SNAP E&T

Feasibility Assessment

  •  4-Step SNAP E&T Assessment Process 

     Step 1 - Determine SNAP E&T feasibility for your social enterprise

     Step 2 - Conduct online research about SNAP E&T in your state/county

     Step 3 - Estimate SNAP E&T funding

     Step 4 - Get buy-in from your SNAP Agency for a SNAP E&T partnership
  •  

    How to use this tool

    Before using this tool, we encourage you to read our learning guide on SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T).

    SNAP E&T can be an effective way for employment social enterprises to fund an expansion of their employment and training services. Before applying for a third party partnership with your state or local SNAP agency, employment social enterprises should determine whether they have the right participants, capacity, services, and funding. This tool is intended to help you decide whether the SNAP E&T program is right for your employment social enterprise.

    Answer the questions below to the best of your ability. Once completed, your answers will be compared to standardized answers to give you a sense of whether the SNAP E&T program is a good match for your organization’s interests.

     

  • Examples include transitional employment, career counseling, job readiness training, resume writing and interview prep, peer mentoring, job search and placement, ESL courses, GED prep, vocational training, on-the-job training, training in basic English or math skills, case management, and job retention services. These examples are known as “allowable services” because they can be included in a SNAP E&T program if all other federal rules are met. Note: client wages are not eligible for federal funding.



  • In order to draw down federal funds, you must fund eligible E&T services given to SNAP-receiving clients using non-federal dollars (I.e. funds from philanthropy, for example). Many social enterprises already spend qualified agency funds in this way. Community Development Block Grants and Indian Tribal Government funds are the only federal funds that are the exception to this rule. Sources of non-federal funding that many social enterprises use are earned income, private grants, and vocational funds received from state and local governments.



  • Examples include their costs for required uniforms, tuberculosis testing, textbooks, child care, certifications, and transportation to and from your site.



  • If you provide extremely high-intensity allowable services, “substantial” could mean at least 15 low-income clients. If you provide low-intensity allowable services, “substantial” could mean at least 150 low-income clients. For purposes of SNAP E&T, low-income typically means having a gross income of no more than $15,684 per year for a single person, $21,120 for a family of two, $26,556 for a family of three, and upward for larger families. Some states use different income thresholds. For example, in California, individuals may be eligible with incomes of up to $24,120 per year for a single person, $32,480 per year for a family of two, $40,840 per year for a family of three, etc. (These numbers will go up slightly in 2018.)