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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Employment and Training
(SNAP E&T)
Goal
The goal of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) is to assist Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in obtaining employment - including provision of work opportunities for 18- to 50-year-old Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) - through participation in work programs and education and training activities.
Sources of Funding
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) receives a 100 percent federal SNAP grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Additional expenditures are funded at a 50/50 federal/state match rate.
Description
Local Workforce Development Boards and their contractors administer services that assist non-public assistance SNAP in entering employment or participating in education or vocational training activities that promote long-term self-sufficiency. Services include:
- Directed Job Search
- Vocational Education/Training
- Nonvocational Education/Training
- Work Experience
- Workfare (ABAWDs only)
- Unsubsidized Employment (allowable only if the individual is enrolled in other SNAP E&T activities)
SNAP recipients ages 16 to 59 who are not employed, or are employed fewer than 30 hours per week, are considered SNAP E&T General Population mandatory work registrants and are required to participate in SNAP E&T SNAP recipients who are at least 18 - but less than 50 - years of age, not employed, or are employed less than 20 hours per week, are considered ABAWD mandatory work registrants and are required to participate in SNAP E&T . SNAP recipients who meet federally established exemption criteria are not required to participate in SNAP E&T , but may voluntarily participate as funding permits.
Both mandatory work registrants and exempt SNAP recipients must participate in assigned SNAP E&T activities for a minimum weekly average of at least 30 hours. ABAWDs assigned to workfare must participate based on their SNAP allotment (divided by the number of ABAWDs in the SNAP household when there are multiple ABAWDs), divided by the federal minimum wage. Job search is not an allowable activity for ABAWDs unless it is done in conjunction with workfare.
Support services for transportation, dependent care expenses, and other expenses that are reasonable, necessary, and directly related to participation in SNAP activities are evaluated based on individual need. Payment for General Educational Development (GED) testing and certificates of high school equivalency also is available.
Administration
Program oversight is the responsibility of TWC's Workforce Development Division. As of Federal Fiscal Year 2009 , a total of 173 counties have been designated as full-service counties in which:
- outreach is conducted for mandatory work registrants;
- mandatory work registrants are sanctioned for failure to cooperate with SNAP E&T requirements (i.e., SNAP benefits are denied); and
- the SNAP General Population receives services based on available funding.
Legal Base
The Food Stamp Act of 1977, as amended by the Food Security Act of 1985, the Hunger Act of 1988, the Mickey Leland Domestic Hunger Relief Act of 1990, the Personal Responsibility and Reconciliation Act of 1996, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Farm and Rural Investment Act of 2002, the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, and Code of Federal Regulations 7, Part 273.
Please e-mail questions and comments about SNAP E&T to sharon.roland@twc.state.tx.us.
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