Officials continue working to fully fund Medford Family Network

If you’re looking to blame the federal government for the recent cuts to the Medford Family Network’s (MFN) budget, think again.

Since its inception 33 years ago, MFN has received money from The Children’s Trust, a public/private partnership that funds programs throughout the state. That funding comes from the federal government.

But last year, The Children’s Trust informed MFN and six other family centers in the state that it would no longer be providing funding because it was changing its strategies to align with other state agencies.

That means The Children’s Trust is still receiving federal money, but is no longer funding programs like MFN.  

State Rep. Paul Donato, who has worked with The Children’s Trust since MFN was established, said the change came as quite a shock.

“I had a conversation with them and they decided to change their direction and that’s why all the cuts,” Donato said. “It was very disappointing for me, especially since I’ve been a big supporter of The Children’s Trust for many years.”

Donato said he put $100,000 for MFN into the House of Representatives budget, but it was cut out when the body passed its financial plan earlier this month.

“We didn’t even get $1,” Donato said, of the earmark he proposed. “I’m now working with [Sen.] Pat Jehlen to put $100,000 into the Senate budget.”

Donato said he’s also had conversations with Sen. Michael Rodrigues, who is on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, about funding these family centers.

“I don’t think people really understand why the Chamber of Commerce honored Marie [Cassidy],” Donato said. “They don’t understand that if a family is struggling for one reason or another, they can come to the MFN. They find other families to talk to and it makes them feel comfortable. They think they’re the only ones going through these issues and they come and find out there are people with like problems and people who can help them work things out.”

Cassidy, the MFN’s long-time executive director, was recently honored by the Medford Chamber of Commerce as its 2026 Citizen of the Year for all her efforts to provide support to families in Medford over the years.

City gears up its efforts

Donato said it’s not just the state delegation looking for funding for MFN, the city has been working on the problem of finding $240,000 for the next fiscal year.

“I know the mayor has put money into the budget to keep the MFN going,” Donato said.

Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has been a long-time supporter of the MFN, from her earliest days as a city councilor to the present. During a joint meeting of the City Council, School Committee and city administrators on April 8, the mayor made clear the MFN was among the top three items on her list to fund in fiscal year 2027.

Steve Smirti, the city’s communications director, said the city has received about five calls from concerned residents about the network and added the mayor is working through the budget.

“We have gotten a lot of communications from residents on this, and we included MFN as one of the top Council priorities,” City Council President Zac Bears wrote in an email regarding the MFN. “We haven’t received an update from the mayor as to her strategy for MFN in the budget.”

Per state law, municipalities must pass their next fiscal year budget by midnight on June 30. Should they be unable to do so, communities can resort to a 1/12 budget, where they only pay bills one month at a time until they can pass a full budget.

The new fiscal year begins on July 1.

MFN continues search for funding

While city and state officials continue searching for funding, the MFN staff hasn’t been sitting idly by. Both Cassidy and Assistant Director Irina Shumway are trying to figure out other avenues of revenue to pursue.

Shumway said MFN knew about The Children’s Trust change of strategy last year and informed the city and schools it would be losing half of its funding in 2026.

Despite the roughly $180,000 loss from The Children’s Trust as of July 1, MFN will still receive about $180,000 from the Coordinated Family & Community Grants from the state Department of Early Childhood Education.

Shumway said the state has level funded those grants for the past eight or nine years.

“That money is not as flexible as the money from The Children’s Trust,” Shumway said. “We have to be very particular in how we spend that money.”

The funding sometimes doesn’t meet the needs of Medford’s families, Shumway said, because it doesn’t apply to things people rely on, such as childcare, clothing, diapers or even formula.

“We’ve lost a lot,” she said of the Trust’s funding. “We’ve lost our supports and our flexibility.”

Cassidy said MFN has received so much support from The Children’s Trust over the past 26 years that being defunded has been “devastating.”

Shumway said it’s understandable why the Trust felt a change was needed in order to reach more families in crisis statewide.

“The other piece is that we are losing an excellent partner,” she said. “We had a lot of support from them.”

What now?

The MFN mission will continue — somehow. Whether it’s with less staff or programming remains to be seen.

However, that’s something neither Shumway nor Cassidy wants.

“We strongly believe in what MFN does,” Shumway said. “We do a lot of work with the community, a lot with the schools and a lot with the city. We’re at a lot of city events and we work with the Department of Outreach and we work with local shelters. Because of that, we’ve become a place where people call and know we can help their families.”

The network provides services at 34 locations throughout Medford.

Cassidy looks at MFN from the three Rs perspective: resources, referrals and relationships. Those are the ways the organization serves the residents of the city.

“That’s how we became a trusted resource,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy said MFN was invited by the Cummings Foundation to present a proposal for a grant that would provide the center with $100,000 a year over the next 10 years.

The presentation was held May 11. The MFN will know if it has received anything by June 1.

“We’re not just relying on one avenue of funding,” Shumway said. “We are definitely exploring other options. We can’t just sit back and wait. We need to sustain the program. We have to show we’re doing our part and that we’re working with everyone. We know the city has a deficit.”

At the moment, Medford is facing a possible $1.8 million in the FY27 budget. However, a number of factors are still at play, including the arrival of local receipts, which Bears said during the April 8 joint meeting could be around $4 million.

In the meantime, Shumway and Cassidy said the network continues its work each and every day serving the residents of Medford.

“We strongly believe in what the network does,” Shumway said. “We do a lot in our community.”