FY 2023 and FY 2024 SNAP E&T National Partnership Grants

Summary

On Sept. 15, 2023, USDA awarded approximately $5 million in SNAP E&T National Partnership Grants to four organizations. The purpose of these grants is to support new organizational capacity in national non-profit organizations with broad member or affiliate networks that provide direct workforce development services to low-income and low-skilled individuals, including SNAP participants. FNS reserved the right to use the FY 2023 solicitation and competition to award additional grants in the subsequent fiscal year. In August 2024, USDA awarded approximately $3.4 million in three additional grants to help national non-profit organizations expand program capacity to serve SNAP participants.

Purpose

The purpose of this grant competition is to support grants to non-profit national organizations with broad member or affiliate networks that provide direct workforce development services to low-income and low-skilled individuals, including SNAP participants. Grant funds will be used to support new organizational capacity to provide to network members or affiliates training and other technical assistance so that network members or affiliates may become third-party SNAP E&T providers.

Key Objectives

1. Expand the number of skill-based, employer-driven SNAP E&T providers that move SNAP participants toward economic self-sufficiency.
2. Create new capacity to provide technical assistance though activities such as, but not limited to, organizing conferences and meetings; developing and supporting peer-to-peer learning networks; creating technical assistance materials such as toolkits, checklists, and curriculum; promoting best practices by hosting webinars and site visits; and providing professional development opportunities for member or affiliate staff.
3. Provide technical assistance on SNAP E&T to member or affiliate organizations so they can become SNAP E&T third-party providers. Technical assistance should cover increasingly more complex issues over the life of the grant and/or be provided to additional member or affiliate organizations.
4. Increase expertise on SNAP E&T among member and affiliate organizations so that they can become third-party SNAP E&T providers.

Grant Awardees

FY 2023 Awardees

• Goodwill Industries International will continue to build upon the existing FY 2020 National Partnership grant to recruit and train more than 30 local Goodwill to become new SNAP E&T providers. Goodwill Industries International will partner with Goodwill of Northern Georgia to provide three 12-month cohorts of network members to increase awareness and expertise of SNAP E&T policies, procedures, and best practices. The grantee will also create a Third-Party Provider Implementation Guidebook to provide successful models of SNAP E&T to network members.
• National Community Action Partnership (NCAP) will recruit and train 9-15 agencies to become new SNAP E&T providers through a series of cohort learning models for four to five months that offer expert training and technical assistance from NCAP, Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI), American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), and current SNAP E&T providers serving as peer experts. The grantee will also offer learning communities with current SNAP E&T providers that meet quarterly, host 12 webinars, and create 10 new tools and resources. Additionally, the grantee will engage with SNAP E&T customers to provide context expertise in the cohort and learning community sessions.
• National Governor’s Association (NGA) will partner with Third Sector Capital to provide intensive technical assistance in the form of Policy Academies. The Policy Academies will be 8-10 months long and consist of state teams made of experts from the human services, workforce development, and financial management divisions in the state. The grantee will also host listening sessions with state and local leaders. The grantee expects to bring on 24 to 60 new SNAP E&T providers through the technical assistance provided in partnership with Seattle Jobs Initiative.
• Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) will create two cohorts of affiliate employment social enterprises for 6-month periods which will offer a combination of specialized training, targeted technical assistance, and peer mentorship. In addition, the grantee will develop a community of practice, create a three session E&T webinar series, and provide 1:1 technical assistance to provide in-depth and customized technical assistance. The grantee will also host a virtual and regional convening, trainings, and leadership development for affiliates to increase their knowledge about SNAP E&T and best practices.

FY 2024 Awardees

• American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) will partner with Seattle Jobs Initiative, along with subject matter experts from Local Initiative Support Cooperation (LISC), National Community Action Partnership (NCAP), and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) to provide targeted technical assistance to organizations that have the potential to serve as SNAP E&T Intermediaries to SNAP state agencies. The project will implement a three-phase approach including a resource scan as part of a knowledge gap analysis, continuing the development of a Learning Management System, and developing and deploying a train the trainer model for SNAP state agency associates looking to bring on Intermediaries.
• International Rescue Committee (IRC) will partner with the Seattle Jobs Initiative to build the capacity of immigrant, refugee, and English Language Learner (ELL) serving organizations to become SNAP E&T providers. IRC plans to advance employment equity through SNAP E&T by providing technical assistance to their network of over 300 immigrant-serving organizations. Main project activities will include outreach and education by means of webinars, technical assistance training, individual coaching, and creation of resources and tools to build implementation capacity. Further, IRC plans to develop and host intensive SNAP E&T bootcamps to 60 organizations and give intensive technical assistance to 45 organizations. IRC estimates that 18 organizations will become SNAP E&T providers as a result of this grant’s interventions.
• National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) will utilize their member network of over 780 community-based organizations in 46 states and Puerto Rico to increase the number of SNAP E&T providers, particularly in underserved communities. NCRC will leverage current technical assistance infrastructure of their National Training Academy to establish a peer learning community and develop tools, resources, and training materials for organizations interested in becoming SNAP E&T providers. Further, NCRC will conduct a landscape analysis of its membership network to gauge current involvement and areas of interest, and host Regional in-person trainings on SNAP E&T best practices and policy for new providers.