Summary of Interagency Coordination for the E&T Program in FFY 2016 effective July 1 - September 30, 2016

The Division of County Operations (DCO) within DHS will contract with community based partners, local adult education centers, public schools, vocational schools, and community colleges for implementation and coordination of all components provided under the SNAP E&T Program. The contract is structured as follows:

§ The SNAP Policy Unit and the DCO Contracts Unit (as of July 1, 2016 DCO will no longer have a Contracts unit. Some activities will fall under the DHS Office of Finance and Administration, Contract Support, and DHS SNAP unit and Financial unit in Central office) are responsible for coordinating the E&T Program from the DHS Central Office.

§ The participating community based partners, local adult education centers, public schools, vocational schools and community colleges will provide an E&T Program coordinator in each of the covered counties in their respective local offices. The E&T program coordinators will be funded by 100% E&T funds and 50/50 funds (50% FNS & 50% Contractor)

• Community Based Partners approved in this E&T plan that are participating in the 50/50 reimbursement model with FNS, provide 50% of the contract budget with non-federal dollars.
• The Community Based Partner submits a monthly invoice for the full amount of monthly expenses for E&T to the State/DHS for approval.
• The State/DHS confirms approval and reimbursement of 50% of the entire invoice, or approval and reimbursement of 50% of allowed monthly expenses.
• The State/DHS draws/requests the approved invoice amount from FNS.
• The State/DHS reimburses the Community Based Partner
• DHS will make client transportation reimbursements and pay all other allowed expenses directly to the provider or vendor.

DCO contracts with the following adult education centers, public schools, vocational schools, community colleges, and work force investment board to operate a volunteer E&T program.

Moving forward with attracting more Community Based Partners to utilize the 50/50 reimbursement opportunity from FNS, and redirecting the State’s 100% E&T grant funds, we have made the following amendments to our contracts. The following partnerships will be renewed to start on July 1, 2016 with an estimated end date of December 30, 2016, with the exception of Valley View Schools. Goodwill is scheduled to begin its contract August 1, 2016, and Arkansas is currently assessing other potential partners.

On July 1, 2016 DHS will have 11 contracts serving 12 counties. August 1, 2016, Goodwill initiates their contract in eight additional counties; Benton, Washington, Baxter, Pulaski, Saline, Jefferson, Greene,and Craighead.

Each local provider will have the capacity to offer a core of E&T Program components: Independent Job Search, Job Search Training, Education, Work Experience, or On the Job Training. Additionally, coordinators will assist clients who secure employment with job retention services.

Each local contractor will report the following to the Division of County Operations (DCO) on a monthly basis:

1. number of referrals received,

2. number of assessments completed, and number of no-shows

3. employment plans developed,

4. number of job placements and the average hourly entry wage for the participants,

5. number of participants placed in each component,

6. number of participants who complete each component

7. number of contacts made

8. number of participants that declined participation

9. name of participant, month participated, and each component assigned to participant

DCO performs monthly evaluations that track the effect of participation in the E&T Program on SNAP participation, and an annual report is compiled to determine the effectiveness of the E&T Program.

Any SNAP participant who is classified as an ABAWD (as defined in the glossary) and who lives in a county where an E&T Program is operational is automatically selected in ANSWER by specific coding, downloaded to a report and emailed to an E&T contractor at least monthly by a DCO case worker. The worker also identifies non-ABAWD work registrants and offers the services of the E&T Program, if they request and are approved to participate, a DCO-205 is completed and they take this referral form to a participating contractor. A monthly report of DCO-205 referrals is compiled and emailed to a contractor in a participating E&T county.

The contractor is responsible for:

1. contacting each referred individual by letter and/or telephone and scheduling the assessment interview if they request to participate in the program.

2. All SNAP recipients who agree to participate in the program will be assessed by the contractors within 30 days of receipt of the referral for possible placement in an E&T program component. However, participation in the program is voluntary.

3. The assessment identifies:

a. work related strengths or weaknesses

b. barriers to employment

c. job readiness

d. any support services needed to get and maintain employment, such as transportation

e. functional educational level

f. learning and other disabilities

g. job skills (work history)

h. aptitude

4. Developing an employment plan customized to the needs of each assessment to assist the participant in setting goals and participating in components that lead to employment and self sufficiency.

5. Monitoring and tracking participants as defined in the contract, and for at least 90 days after employed.

The participation requirements for all work and non-work components will be up to 120 hours per month. Specific requirements vary among components. Once an E&T Program participant has begun a component, the E&T Program funds needed to complete the component will be provided to the contractors as long as the E&T Program participant is fully complying with component requirements. DCO started the year with 12 individual contracts in 13 counties however, the contract with Valley View School ends June 30, 2016, leaving 11 contractors in 12 counties on July 1, 2016. Starting August 1, 2016, a new community based partner, Goodwill Industries, will start serving E&T participants in 8 additional counties, resulting in a total of 12 contractors covering 20 counties.

Outcome Data

Beginning August 1, 2016, it is projected Goodwill will serve 3,353 at-risk ABAWDs, and a total of 9,578 ABAWDs in the eight additional counties.

For the period 10/01/15 - 09/30/16, the amended projection is as follows:

The above estimates are based on actual reported data for 3 quarters of FFY 2015 with Q4 Projections based on the DCO SNAP E&T Components report submitted by the contractors, amended to add projected ABAWDs served by Goodwill in eight additional counties.

The Contractor Annual Reports indicate the following ABAWDs & NABAWDs that completed all components in FFY 2014:

The contractors provided the following statistics for October 2014 - June 2015

The contractors report that 167 individuals were placed in jobs during the period October 2014 - June 2015.