Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training - Program Overview

Workforce Development Boards and their contractors administer services that assist SNAP recipients who are not receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Services include the following:

• Directed Job Search
• Vocational Education/Training
• Nonvocational Education/Training
• Work Experience
• Workfare (ABAWDs only)
• Unsubsidized Employment (allowable only if the individual is enrolled in other SNAP E&T activities)

Support services for transportation, dependent care expenses, and other expenses that are reasonable, necessary, and directly related to participation in SNAP E&T activities are evaluated based on individual need. Payment for General Educational Development (GED) testing and certificates of high school equivalency also is available.

In addition to the services and support services mentioned above, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 allows states to use SNAP E&T funds to provide job retention services, support services, or both for up to 90 days to SNAP recipients who participated in SNAP E&T activities and subsequently entered full- or part-time employment.

SNAP recipients ages 16 to 59 who are not employed, or are employed fewer than 30 hours per week, are considered SNAP E&T General Population mandatory work registrants, and are required to participate in SNAP E&T. ABAWDs (i.e., SNAP recipients who are at least 18 but less than 50 years of age and are not employed or are employed less than 20 hours per week) are considered mandatory work registrants and are required to participate in SNAP E&T.

SNAP recipients who meet federally established exemption criteria are not required to participate in SNAP E&T, but may voluntarily participate as funding permits.

Both mandatory work registrants and exempt recipients must participate in assigned SNAP E&T activities for a minimum weekly average of at least 30 hours. ABAWDs assigned to workfare must participate based on their SNAP allotment divided by the number of ABAWDs in the SNAP household when there are multiple ABAWDs, divided by the federal minimum wage. Job search is not an allowable activity for ABAWDs unless performed in conjunction with workfare.

Program oversight is the responsibility of TWC’s Workforce Development Division. As of Federal Fiscal Year 2011, a total of 172 counties have been designated as full-service counties in which:

• Outreach is conducted for mandatory work registrants
• Mandatory work registrants are sanctioned (i.e., SNAP benefits are denied) for failure to cooperate with SNAP E&T requirements
• The SNAP General Population receives services based on available funding

The SNAP E&T program is governed by the following:

• SNAP Legislation
• Title 7, C.F.R., Part 273
• Texas Administrative Code, Title 40, Part 20, Chapter 813

The Texas Workforce Commission receives a 100 percent federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. Additional expenditures are funded at a 50/50 federal/state match rate.