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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 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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Policy 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.
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Policy COVID Response Project: Lessons Learned from State Adaptation and Federal Flexibilities
The COVID Response Project was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to document the real-time impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on state human services agencies and capture state perspectives on lessons learned to guide future federal policymaking and state implementation. The project was completed by the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Regional Operations. Insights from the report reflect information obtained through APHSA’s on-going support of state human services agencies’ COVID-19 response efforts as well as a series of in-depth interviews with executive leadership of the 14 state health and human services agencies in ACF’s Region 1 (New England) and Region 4 (Southeast) areas.
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Policy Benefits of Interoperability in the Health & Human Services System
The A-87 Exception presents a unique opportunity to transform the health and human services delivery system. It delivers an integrated funding mechanism which allows good business design to apply across a broad range of programs and services. It also provides benefits to states, customers, and federal partners, ranging from cost containment, to improved customer service, enhanced security and privacy, program integrity, and better outcomes for children and families.
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Data Streamlining Medicaid Renewals Through the Ex Parte Process
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should provide detailed guidance and oversight to help states improve automatic Medicaid renewals using available data, through the ex parte process.
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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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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.
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Why Framing Matters: Ways to Move Forward
Prior issues of Policy & Practice have introduced framing and what effective framing can do to make our shared narrative more productive and impactful. In this column, APHSA's President and CEO shares two framing strategies that can help us avoid the most common mistakes and produce more effective frames: Widening the lens and using numbers more effectively.
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Policy Documenting Pandemic EBT for the 2020-21 School Year
The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program was launched as an effort to address the loss of access to free and reduced-price school meals due to widespread school closures at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools reopened in a shifting mix of fully virtual, hybrid, and inperson formats and families lacked consistent access to school meals, these benefits were extended through the 2020–21 school year and were highly valuable to families in buffering the full extent of food insecurity they may have faced during this uncertain time. However, the complexity of administering this program was a fundamental barrier in providing timely support to families, who ultimately went without benefits for at least half of the school year. In this report, we dive into the challenges state administrators faced in launching this new program during the 2020–21 school year and reflect on considerations for the future.
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CSNS Mecklenburg: Strengthening Community Relationship to End Child Hunger
This report outlines how the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services (DSS) is leading an initiative to coordinate nutrition supports across government and community partners to streamline access to resources that improve food security for families in Mecklenburg County. Through this project, households experiencing food insecurity will not only have a better understanding of the resources and services available to them, but also will find it easier to apply for public benefit programs.
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Toolkit: Moving through the Value Curve Stage
Human services is experiencing many of the same challenges that all modern systems face, including rapidly changing economic forces, social structure, demographics, communications and technology. Leaders from all sectors of our field must be able to adapt to this changing environment, and lead a culture change within their organization that supports a more collaborative, creative and innovative way to deliver services in communities across the nation. Indeed, it is impossible to deliver a truly holistic platform of solutions and supports to people, families and communities in need of them, without a highly collaborative partnership approach. This approach results in more efficient and effective intake and eligibility platforms, more effective casework and engagement practices that respond well to any and all root causes for the challenges faced by the people we serve, and more powerful, far-reaching advocacy and capacity-building efforts that are much larger than the needs of any individual or family case.