Located in:
- Employment and Training Programs Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Programs Authorized Under Section 6(d)(4) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(d)(4)))
- a. General Requirements [27]
The State agency must prepare and submit an Employment and Training (E&T) Plan to its appropriate Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Regional Office. The E&T Plan must be available for public inspection at the State agency headquarters. A State agency may include its plan for the SNAP E&T program in a Combined Plan under WIOA but will require FNS approval prior to implementation and must continue to make a copy of the plan available for public inspection. If a State includes SNAP E&T in a Combined Plan under WIOA, the State agency will detail the following for each year covered by the Combined Plan:
[27] 7 CFR § 273.7(c)(6)
- a. General Requirements [27]
a. 2. A description of the case management services and models, how participants will be referred to case management, how the participant’s case will be managed, who will provide case management services, and how the service providers will coordinate with E&T providers, the State agency, and other community resources, as appropriate. The State plan should also discuss how the State agency will ensure E&T participants are provided with targeted case management services through an efficient administrative process;
Current Narrative:
- Comprehensive intake assessments
- Individualized Service Plans
- Progress monitoring
- Coordination with service providers
- Reassessment
Local workforce development boards are required to provide case management for all participants who are referred to the workforce system by the Department of Children and Families. After participants complete the orientation and assessment, they are assigned a case manager who continues the case management process during the initial appointment. Subsequent to the initial appointment, case managers meet with the E&T participants monthly to review their program progress and success in program components, such as completing an education component, work experience and/or obtaining gainful employment. The case manager may also provide support services, information on employer events (i.e., job fairs hiring fairs, information sessions), and/or referrals to community resources based on the individual needs of the participant. All case management activities are recorded and tracked in the OSST system, FloridaCommerce’s case management system.
Throughout the case management process, case managers housed in the career centers of the local workforce development boards communicate with the Department of Children and Families staff regarding participation hours, household changes, compliance/non-compliance, etc. via the interface between the FLORIDA Department of Children and Families and OSST (FloridaCommerce). Most local areas also communicate directly with DCF staff that are considered their local liaisons to resolve or troubleshoot any issues that arise. Communication between the local workforce development board case managers and Department of Children and Families staff may be verbal (telephonic/in-person meetings) or electronic (email or FLORIDA messages).
SNAP eligibility staff
While serving mandatory participants, E&T case managers may be informed of changes in the household from the participant or through the interface between the FLORIDA (DCF) and OSST (FloridaCommerce) systems. The participant must report any changes to DCF within 10 days and/or the E&T case manager may provide the updated information to DCF staff directly. Additionally, each LWDB is assigned with a DCF staff serving as point of contact. The DCF point of contact email address and phone number is provided by local E & T case managers to handle any participant case management need.
State E&T Staff
State E&T staff track referrals through the FLORIDA system. The FLORIDA system includes participant information such as the case number, the personal identification number, social security number, name, ethnicity, date of birth, gender, residence/mailing address, benefit history, food assistance amounts, approval periods, and other information.
The daily eligibility transactions are communicated to FloridaCommerce via a secure file data transfer between FLORIDA and OSST. Once FloridaCommerce receives the referral notice through the case to do in OSST, an Employment and Training Referral (ETR) notification is sent to the participant. The ETR informs the participants of the mandatory requirements for participation and includes the online initial engagement steps. The online initial engagement steps include completing an orientation, assessment and scheduling an initial engagement appointment.
Once the participant completes the required steps, the participant will meet with a LWDB case manager. The LWDB case manager will further explain the program requirements, review the assessment, discuss goals, assignment to program components, support services, and/or participant reimbursements as needed. The participant will be assigned to program components based on the information obtained through the initial engagement, including assessments, education/employment goals, etc.
Community resources and partnerships may also be provided to participants. If participants have challenges completng the online requirements the participant can request to come into the office to complete the manual processes.
Other E&T Providers
There are no E&T providers other than local workforce development boards.
Community Resources
All local workforce development boards maintain a community resource listing of local partnerships within their local network to provide support to participants as needed. Community resources and partnerships with LWDBs are made throughout their communities to better serve participants. The case manager may refer participants to community resources and/or partners through their locally established referral procedures to receive additional support outside of what is available through the career center.
DCF ensures E&T participants receive targeted case management services by reviewing local workforce development board case files during monitoring. DCF’s programmatic monitoring reviews include a review of the case managers oversight of assessment, orientation, grievance/compliance, administering of components, employment verification and participant reimbursements. During the monitoring review, the case managers are informed of any identified issues (observation or finding) and are given up to 10 days to resolve.
Any unresolved issue (observation or finding) is documented and addressed between DCF’s and FloridaCommerce’s agency leadership to determine a resolution or apply a corrective action.
While FloridaCommerce is responsible for the administration of the E&T services and OSST serves as the case management system, DCF ensures participants receive targeted case management through monitoring of the services provided by FloridaCommerce. E&T case managers use OSST as an accountability tool and use to track participation, reimbursements, notification letters, documents, case notes, activities and other case management services. Case management appointments are scheduled in a manner that allows appropriate follow-up time to discuss progress, appropriate and available components. Participants can provide mandatory documentation via electronic communication. Having electronic communication capabilities allows participants to provide documentation timely to their case manager and maintain compliance with program requirements thereby avoiding adverse impacts to their benefits.