Benefits Program: SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
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Human-Centered Design Applicant Experience Journey Map
Applicants to federal aid programs face numerous barriers in accessing benefits they are eligible for. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare conducted an extensive qualitative user research study to better understand applicant experience in enrolling in public assistance programs. Based on the results, the study emphasizes the need for simplified, streamlined and less burdensome application processes.
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Policy Funding Programs for Young Parents & Families
This brief provides a summary of potential federal funding sources and programs that can be used to support programs specifically targeted towards young families. While this list is not exhaustive, it highlights major sources that can serve as a starting point for braiding and blending of funding to create comprehensive programming to serve young families.
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Communications States Can Use Text Messaging to Communicate Effectively With Medicaid and SNAP Enrollees
In the vast majority of states where Medicaid, SNAP, and other economic security and health programs are administered at the state level, agencies can and should send text messages to their clients to help eligible people connect to and stay enrolled in these programs.
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Data CSNS Kansas: Forming Connections Between SNAP and WIC to Tackle Food Insecurity
Together, the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) and Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) are working to design and build a sustainable process to improve cross-enrollment for families eligible for both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). This report outlines how Kansas will integrate data matches between SNAP and WIC—as well as targeted outreach— within the ongoing business processes of the agencies to help streamline the experience of accessing nutrition supports for clients. These functions will contribute to the agencies’ shared goal of reducing rates of food insecurity in Kansas.
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5 Things to Know About SNAP Employment & Training
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is well known for providing nutrition support for individuals and families with low incomes. The lesser-known SNAP Employment and Training Program (SNAP E&T) helps eligible participants develop skills to achieve economic mobility. SNAP E&T provides employability assessments, training, case management, transportation, child care and other services and supports to help participants attain sustainable employment. State legislatures have an opportunity to support economic recovery and decrease food insecurity among individuals and families by investing in the SNAP E&T program, including with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
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Policy Working Together – A Roadmap to Human Services System Alignment for Young Families
APHSA established a working group to identify strengths, barriers, and opportunities for better system alignment in human services for young parents and children, leading to the development of a roadmap to support meaningful systems-level changes.
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Policy Aligning Systems to Advance Family and Community Well-Being: A Partnership Playbook for Community Action and Human Services Agencies
This playbook outlines the ways Community Action and human services agencies worked together to meet the pandemic challenge—what worked well, obstacles and difficulties, and lessons learned to inform the path forward, partnering to achieve a more equitable recovery. It also explains how communities have leveraged opportunities to partner on approaches that hold the promise of deeper, longer lasting changes for families—work shaped by families’ wishes and strengths and designed to advance both family-level and systems-level change.
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CSNS New Mexico: Improving Online Infrastructure to Expand WIC’s Reach
This report outlines how the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) and Department of Health (NMDOH) are working to maximize WIC participation among SNAP families through automated referrals and streamlined application and enrollment across agencies.
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Policy Early Insights on SNAP Modernization through American Rescue Plan Investments
This brief shares findings from a November 2021 survey of state SNAP agencies about their use of the SNAP ARPA funds in fiscal year 2021, and their initial planned activities for fiscal year 2022 and 2023. This brief also draws from learnings from work groups conducted with states in early 2022. The brief looks to explore the following questions: 1. How did state SNAP agencies use 2021 SNAP ARPA administrative funding? 2. What factors influenced how states used 2021 SNAP ARPA administrative funding? 3. What are states aiming to prioritize in 2022 and 2023? 4. What do early insights on implementation convey about national SNAP priorities?
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Data Harnessing Data and Technology to Construct a Human Services System that Supports Thriving and Equitable Communities
Recent innovations in technology have opened a path for H/HS agencies to dramatically strengthen their data and technology infrastructure while providing fairer and more equal access to crucial benefits and services. By taking the concrete policy steps outlined in this brief, we believe that Congress and the administration can help human services agencies accelerate the construction of next generation systems that support the move toward a data-driven, equitable, multidisciplinary service delivery model.
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Data CSNS Hawaii: Building a Data-Driven Foundation to Help Hunger in Hawai’i
The Hawai‘i Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with the Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) and the Children’s Healthy Living Center of Excellence (CHL Center) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is building foundational capacity to share and analyze administrative data across the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). This groundwork will enable Hawai‘i to increase access to nutrition support programs, in alignment with Hawai‘i’s ‘Ohana Nui framework, which aims to dismantle intergenerational poverty.
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Policy Executive Summary: SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020
SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020 is a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy (IHSP) based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). This research seeks to understand perspectives from state SNAP administrators on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from waivers and flexibilities used to preserve equitable access to SNAP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on state agency survey responses, this report summarizes key findings from the first calendar year of pandemic response and provides policy considerations for the future of SNAP. This research was supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.