The purpose of this Toolkit is to provide state agencies with guidance and resources to plan and implement Employment and Training (E&T) Programs under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program).
This memo provides guidance on the use of SNAP E&T funds to pay for services for individuals who are attending high school. In most cases, it is likely neither legal nor appropriate to use E&T funds to pay for services for individuals are attending high school. In some instances, however, it is allowed and encouraged to use E&T funds for individuals who are of high school age, such as for individuals aged 16-17 who are subject to SNAP work requirements.
Our team at USDA has been relentless in notifying, educating, and equipping you to engage more SNAP participants as they transition to work. Some of you have been proactive leaders in improving your E&T program. However, not all states have taken action. Today, I call on you to leverage the opportunity afforded to us by the longest economic expansion in U.S. history to get to work on getting people to work.
The SNAP Employment and Training program, administered by all 53 state agencies, helps participants gain the skills, training, or work experience they need to enter, reenter, or remain in the workforce. The program is flexible. State agencies can tailor services and supports to the needs of SNAP participants and the communities in which they live.
The attached questions and answers are in response to changes made by Section 4005 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, enacted on Dec.20, 2018, to the SNAP Employment and Training program and certain Able-bodied Adults without Dependents work policies.
This memorandum is pursuant to the President's Executive Order, Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility, which instructed the Department to review regulations and guidance documents to ensure they are consistent with promoting economic opportunity and ensuring the most efficient use of taxpayer funds.
Factsheet on the SNAP quality control process and payment error rates.
The memorandum that follows is intended to clarify the three ways in which FNS measures timeliness of initial SNAP application processing. This memorandum does not represent new policy, but seeks to clarify the three existing data collection and monitoring procedures.
FNS has received many questions on the interim final rule implementing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Program Monitoring, Oversight and Reporting Measures, published in the Federal Register on March 24, 2016. FNS released one Q&A in response to those questions on July 26, 2016. Since that time, FNS has received additional questions and is issuing this second Q&A to address them.
The attached questions and answers address the SNAP: Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 final rule.