APHSA Annual Report 2017

In addition to effective and efficient program administration, state agencies are ramping up their efforts to improve food security and nutritional outcomes in the communities they serve. The state profiles reveal various examples of using mobile and web-based platforms to contribute to the overall community goals of achieving community food security and nutritional health, beyond sole reliance on the SNAP program, by connecting customers to additional community resources to address both the symptom and root-cause level barriers. States, in their broker roles, have supported the creation of community partnership programs that empower community-serving organizations to operate as system navigators for the SNAP application process. System-level efforts that utilize community and geographic level data to better plan the administration of the SNAP program and serve the needs of whole families are necessary next steps. Supporting these efforts can have a multiplier effect on the SNAP program’s effectiveness in communities. BUILD BUILDING CAPACITY AND EXPERTISE Ø Ø Partnering with Members: developed in partnership with the community, local, state and national partners, the Monterey County Roadmap to Strengthen Child Well-Being is a community plan that supports the recommendations from the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse Neglect Fatalities Report viewed through the lens of the Value Curve and framing science. APHSA-supported community assessment work was facilitated in three main areas: community engagement, collaborative and coordinated services delivery and data, and information sharing. The work in these three sectors led to findings that shaped the strategies within the Roadmap. Key recommendations were identified to support the Monterey County community and its generative vision of a thriving community where all children grow up in a safe and healthy family and environment. Highlights include: Ø Ø Creation of spaces/hubs in neighborhoods as cultural community centers that support access to resources Ø Ø Cultivate trusted community-based “System Navigators” to help families access available resources before crises emerge

which allow for earlier intervention and moving services upstream. The Milwaukee County Division of Behavioral Health was selected as an area of “high readiness” due to their success in reducing chronic homelessness, with the focus of new learning on understanding the enablers and barriers to spreading and scaling the success of the chronic homeless initiative to the population of those with co-occurring severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance use disorder. Milwaukee County has experienced great success employing the “Housing First” model in the county housing division, coordinated entry and crisis response services. It is also focusing on boosting its data analytics capacity to help gauge the continued success of the “Housing First” model. Ø Ø Federal Partner Engagement: through a national project underwritten by FNS, the OE team supported APHSA’s effort to explore the enablers and barriers of SNAP and Medicaid program integration, including the effectiveness of 90/10 Funding and the A-87 Cost Allocation waiver to help catalyze system integration. FNS sponsored the project to understand how best to support states in their efforts to improve SNAP program quality and integration with other programs touching the same families. In advancing these outcomes, site visits were conducted in six states (ID, MS, TX, UT, VA and WA). Primary objectives for each visit was to explore lessons learned and receive feedback for FNS on how states responded to changing policy requirements and the potential impacts that would affect their organizational structure, governance, business processes, culture and climate, systems development methodology and procurement areas. As a general trend, the site visits reinforced a theme that, despite the opportunity for increased eligibility system integration presented by ACA 90/10 funding and related cost allocation waiver, states were more likely not to integrate or take full advantage of these funding mechanisms because of policy misalignment between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and FNS eligibility standards that need to be resolved to maintain or create system integration; mandates placed on state Medicaid program, and/or the heavy lift required to modernize decades-old IT infrastructure.

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