The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) was designed to help move individuals towards exiting SNAP and reaching economic self-sufficiency through gainful employment. Authored by the National Skills Coalition with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this user’s guide was designed to provide workforce development stakeholders with information on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T, formerly Food Stamp Employment & Training or FSET). Authors provide an overview as well as information for designing and implementing a SNAP E&T program.

This resource guide was authored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, its Child Welfare Information Gateway, the FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy—Strengthening Families. The guide was designed to help community-based service providers better work with parents and children to prevent child abuse and neglect, and authors provide information on protective factors, how to engage the community, why child abuse and neglect occurs, and tips on strength-based approaches for working with parents and caregivers.

The U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced awards of $201 million to 731 homeless programs across the United States, which provides emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent support for individuals and families. HUD also awarded $1.47 billion to renew funding to 7,100 existing local homeless programs. Between 2010 and 2011, homelessness declined 2.1 percent and 12 percent among Veterans.

<p>Authorized by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program from the Administration for Children and Families provides education and training to TANF recipients and other low-income individuals for occupations in the health care field. The <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/hpog/">HPOG Web site</a> serves as a repository of important grant-related information and a forum for grantee interaction. Among other features, the Web site enables you to: locate contact information for all HPOG grantees in the <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/hpog/findhpogprograms">Grantee Directory</a>; learn about what other HPOG programs are doing; and find helpful technical assistance toolkits, conference presentations, administrative forms, and other relevant documents in the <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/resource-library/search?area%5b2400%5d=2400">Resources Section</a>.</p>

The Urban Institute authored this issue brief on the multisite Housing Opportunity and Services Together (HOST) demonstration. The demonstration tests strategies using housing as a way to get vulnerable families services that they need to reach self-sufficiency, such as mental health services, access to literacy and education, and a connection to the labor force. Authors provide an overview of the challenges and successes of the program’s planning stages to help provide peers with information to create similar interventions.

This First Focus report from the Brookings Institution offers a summary of the economic recession’s impact on children in the United States. During an average month in 2011, an estimated 6.5 children had an unemployed parent, with more than 1 million living in California, which has an unemployment rate of 12 percent. Many children are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as a result of the recession, as children make up half of all SNAP beneficiaries. SNAP caseloads have increased by 70 percent over the last four years. Finally, child poverty has increased from 18 percent in 2007 to 22 percent in 2010.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, in partnership with the Urban Institute, released this research brief, which examines policies that are client-friendly and the implications that this has for the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). Authors provide research on the CCDF, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicaid/State Child Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). The recommendations for CCDF include simplifying the application and renewal processes and recognizing that administrative changes may affect subgroups in different ways.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing more than $863 million to grantees to help low-income households with their heating and other home energy costs under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps low-income households supplement their home energy needs, such as heating costs in winter months and installation of insulation to make their homes more energy efficient.

Many State TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) programs identify literacy services as a critical program component to provide participants. However, as most States experience budget shortfalls and are pressured to focus on job placement more often than remediation, literacy services are often underfunded. In general, those States that have been proactive in their approach to integrating adult literacy into their programs encourage personal responsibility and provide the needed foundation to engage in activities aimed at securing and maintaining employment. They have developed blended approaches that include, but are not limited to, remedial and secondary education programs, job-readiness training, employment/self-employment counseling, field training, and referral to services to improve life management skills. In these instances, the decisions were based on formal assessments and each State has amended the participant’s individual responsibility plan reflecting their training needs and including the necessary and available support services to ensure their success. The attached report provides an environmental scan of literacy resources, sample State programs and an overview of assessment tools.

The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) hosted a webinar on February 9, 2012 from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. The webinar was designed to help States improve enrollment and eligibility systems by providing an overview of State progress towards updating their systems. Speakers included: Alan Weil, Executive Director, National Academy for State Health Policy; Alice Weiss, Co-Director, Maximizing Enrollment; Judith Arnold, Director, Division of Coverage and Enrollment, New York Department of Health; Manu Tandon, Secretariat Chief Information Officer, Massachusetts Health and Human Services; and Tracy Turner, Applications and Operational Support Manager, Oklahoma Health Care Authority.