As the labor market continues to strengthen, so too are SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) programs across the country. Since 2014, FNS has diligently worked with states to grow their SNAP E&T programs and adopt more effective, employer-driven practices that help SNAP participants find not just any job—but a good job that reduces their need for SNAP.
These efforts have been successful. The program has grown to serve more than 1 million SNAP participants each year and more and more states are seeking best practices and expertise on how to build a quality program that gets people jobs. The demand for this program is growing—and rightly so—the SNAP E&T program is one of the strongest assets we have to ensure that every SNAP participant has the opportunity to gain the skills they need to find a good job.
In October, Under Secretary Concannon announced a new initiative aimed at creating the national expertise we need to take this program to scale. This unique project provides an opportunity for 35 individuals to gain technical expertise on SNAP E&T that prepares them to work within their state or across multiple states building job driven SNAP E&T programs.
Today, I’m pleased to announce the selected participants for the SNAP E&T Academy. This year’s class looks outside of the traditional SNAP stakeholders and brings in new voices to the SNAP E&T community. Participants from community colleges, hunger coalitions, state advocacy organizations, local workforce boards, national nonprofits, providers and state SNAP agencies will join their fellow participants to work on individual SNAP E&T projects. These efforts are designed to develop effective and high-quality SNAP E&T programs in their state or across multiple states. All final participants were selected based on a competitive application process.
We look forward to learning and working with SNAP E&T Academy participants in 2017 as they forge new ground across the country!
Visit the SNAP to Skills site to read more about the 2017 SNAP E&T Academy participants.