CEEWB: The Future of SNAP

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Supporting Work and Building Economic Capacity Stronger support and more sustainable opportunities for entering the workforce, and successfully retaining gainful employment once achieved, are key goals of APHSA’s membership and a critical activity that can help move more individuals and families toward greater capacity and self-sufficiency. SNAP E&T can play a forceful and positive role in moving towards this goal. SNAP E&T can be a doorway for families and individuals to access work supports as well as sector-based education and training and on-the-job training related specifically to available employment in local and regional labor markets. Through SNAP E&T, there is a significant opportunity to reach out to employers and community colleges in individual labor markets to understand their job skill needs and develop in partnership with community colleges and others work-based curricula that can match both employed and unemployed SNAP recipients to work opportunities. SNAP E&T can also serve as a bridge for families who have left TANF for employment but need additional training and skill development to advance economically. Update SNAP employment programs – SNAP’s role in supporting work efforts could be greatly strengthened if the rules and funding for the SNAP Employment & Training program meshed more seamlessly with other work support efforts (including new rules under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA) and could more easily be made part of a comprehensive employment support effort. SNAP E&T’s strengths must be retained and expanded by the commitment of additional 100 percent funds and expanded flexibility in the use of 50/50 federal matching funds to encourage the ability of states, at their option, to draw down funds, leading to further state innovation and more work- eligible recipients able to be served. We appreciate that USDA/FNS is now expanding its own internal emphasis on SNAP E&T as an avenue towards gainful employment and economic advancement. The separate policy rules applicable to Able- Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs) can

concerns we currently face, that are often driven by the lack of commonly shared data and place states in the difficult position of having to maintain a high standard of program integrity without all the necessary tools to do so. Modern customer interfaces – Much of our population, at all income levels, has long since made the transition to engaging government and other sectors electronically, usually through personal devices, without the need for unreasonable paperwork and repetition of data already in the system. SNAP has begun making this transition, and indeed was a pioneer in changing to swipe card benefits nearly a decade and a half ago. But again, it has far to go in allowing simple electronic access, interoperability among related and human serving programs, alternatives to face-to-face interviews, and use of the vast amount of electronic data now residing in government systems. Reducing these barriers could enhance single-portal access and eligibility, cut the time and effort to submit verification information, and help the many SNAP participants who must work during normal business hours. Testing and implementing innovations – Modernizing SNAP must include accelerated development of innovative alternatives that improve the program’s impacts and administration, followed by rapid evaluation and prompt implementation of successful improvements. Applicable elements of the ten Employment & Training pilots now under way could be a model for numerous other potential pilots covering such major program aspects as; verification and program integrity; benefit adequacy, expanded earning deductions, broader use of summer EBT, improved nutrition and health through both purchase incentives and restrictions on sugar-sweetened beverages: modern methods of using benefits in retail settings; and new blended and braided funding models, including partnerships with other programs and sectors. Another example could be pilots that incorporate the use of Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) methodology and eligibility decisions from health programs to initiate and complete most of the SNAP eligibility process.