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. 3. The categories and types of individuals the State agency intends to exempt from E&T participation, the estimated percentage of work registrants the State agency plans to exempt, and the frequency with which the State agency plans to reevaluate the validity of its exemptions;
Current Narrative:
Arkansas will begin FY 20 with 6 contractors serving all 75 counties and 1 contractor that initiated Phase Ill of SNAP Works for a total of 6 contractors. Arkansas is requesting to participate as a Pledge State in FY 2020 and will use additional 100% Pledge funds as outlined in the plan.
Arkansas will pledge to offer a qualifying activity to every ABA SNAP recipient residing in the State of Arkansas.
Adult Education Section of Arkansas Division of Workforce Services will serve 74 counties. The Adult Education Section of Arkansas Division of Workforce Services will continue to provide virtual case management services to the first 13 rural counties that we have identified as desert counties with low numbers of ABAWDs where a provider could not operate under the 50/50 funding model because of the locality and small caseload numbers.
DHS will continue to use 100% funds in the amount of $175,000 to continue operating our virtual E&T Project in the 13 counties which are Woodruff, Prairie, Cleburne, Perry, Dallas, Ouachita, Calhoun, Little River, Howard, Pike, Montgomery, Scott, and Logan. In addition to these counties virtual case management will also include Grant, Madison, Poinsett, Searcy, and Sharp counties (for a total of 18 counties). The state plans to expand so that virtual case management is an additional option where physical case management is available in order to give ABAWDS more options to participate. The DHS County Offices in those counties will provide an office and computer equipment with a camera so that the client can participate in one on one virtual case management with the provider.
The provider will schedule an appointment with the client just like they would a face to face appointment. The client will report to the DHS County Office and County Office Staff will assist the client in joining the online session. During the session the client and provider will have face to face contact so they can complete the initial assessment and employment plan exactly as an in-person appointment would take place. The provider will then email documents to the County Office Staff so it can be printed and given to the client to sign. Once any needed documentation is signed the County Office Staff will scan and email it back to the provider. The client will be referred to resources within their community for services just like they would in an in person setting. The E&T Provider will then verify activities with the local providers. The virtual model will allow current providers to expand their services in nearby counties. The cost per client estimated by AESADWS is $888. AESADWS will only be reimbursed for clients actually participating in the program. Since these counties are considered desert counties with very low populations the virtual case management plan is the only way that we can extend services to these areas. This will expand AESADWS in 74 out of Arkansas' 75 counties.
. The first two positions are grants analyst positions at a cost of $52,425 each and a Program Advisor position at a cost of $72,822. These amounts include salary and fringe benefits. These positions will not be DHS employees and will be DWS staff that will be 100% SNAP E&T positions.
The agency will use $337,662 in pledge state funds to upgrade the eligibility system ANSWER so that it flags critical months 2 and 3 for ABAWDS. Although a month 1, 2 and 3 letter is generated the goal is to create an alert such as an additional letter to the client and a task in SNAP Works and ANSWER that would notify both the client and provider that the client is approaching the end of their 3 months out of 36.
The Workforce Investment Board, a 100% federally funded E&T contractor, has changed their name to the Workforce Development Board of Eastern AR, and will now serve Phillips, Crittenden, Monroe and Arkansas Counties.
The AR Northeastern College has served Mississippi county as a Third-Party program partner since October I, 2017.
Canopy NWA will serve Benton and Washington Counties in Northwest Arkansas as a Third-Party program partner that began July 1, 2018. Canopy’s purpose is to improve the opportunity for immigrant communities in the Northwest Arkansas area to obtain necessary job readiness skills.
Currently, 100% of Canopy's refugee clients Qualify for E&T services. As an E&T provider, Canopy will be able to serve its clients directly through its in-house employment program. Canopy expects to resettle 75 individuals in FY 2020, 45 of whom it expects to be eligible working-age adults. However, in addition to serving the refugees it resettles, Canopy intends to seek out and enroll qualifying individuals from other immigrant communities who do not currently access E&T services due to language and Cultural barriers.
Shorter College has served primarily Pulaski County as a Third-Party program partner since July 1, 2018. Shorter College plans to continue a SNAP E&T program on its campus located in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Arkansas will assist E&T participants who are not financially able to pre-pay the tuition for short term classes/certifications that FAFSA does not cover. This has been an issue that our providers have reported numerous times in the past. It will also benefit our partnership with the Adult Education Section of the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services since they will be located on community colleges across the state. There continues to be a large demand for careers with short term certifications such as Certified Nursing Assistants and Welders.