Leaders of three Newton-based nonprofits – Cradles to Crayons, Spoonfuls, and Family Aid – outlined challenges to their work due to federal funding cuts, tightening eligibility rules, and the state political climate. They said the safety net is breaking and that everyone, not just the poor, will feel the consequences this fall.
The warnings came at the Charles River Regional Chamber (CRRC) Spring Business Breakfast, where these executives joined United Way of Massachusetts Bay CEO Marty Martinez on a panel, moderated by CRRC President Greg Reibman, about the challenges facing human services organizations today. The event also included a talk by CRRC Chair Angela Pitter about online presence in the world of AI, and a keynote by Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com and Boombaud.
What these nonprofits do
Cradles to Crayons collects gently used clothing and distributes it at no cost to children in need from birth to age 18. Powered largely by volunteers who sort, quality-check, and package donations at the Newton facility, the organization currently serves more than 100,000 children and families each year. But Executive Director Alicia Kabir put that in context, noting that one in three Massachusetts children is at risk of not having adequate clothing, and Cradles to Crayons is reaching only a small fraction of them. Kabir said, “82% of the families we serve make less than $30,000 a year. …We work behind the scenes so they feel good and confident in themselves, …giving these families and these kids the right to walk in this world knowing that they matter, that they’re valued.”
Spoonfuls intercepts food that would otherwise be thrown away (mostly produce, lean proteins, and dairy) and redirects it through 260 partner agencies across more than 100 Massachusetts cities and towns. CEO Ashley Stanley says Spoonfuls “aims to be as lean and direct as possible,” using 12 trucks to distribute about 125,000 pounds of food per week, feeding about 65,000 people. The organization is on track to recover 7 million pounds this year, or the equivalent of 5.5 million meals. She noted that “hunger is an issue not of supply but of distribution” and their challenge is “locating the resource allocation tools that we need to make sure that we can stay on the road and be a consistent source and inventory for our partners.”
Family Aid, formed in 1916, is the oldest of the three nonprofits, and CEO Larry Seamans said it has helped about half a million Massachusetts residents climb out of poverty over its 110-year history. Seamans added that the organization is currently working with 5,233 children and parents navigating what he calls an increasingly challenging system. He noted that when Family Aid was formed, “there was no safety net, so …people of goodwill, people of influence, and people with means [came] together to support those in our community who need our help.” Back to the present, he said, “The task is to engage in rebuilding a safety net that the federal government can’t seem to do.”
“A perfect storm”
Two years ago, Seamans spoke from the same stage about a humanitarian crisis for newly arrived immigrants. “I would say it’s even more dire now,” he told the current audience. “Federal and state policies together are creating a perfect storm.” He noted that the federal administration is planning to eliminate 40% of housing subsidies currently supporting elderly and formerly homeless residents, and this will affect an estimated 10,000 Massachusetts households.
Stanley said that SNAP (food stamp) participation in Massachusetts has already dropped roughly 10% in 2025, as new requirements for work have made eligibility effectively impossible for many working families. She noted that a working mother with three children simply cannot meet them. Larger SNAP cuts will be coming under the farm bill, with consequences expected to hit hard this fall.
The 30-day SNAP pause last fall offered a preview of what that will look like. “Even when SNAP was reinstated,” Stanley said, “the effects were so dire that folks were still having a hard time recovering” weeks later because people living paycheck-to-paycheck cannot absorb a month-long gap and bounce back quickly.
Kabir pointed to “an invisible crisis” of pressures that do not make headlines. For instance, SNAP does not cover diapers, and a family without diapers cannot send an infant to daycare, which means a parent cannot work. Kabir said the average family spends about $500 per child getting ready for a new school year. With school ending and summer arriving, families who rely on school-based distribution and subsidized meals face a difficult gap before fall.
Spoonfuls is contending with threats that go beyond logistics. Stanley said the organization has removed its list of partner agencies from its website after learning that social service agencies serving immigrant communities were being targeted. “We run 12 trucks across the state, that advertise what we do, that are being followed,” she said.
State politics compounds the problem
The leaders described a political environment at the state level in which politicians are reluctant to champion safety-net programs. Seamans said, “We have amazing state representatives in our community as well, but it’s not politically advantageous right now to support the poor, because there are so many needs.” As an example, he noted a law change in 2025 that “removed the right to shelter for families who couldn’t pay their rent” and capped shelter stays at six months. “We went from being the best in the country [in housing benefits] to the worst, in one month,” Seamans said.
A ballot question proposing to reduce the state income tax rate from 5% to 4% adds another layer of risk. Seamans noted that a 1% cut sounds modest, but he said it would lead to a cut of “$1 billion in state resources as the safety net is framed.” He cited recent polling showing that initial support for the proposal runs at about 66%, but drops to 40% once voters learn how much it would reduce funding for cities and towns. (The poll he cited, by MassINC Polling Group in March 2026, was sponsored by opponents of the ballot question, Transportation for Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Voter Table.) Seamans called educating neighbors and colleagues about the ballot question “the most important thing” business leaders can do right now.
Calls for action
The requests from all three organizations were direct. Cradles to Crayons needs volunteers at its Newton facility, and Kabir described the activity as “genuinely fun.” Kabir also asked for financial support to purchase items like diapers in bulk. Family Aid has grown its volunteer base from 30 people in 2018 to more than 750 today and can absorb more. Spoonfuls has fewer opportunities for volunteers and encourages financial contributions.
Beyond time and money, all three leaders asked for civic engagement. They encouraged attendees to talk to neighbors about the income tax ballot question, to ask political candidates where they stand on the safety net, and to connect the dots for others about how Medicaid cuts and housing subsidy reductions will affect hospitals, insurance costs, and communities, not just the people who lose benefits directly.
“The safety net is breaking,” Martinez said. “And if it breaks, we will all face the impact.”
