be granting food stamps to people who haven't even applied for food stamps. Instead of requiring residents to fill out a separate food stamp application, information from federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applicants is now sent electronically to the state Department of Transitional Assistance, where food stamp eligibility is automatically determined.
       According to state officials, the program is aimed at the elderly, disabled, or blind who have little or no income. DTA has enrolled more than 15,000 clients since February, and hopes to provide benefits for another 68,000 people within the next several months. More than $350 million in food stamps benefits are distributed to nearly 360,000 Massachusetts residents annually, but officials say that number represents only half of those eligible for the program.