A small town, where the shuttered logging industry looms large. 

A city with increasingly untenable costs of living. 

A rural and remote, tightknit, agricultural town.  

The places James, Shalease, and Lynne  call home are unique, yet they’re reminiscent of cities and towns scattered across the country. The ways they connected to training varied, too – following up with a referral from a Vocational Rehabilitation office, taking a suggestion from a Head Start teacher, listening to a recommendation upon becoming a foster parent. James, Shalease and Lynne lead complex, full lives. They have extensive work histories, are parents of grown children and little ones alike, care deeply about their families and are engaged in their communities. For all three, accessing public benefits and postsecondary education programs at their local community colleges improved their wellbeing and created a new trajectory for their lives.  

Their stories illustrate why access to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) food benefits and high-quality SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) programs are essential for building a thriving and equitable workforce and economy. They also speak to what so many in Congress, the media, and the public get wrong.  

Shalease explained, “I was working as a caregiver, but I wasn’t making enough to feed my family. I accessed SNAP because it was a necessity. You already feel shame that you can’t feed your family. Then, people are looking at you like you don’t want to work or that you’re lazy. It’s not the case. There are plenty of families out there that are working every day, and still can’t afford to feed their kids.”  Lynne agrees, saying, “I had no choice but to ask for help. I was ashamed. But, I needed to feed my children.”

James, whose children are grown and out of the house, felt the same stigma and frustration. “I lost my job due to an accident. I was trying to get jobs, but because of my physical disability, because of my age, I was getting turned down. In the small community that I was in, jobs are even more limited. People were like, ‘if you got an education we could hire you’.”

Lack of desire to work was not the issue. James, Shalease, and Lynne all emphasized that they needed better jobs and wages—and access to the education, training, and credentials that would get them there. Fortunately, all three connected with high-quality SNAP Employment and Training programs available at their local community colleges that offered GED programs, Career Technical Education, support services, and navigators to support their success. As Lynne explained, without her GED or a college credential, all it took was “one shoe to drop and then you have no job and no education, and have to return to benefits. And, the [sense of] shame. You get caught in the cycle. Education stops the cycle and has changed everything.”   

With the 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization before Congress this year, there is much at stake for our nation’s workers, businesses, and economy. At the very heart of the debate is whether provisions in the Farm Bill expand people’s access to essential food benefits and high-quality programs that create opportunity and economic stability for people like James, Lynne and Shalease, and the millions of other adults and families in parallel circumstances. On the flip side, Congress is also considering expanding work requirements and enacting draconian measures that would increase hunger and limit the resources available to states to offer high-quality programs and pathways into education, training, and good jobs that move people off of benefits. In this debate, much hangs in the balance for millions of our nation’s children, seniors, Veterans, students, and workers — our neighbors, family members, customers, caregivers, and friends. Given the Farm Bill’s reach, with levers that cut across human service, higher education, workforce, anti-poverty, and job quality issues, it is critical that skills advocates stay informed and ready to take action to ensure we invest in opportunity. 

The Farm Bill’s History 

First passed in 1933, the Farm Bill  legislates an array of agricultural and food programs. This federal policy supports farms and farmers, funds commodities and conservation programs, and shapes agricultural trade. It also contains provisions that govern our nation’s nutrition and anti-hunger programs, including WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infant and Children) and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Established in 1964, with the Food Stamp Act, SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program. SNAP benefits lead to greater food security for millions of families across the country. SNAP reached over 40 million people in 2021, with one in eight people accessing benefits nationally and up to one in four in some states. Not only does SNAP provide key food benefits for households with low incomes, it also benefits the economy. For every $1 invested in the SNAP program, $1.50 to $2.00 is put back into the economy, benefitting not only the families accessing SNAP, but small businesses, local and state economies. The Farm Bill supports and touches every community in our country – rural and urban regions as well as Tribal nations. It benefits farmers, conservationists, students, infants and children, Veterans, Seniors, people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, and working people at all stages in their careers.  

The SNAP program has long included provisions to connect people with employment services, starting with the Food and Agricultural Act of 1977 and the Food Stamp Act of 1985 that required all states to operate SNAP Employment and Training programs. SNAP Employment and Training programs are intended to connect recipients of SNAP with opportunities to gain skills and access services that create career pathways and lead to sustainable employment that can end the need for SNAP benefit access. Since most recipients of SNAP who can work already do, SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) programs can be a critical strategy to connect people to high-quality education and training and support services that result in quality credentials and better jobs with family-sustaining wages. With the majority of jobs requiring some post-secondary education, SNAP E&T’s focus on boosting skills and educational attainment helps to close opportunity gaps and ensure people have the chance to thrive in today’s economy. Increased educational attainment also improves wages, reduces unemployment, and improves health outcomes — all of which are critical to reducing and ending the need for SNAP and other public benefit access.  

The Opportunity Before Us: Strengthening the Farm Bill’s Impact  

With a longstanding history of reducing hunger and providing connections to employment and training services, the 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization offers an opportunity to strengthen what works for people and families, local employers, and our economy. There is a chance to support common sense strategies that benefit our communities collectively, and scale state solutions that improve the impact of federal and state investments.  

What Works  

• Seamless access to SNAP food benefits reduces hunger and supports collective wellbeing.

  • People need access to food benefits while they work, pursue education and training, and/or complete programs that create career pathways and offer economic stability. States need modernized and streamlined processes that reduce bureaucracy and administrative costs, so they can focus on serving people.  

• High-quality SNAP Employment and Training programs build skills and create career pathways that offer people economic stability and mobility.

  • People need access to high-quality programs that offer education and training, credentials that lead to good jobs, and services that improve their lives and create economic stability to transition off of SNAP benefits. States need legislation that strengthens partnerships and system capacity, increases data infrastructures to assess and scale what works, and the flexibility to leverage SNAP E&T to fill the programmatic and service gaps that are not covered by other federal and state workforce, human service, adult and higher education funding streams. 

What Does Not Work 

Work requirements don’t work. Broadly speaking, work requirements add additional stipulations and time limits on top of existing SNAP eligibility criteria.

• Work requirements don’t help people or business.

  • Over and over, the research has shown that work requirements do not work to improve the wellbeing of families, or improve employment and earnings outcomes. Work requirements aren’t effective at connecting people to family-supporting jobs or lifting them out of poverty.  Instead, they can be counterproductive and keep people stuck in low-wage jobs that prolongs reliance on benefits and makes it more difficult for workers to build the skills and earn the credentials that can help them compete in today’s economy.
  • There’s also no evidence that work requirements help meet the workforce needs of employers, especially as the digital and technical skills required evolve over time. 

• Work requirements create unnecessary red tape.

   

  • Work requirements increase government bureaucracy and red tape, and are costly to administer. They force states to focus on compliance, diverting limited funding towards tracking down paperwork and monitoring hours of participation, instead of investing in an array of services that build skills, increase credential completion, and lead to more stable careers that also meet the needs of employers who are looking for workers with industry-specific skills and credentials.
  • For people to receive SNAP food benefits—sometimes as little as $23 a month—they would have to provide detailed documentation, verification, and tracking of their hours on the job or engaged in approved activities each week, or prove they are experiencing homelessness or other barriers to employment. A reduction in work hours, a misplaced log, or not getting the right signatures on a form could result in someone losing SNAP food benefits for three years.
  • Rather than increasing employment outcomes and economic stability, work requirements increase hunger by pushing people off of benefits and taking away access to food, disproportionately targeting and harming Black and Latinx workers.

• They further a harmful narrative about working people.

   

  • The arguments insupport of work requirements fail to acknowledge that most people who are accessing SNAP benefits and can work, already do. Instead, the pro-work requirement rhetoric often draws on on racist and sexist tropes that have been used to tear away at the nation’s social safety net for over 40 years. Despite being patently untrue, these stereotypes continue to dominate public and political discourse and inaccurately blame people for the faults of systems. Underpinning these work requirements is the false premise that poverty, economic instability, and food insecurity are the results of individual choices and because people don’t want to and are not working. These pernicious narratives deny the root cause and ignore the fact that structural barriers—racism, sexism, rural disinvestment, and policies that have restricted access to education, capital, and good jobs—are to blame. Not people, and not families.

Strengthening What Works: 2023 Farm Bill Recommendations 

To strengthen what works to reduce hunger and connect more people to high-quality education and training, support services, and opportunities to build the skills and earn the credentials that lead to good jobs with sustainable wages that end benefit access, Congress should: 

1)  Modernize SNAP eligibility requirements and processes to make it easier for people to access SNAP benefits and more efficient for states to run the programs

Simplify Student Eligibility: Students with low incomes, who meet SNAP eligibility criteria, are still subjected to additional requirements that leaves too many students without critical food benefits. Many students can’t access essential benefits as they pursue postsecondary credentials that will result in increased employment, wages, and economic stability. To end this counterproductive policy quagmire, Congress should support and encourage the completion of postsecondary credentials and: 

• Allow enrollment in public community and technical college programs; 
• A $0 EFC—Expected Family Contribution as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or; 
• Eligibility for federal or state work study programs to meet SNAP student eligibility requirements. 

Reduce Administrative Burdens and Modernize Processes: The processes for accessing SNAP and SNAP E&T services are administratively burdensome for states and create obstacles for people. To improve the program, Congress should strengthen and clarify states’ ability to: 

• Modernize and streamline application and notification processes, protecting broad-based categorical eligibility and state waivers that improve SNAP benefit access. 
• Foster coordination across means-tested public benefit, financial aid, and public workforce programs by encouraging the alignment of eligibility criteria across programs and increasing requirements for interagency collaboration and issuance of state guidance.  
• Allow states to determine which workers are best suited to assess participant needs and make referrals into SNAP E&T programs, to ensure efficiency and a human-centered approach. 

Encourage Employment and Stabilization: Benefit cliffs and food insecurity make it difficult for people seeking stable employment and economic stability. To reduce obstacles, Congress should: 

• Eliminate state options to restrict access to SNAP benefits for returning citizens with drug-felony convictions.  
• Modernize SNAP eligibility guidelines, increasing income deductions and resource limits to reflect the costs facing today’s families, and disregarding income earned while completing Employment and Training programs to offer transitional SNAP benefits that improve employment outcomes and job retention. 

2) Support states to expand high-quality SNAP E&T programs that create career pathways through education and training programs that build skills, increase credential attainment, integrate work-based learning, and connect people to quality jobs with family-sustaining wages that offer economic mobility 

Focus on Impact, Not Compliance: Mandatory programs, work requirements, and time limits are administratively burdensome for state agencies and cumbersome for people. They are costly to administer and funnel limited resources towards compliance and tracking hours of engagement instead of high-quality programming. To focus on impact, Congress should: 

• Eliminate time limits and work requirements, moving SNAP E&T to a voluntary program to empower states to focus on increasing engagement in an array of high-quality education and training, case management, and supportive services that improve employment opportunities, wage outcomes, and economic stability.  

• Make permanent state waiver options and expand mechanisms for innovation through demonstration projects that will additionally modernize the program to center people and boost impact.  

Improve Outcomes: Too often, SNAP E&T programs have been underfunded and have defaulted to workfare or job search services that do not increase economic stability and keep people trapped in low wage work. To improve outcomes, Congress should: 

• Strengthen the Farm Bill’s employment and training program definitions, emphasizing the goal of creating career pathways and requiring states to offer and prioritize high-quality education and training programs that lead to postsecondary credentials of value and quality jobs, including community college, work-based learning, and apprenticeship programs.  
• Aid this transition by increasing 100% funding earmarked for the development and administration of third-party partnerships, and developing a reimbursable SNAP 50/50 establishment fund to prioritize support for community college intermediaries and programs at rural, Tribal, Historically Black, smaller colleges, and trusted community-based organizations.  
• Authorize and fund technical assistance necessary to scale and replicate what works. 

Increase Program Engagement and Completion: Participants need access to more than just high-quality education and training. People need resources to cover the costs of transportation, tools, books, childcare, industry-recognized credentials, and other expenses required to complete training and secure good jobs. Effective case management and career coaching services also improve outcomes. To increase program engagement and completion, Congress should: 

• Increase the 100% funding available to third-party providers to cover case management and supportive services costs.  
• Clarify and strengthen states’ ability to offer robust participant reimbursements that are reasonable and necessary for program engagement and completion, while recognizing inflation, rising costs, and the expanded digital technology and resource needs.  
• Disregard income and extend job retention services to 180 days, to further improve employment outcomes. Ending this benefit cliff will ensure people have the resources and support they need to complete their programs, obtain and maintain sustainable employment to become economically secure and end benefit access. 

Build Partnerships and System Capacity: Frequently, workforce programs are siloed and confusing for people to navigate. Congress should protect SNAP E&T’s flexibility, efficacy, and ability to respond to those most in need of employment and training services by empowering states to create human-centered programs that fill workforce development service gaps.  To achieve this, Congress can: 

• Refine the state planning process to allow states and third-party providers to tailor SNAP E&T programs and services to meet the needs of people, communities, and employers, while bolstering requirements that programs focus on improving education, employment, and earning outcomes. 
• Require the alignment and coordination amongst SNAP E&T, postsecondary institutions, community-based organizations, employers, and workforce partners through state WIOA, TANF, and community and technical college planning efforts, while maintaining states’ flexibility and oversight of this process.  

Improve Data Systems and Infrastructures: Obstacles with data sharing across human service, workforce, higher educaiton, and community-based providers can make it challenging to assess the longitudinal impact of SNAP E&T and how the program benefits people, communities, and states. To improve the SNAP E&T data ecosystem, Congress should: 

• Authorize and fund SNAP E&T technical assistance, research, and data grants that can improve a state’s data infrastructure, data systems, and ability to increase data sharing and analysis of efficacy and equity.  
• Support and encourage states to disaggregate data by populations, provider, and activity to evaluate longitudinal outcomes and impact of SNAP access and SNAP E&T engagement, including program quality, credential completion, educational attainment, career pathways, wage gains, and public cost benefit analyses. 

Investment in Opportunity 

As with all policy recommendations, it’s important to remember that policies are ultimately about people. As James, Shalease, and Lynne illustrate, people accessing SNAP benefits are already working and seeking better opportunities. People want work that can provide for themselves and their family, and access to programs that increase their economic stability. They should not have to waste their time filling out more paperwork or logs detailing every hour of their work week (as work requirements mandate) in order to have food on the table. People want access to high-quality education and training so they can secure quality jobs and earn enough to cover the rising costs of living. They need safe and affordable childcare, and reliable transportation to get to work. People accessing SNAP don’t need policymakers to create programs that add arcane requirements that get them no further than when they started, and in some cases, leave them worse off. People want policymakers to find solutions.  

Until getting connected to the SNAP E&T program – the education and training offered at their community college, support services to help with the costs of transportation, books, and tuition, and the coaching that propelled their success – James, Lynne, and Shalease each spoke of the experience of feeling trapped in a “cycle” or “loop of failure” where it felt impossible to get ahead. It should not be happenstance that the state you live in or the SNAP E&T programs offered generates opportunity and economic stability. In the same way that millions of students access the Pell grant, or that veterans access the GI Bill, or that laid off workers tap into Trade Act funding and unemployment benefits, SNAP and SNAP E&T are benefits people should be able to access seamlessly and without shame. As Shalease says, people are “just trying to get a foot up, to further themselves” so they can take care of their family and give back to their communities.  

As the Farm Bill takes shape, advocates can remind policymakers that our public policies and investments must serve people and dismantle systemic obstacles to opportunity, not construct barriers to economic stability and family wellbeing. Let’s strengthen and invest in what works to ensure people have access to the supports they need, opportunities to build skills and earn credentials, and pathways into good jobs that offer economic security. Let’s ensure the Farm Bill works for families, farmers, workers, students, employers, and communities across our nation.  

The post Why the Farm Bill Matters to Skills Advocates appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

• Oregon’s Pathways to Opportunity Coalition celebrated the passage of Oregon HB 2835. Known as the Benefits Navigator Bill, HB 2835 allocates $5 million in state funding so that every community college and public university will have a Benefits Navigator position to help students access SNAP food benefits, STEP (SNAP Employment & Training program), housing assistance, and other basic needs resources. Coalition leaders from Oregon’s community colleges, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, Oregon Food Bank, and the Oregon Student Association also centered student and worker voices in the policy development and design. They ensured this would continue through implementation by including requirements in the bill for students to be involved in the program design.

Students have been integral in advocating for the bill: testifying, meeting with legislators, and sharing their insights on the All In: Student Pathways Forward Podcast.  Dray Aguirre, a Central Oregon Community College student shared, “I am grateful to have provided testimony in support of HB 2835. I know from my own experience that providing students with access to a full-time benefits navigator that would help direct students to services and programs, will greatly improve our success in school, and provide us with peace of mind so that we can achieve our goals of graduating.”

• The Illinois team successfully advocated with two state agencies and their Governor’s office to launch two barrier reduction funds. First, they worked with the Illinois Department of Human Services to establish a Barrier Reduction Fund Pilot Program, which dedicated $2 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding. The funds are administered through the IL Association of Community Action Agencies (IACAA) and cover emergency needs of job seekers seeking to meet an employment goal. The pilot began in Fiscal year 2021 and has been approved to continue in fiscal year 2022. Additionally, the team advocated with the Governor’s office and state legislator to allocate American Rescue Plan Act funds to a new barrier reduction fund administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development. This Barrier Reduction Fund is attached to newly revived state-funded job training grant program called the Job Training and Economic Development Grant program (JTED), which was allocated $50 million. The Barrier Reduction Fund will be accessible as an additional line item to JTED grants, or to any job training program grant recipient. The funds can be used to cover the emergency needs of program participants.

Longer term, they have taken the initial steps toward building a legislative campaign to establish a publicly funded State Barrier Reduction Fund. They also drafted and conducted a supportive services survey of community- based workforce service providers where they will be summarizing the results into a report that can be shared with funders, policymakers, and practitioners with recommendations for how to improve supportive services and barrier reduction policy and resources to better support marginalized job seekers.

• The Louisiana team successfully advocated to transition the Department of Children and Family Services’ SNAP E&T programming from a model that was primarily mandatory and limited to 5 of the state’s 64 parishes, to a model that is entirely voluntary and without geographic limitations. This change eliminated a significant source of SNAP sanctions that cut mandatory E&T participants off from food assistance and from the possibility of receiving additional E&T-funded supportive services. They executed a data sharing agreement to identify students eligible for supportive services through SNAP E&T to better connect those students with important resources to help them meet their basic needs while pursuing a degree or credential. The Louisiana team also conducted a focus group with allied health students from Baton Rouge community college with the goal of building the public case for the importance of robust supportive services for participants in career training programs. They plan to publish a report highlighting findings from that focus group.
• The Ohio team focused their efforts on Ohio’s significant digital divide and engaged with Advocates for Ohio’s Future in support of their work on a broadband expansion bill for the state. They achieved a major victory when the House and Senate committee added $250 million to expand broadband access to their state budget.  Additionally, the Ohio team will be advocating for a flexible supportive services fund and will be targeting new and existing sources for its development over the next biennium.
• The Mississippi team supported legislation and developed a policy agenda with specific, actionable recommendations to share with legislators and agency officials. These recommendations include
  1. Establishing an Emergency Supportive Services Fund that could be available to community-based organizations and workforce training providers,
  2. Advancing House Bill 17, the MS Child Care for Working Families Study Committee, that would potentially create systems alignment around childcare and would task a committee with identifying cross-sector/agency revenue that can couple supportive services and training. House Bill 17 will likely be reintroduced during the 2022 session where they will continue to advocate and support their advancement.
  3. Amending the MS Department of Human Services policy to minimize sanctions from critical human services for not meeting arbitrary work requirements and to remove policies that obstruct access to child care assistance as a work support. The team’s recommendation to increase access to child care assistance by removing an obstructive policy was supported through MS House Bill 65. The bill will likely be reintroduced during the 2022 session where they will continue to advocate and support its advancement

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Earlier this year, Skills State Policy and Advocacy Network (SkillSPAN) and Business Leaders United (BLU) networks shared their key policy priorities which include expanding access to skills training opportunities; ensuring workers have access to wraparound support services; and addressing the digital divide.  

States play an essential role in supporting people most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including workers, small business owners, and community colleges. The disparate health and economic outcomes for communities of color across these groups, has illuminated the deep structural barriers that can make achieving economic mobility and sustained health difficult or impossible. As investment decisions are made, federal, state and local leaders have the opportunity to rebuild an economy where everyone can be empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from an inclusive recovery.  

This blog is the first in a series that the National Skills Coalition is producing that will dive deeper into policies that states are using to create an inclusive and equitable economic recovery for all workers.  

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as “food stamps”) is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is one of the nation’s most important safety net programs supporting health and well-being and providing nutritional benefits to low-income families. In 2021, more than 42 million individuals participated in SNAP and about 92 percent of SNAP benefits go to households with incomes at or below the poverty line. Communities of color are at a higher risk of food insecurity and hunger largely because of systemic racism – that is institutional policies and practices that produce disparate results by race. For example, Black communities had the fewest supermarkets and the longest distance to supermarkets compared to White communities. In addition, significant racial disparities in food insecurity which existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to persist. In fact, 21 percent of Black individuals may experience food insecurity in 2021, compared to 11 percent of White individuals. Also, over 80 percent of households with an adult who is neither over 65 nor experiencing a disability has at least one household member working while receiving SNAP benefits.   

The Value of SNAP E&T

A large share of people receiving SNAP are potentially eligible for SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) services. SNAP E&T is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This program was created in 1985 to help people receiving SNAP simultaneously gain access to training and supportive services to enter into the workforce or advance in their careers. Skills are a critical component of economic mobility where many jobs require reskilling and/or upskilling in order to advance in the workforce.  

Every state must operate a SNAP E&T program, but states have flexibility to design their SNAP E&T programs — for example, what services to offer, which geographic regions to serve, whether the program is voluntary or mandatory, and how the state sanctions participants for noncompliance. People receiving SNAP may be subject to work requirements, if they are between the ages of 18-59 and able to work. They may also be subject to additional work requirements if they are an able bodied adult with dependents. Participation in SNAP E&T is one way that a person receiving SNAP can meet the general work requirement. SNAP E&T supports a range of employment and training activities for SNAP recipients such as job search, job search training, job retention, work experience or workfare, vocational education, and much more. SNAP E&T can play a vital role in a state’s workforce development system by helping people receiving SNAP move into stable employment with opportunity for advancement, and ultimately achieve economic mobility that allows them to transition off of SNAP.  

SNAP E&T and Third-Party Partnerships

SNAP E&T agencies can partner with third party providers — community colleges, community-based organizations, and others who use non-federal funds— to provide holistic education, training, and support services to SNAP recipients. These types of partnerships allow SNAP E&T agencies to utilize existing training programs and community supports that have a strong record of preparing individuals with low-incomes for high-quality jobs.  

The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) is supporting agencies by developing and increasing organizational capacity to provide quality, skill based, employer driven employment and training to people receiving SNAP as third-party providers. APHSA, in partnership with the Association of Community College Trustees and the National Community Action Partnership, is providing intensive training and technical assistance to two cohorts comprised of community colleges and community action agencies to increase the capacity of third-party partners. The project will leverage SNAP E&T subject matter experts to provide technical assistance across systems to increase understanding, improve coordination with state and local agencies, and scale E&T partnerships.  

SkillSPAN State Leading the Way

Some states are supporting workers’ long-term career pathways by leveraging the expertise and resources of partner organizations to create and expand skill-building opportunities for participants. For example, Oregon’s Department of Human Services has focused on growing SNAP E&T services to expand access to skills training and supportive services available within the state’s workforce development system. The SNAP Training and Employment program (STEP) Community College Consortia in Oregon plays a key role, by ensuring access to adult education and skills training at community colleges across the state. Portland Community College serves as the intermediary, leading this consortia that includes all 17 community colleges. Oregon’s Community College STEP Consortia uses a skills-based approach to support SNAP recipients access education and training programs, advance in their career pathways, and enter careers that offer economic mobility. Oregon achieves this by utilizing a Career Pathway framework that offers individuals short-term, stackable credentials that prepare them for high-quality jobs and allows them to build towards other credentials (i.e., associate degree, bachelor’s degree, etc.). This approach supports individuals’ progression along an education and career pathway, while also ensuring that the individual has access to supportive services such as tuition assistance, digital inclusion, housing, and childcare.  

Oregon also connects low-income students to federal, state, and local resources that can help them complete their education and training and move into high-quality good jobs that pay family sustaining wages. Oregon’s consortia brings together community colleges, state agencies, community-based organizations, and others to support this effort in helping individuals gain access to essential training and support services. This type of partnership among different agencies provides Oregon the opportunity to work towards addressing the inequitable distribution of resources within the state and increasing economic mobility for marginalized communities, advancing racial equity, rural opportunity, and economic mobility.  

In addition, Oregon recently passed HB 2835, which creates funding at community colleges and public universities for a Benefits Navigator position to help students access SNAP food benefits, SNAP E&T, housing assistance, and other basic needs. The passage of this legislation will better support individuals in accessing and completing skills training and offering the necessary supportive services to help them prepare for the workforce.  

Even though we cannot train our way out of an economic crisis, SNAP E&T is a vehicle that can better align the goals and services of providers with one another and with the state to offer participants a seamless continuum of services.  

Looking Ahead

The National Skills Coalition will continue to advance meaningful policy discussion in states to better serve small businesses, workers, community colleges, and communities of color. Stay tuned! As we will be diving deeper into other SkillSPAN and BLU networks key policy priorities in forthcoming blogs. 

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Today, Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Todd Young (R-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) reintroduced the Gateway to Careers Act to address these challenges. The bill was originally introduced by a bipartisan coalition in the Senate in 2019. Gateway to Careers supports students experiencing barriers to postsecondary access and completion, as well as those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. It does so by authorizing a new grant program in the Higher Education Act entitled the “Career Pathways Grant Program” for eligible career pathway partnerships.

What partnerships are eligible for grant funding under the Gateway to Careers Act?

Eligible career pathways partnerships can consist of:

• An educational institution. This could include a two-year public institution of higher education, an area career and technical education school that provides postsecondary level instruction or a consortium of these entities;
• One or more workforce development partners. This could include a local board, an industry association, and/or a community-based organization;
• A Secondary or Adult Education Partner. Some examples include local education agencies, an eligible provider as defined by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), or a career and technical education agency as defined by The Perkins Act.

What can eligible partnerships use Gateway to Careers Act grant funding for?

Career pathway partnerships would be able to use this grant funding for:

• Creating or expanding dual-enrollment opportunities for secondary students or disconnected youth;
• Implementing evidence-based strategies that help adult and other nontraditional students access skills and recognized postsecondary credentials;
• Providing direct support services to students. This could include childcare, transportation, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, assistance in obtaining health insurance, and assistance in obtaining federal nutrition and/or housing benefits;
• Allocating emergency grants to help students who are facing financial hardships;
• Offering career pathways navigation and case management services;
• Other activities identified by eligible institutions as necessary to support the development of implementation of career

The Gateway to Careers Act is an important step in an inclusive economic recovery from COVID-19. It’s essential that Congress and the administration pass this bill and invest in workers who have lost jobs because of the pandemic, or need upskilling to stay in their current jobs.

The post The Gateway to Careers Act has been reintroduced in the Senate – here’s what students and working adults can expect appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Learn more about Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: https://nationalskillscoalition.org/covid19

The post Listen to Skilled America Podcast Episode 9: Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

• Implementing or expanding sector partnerships
• Establishing new or expanding existing career pathways within target industries
• Providing training opportunities to move workers in target industries from middle- to high-skill jobs
• Providing support services to individuals in training; building or expanding data systems
• Creating or leveraging strategies to sustain programs following the life of the grant.

The agency anticipates that it will award between 15-30 grants under this solicitation, with awards ranging from $500,000 to $10 million.

Eligible entities must be led by one of four applicant types:

1) Businesses or business-related non-profit organizations, such as industry or trade associations, acting as intermediaries for the target industry;

2) education and training providers, which may include community colleges, community-based organizations, and for-profit institutions;

3) entities involved in administering the public workforce system under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), including state workforce agencies, and state and local workforce development boards; and

4) state, regional, or local economic development agencies.

Regardless of which type of entity serves as the lead, all grants must support partnerships that include representatives from business, education and training providers, and workforce development entities. Optional partners may include (among others) labor- management partnerships, foundations and philanthropic organizations, faith-based organizations, and agencies administering relevant federal funding or programs.

Projects must be focused on training opportunities within the IT, advanced manufacturing, and transportation sectors, and may be operated at the local, state, or national level. Programs must incorporate career pathways as part of their overall design: while training may be provided for entry-level occupations, they must lead to employment in middle- and high-skilled occupations within the target industry. Applicants are also strongly encouraged to consider the use of work-based learning strategies such as apprenticeship, on-the-job training, paid internships, or incumbent worker training. Up to 10 percent of grant funds may be used for support services for participants, including transportation, child care, housing, and needs-related payments. All participants in training under these grants must be at least 17 years old and not currently enrolled in secondary education.

While the grants do not require cost sharing or matching, applicants must demonstrate that they will be able to leverage funds outside the grant equal to at least 25 percent of total amount requested. Leveraged resources can come from a variety of sources, and can include other federal funds – such as Pell Grants, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program education and training (SNAP E&T) funding, and federal work-study funds – if leveraged to support the project being supported through the grant.

Applications must be received by November 12, 2020; the full solicitation and supporting materials may be found here.

National Skills Coalition applauds DOL’s continued support for industry and sector partnerships, which have long been established as a best practice in helping businesses address skills shortages and helping workers advance within key industries. We urge Congress to build on these investments through further dedicated investments in these critical partnerships, including through expanded funding for transportation sector partnerships as provided in the bipartisan BUILDS Act, and funding for partnerships between community colleges, businesses, and other stakeholders as provided in the bipartisan ACCESS Act.

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Participants in the pilot project come from one of several programs overseen by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). They include CalFresh, the state’s SNAP Employment and Training program; CalWorks, its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; and its Refugee Resettlement Program.

The new California policy reflects a step toward NSC’s Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery policy agenda item #6, Digital access and learning for all working people at home and on the job. In particular, NSC has called for eliminating barriers by making high-quality, equitable, and inclusive digital learning available to all workers.

National Skills Coalition spoke with Jennifer Hernandez of CDSS and Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami of Cell-Ed to learn more about the initiative.

Why take this approach now?

“We wanted to provide a mechanism to support low-income Californians who want to use this pandemic time to build their skills for future employment,” says Jennifer Hernandez of CDSS. The state understands that families are facing numerous economic and social stressors, she adds, and they don’t see this effort as a panacea. Still, it’s an important piece of the puzzle, especially as many in-person education and training services are limited or even unavailable due to public health restrictions.

The state’s contract with the Cell-Ed mobile learning platform also achieves two other goals: It frees up county welfare office staff from some of the onerous participation tracking that they would otherwise need to handle for public assistance participants, and it provides county officials with an easy, built-in tool for sharing updates about office hours or other program logistics with their clients.

How does the mobile learning platform work?

Cell-Ed is a voluntary program that enables adults to acquire essential skills via distance learning on a mobile device. Courses are pre-recorded and developed by content experts with expertise in adult education and mobile learning. Participants can access mini-lessons through text messages (if they have a low-tech feature phone), telephone audio, or a more robust application (if they have a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer).

Participants can also access support from bilingual coaches, who are available at any time via live chat through the application or through text messaging. Coaches can assist participants step-by-step through course content and are available for any questions.

Available courses include:

• English on the Go (offered from Levels 1 through 6)
  • Spanish-to-English bridging
  • Basic Literacy:
    • Math for Daily Life
    • Reading & Writing
    • Social Studies
    • Work Ready Skills
    • U.S. Citizenship & Civics Courses
    • Covid-19 Best Practices and Preventative Measures (offered in English, Spanish, and French, with more languages to come)

What support is the state providing to local officials?

“This is an optional program from the state level: We are encouraging county welfare offices to take advantage of it, but it’s not mandatory,” says Hernandez. The CDSS partnership with Cell-Ed is providing full access for free to all counties through June 2021. Counties can enroll an unlimited number of eligible participants. To date, 37 of the state’s 58 counties have signed on, representing a broad diversity of geographic regions.

CDSS has taken several steps to support wide adoption of the pilot:

• Issuing a July 1 policy guidance document to local officials. This All-County Information Notice, ACIN I-55-20, was titled Distance Learning Via Cell-Ed For California Work Opportunity And Responsibility To Kids (CalWORKs), Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), CalFresh Employment and Training (E&T), and Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP) Participants
• Providing professional development to county officials, staff, and community-based providers on effective use of the Cell-Ed platform
• Identifying a modest amount of additional state funding that can be used to purchase loaner devices for participants who lack a smartphone or computer

Why choose Cell-Ed as a partner?

The organization had a proven track record of working with adult learners who mirrored CDSS’ participants, says Hernandez. That includes people who are low-income, have often worked in the service industry or other entry-level jobs, and may have limited foundational skills (such as reading, math, spoken English, or digital literacy).

In addition, says Cell Ed’s Rothenberg-Aalami, her company offers a nimble pedagogy that can be adapted for smart phones, tablet computers, and even lower-tech flip phones. This allows participants to engage in education even if they cannot afford a full-featured computer or if they are sharing a smartphone or computer with multiple other family members – a common situation in families with K-12 students who are learning at home during the pandemic.

Another consideration was the ability to provide connections from Cell-Ed online learning to other adult education and workforce development opportunities. “We want to make sure that as SNAP and TANF recipients build their skills, they can easily transition to high school equivalency classes or earn industry-recognized credentials,” says Hernandez. “To do that, we have to be really intentional about how Cell-Ed connects to the existing infrastructure of providers and services funded by WIOA and California Adult Education Program dollars.”

(For more on Cell-Ed’s model, see NSC’s recent Amplifying Impact brief on innovative programs that combine English language and digital skill building.)

What should policymakers and advocates keep in mind when considering similar efforts?

• “Make sure you have a clear, specific understanding of how your agency and participants will benefit,” says Hernandez. She points out that Cell-Ed’s platform provides a customized data dashboard and other tools that can help public officials understand who is logging in to the tool, how it is being used, and whether participants are meeting federal or state “work participation rate” metrics or similar mandates.

• In addition to the learning modules themselves, Hernandez adds, the platform’s survey and communications tools have simplified county offices’ task of getting timely updates out to participants. She recommends that policymakers think expansively about the types of tools they need and whether a particular platform can provide them.

• Making participation voluntary for both local officials and individual program participants is vital. “We wanted this to be seen as an appealing opportunity, not another ‘must do,’” says Hernandez. “Deferring to local officials allowed them to determine what they had the bandwidth to take on. And making the program optional for participants ensured that we weren’t layering on another expectation during a pandemic when families are facing numerous other demands.”

• “Don’t limit your thinking to the mobile tool itself,” adds Rothenberg-Aalami. “CDSS was smart in that they specifically contracted with Cell-Ed to include live coaches to provide technical assistance, encouragement, and professional development. This allowed public officials and staff to get the practical support they needed to understand the tool themselves, and encourage their participants to try it out.” Without that support, she adds, it would be hard to scale up adoption.

• Perhaps most importantly: “If policymakers and service providers can’t envision the end user, they end up designing for themselves,” explains Rothenberg-Aalami. In other words, if decisionmakers are accustomed to having affordable high-speed internet access at home and work, as well as an up-to-date digital device with an unlimited data plan, they may end up selecting distance learning options that are inaccessible to the people they serve.* It’s crucial to have partners at the table who have on-the-ground expertise, whether as service providers or participants themselves.

*(In contrast, another recent example identified by NSC is a mobile-learning pilot in a different location that failed to specify that its learning platform should be accessible to people with limited data plans. The result was a graphics-heavy application that hogged so much data that many potential users weren’t able to take advantage of it.)

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The deeply inequitable consequences of this economic crisis for Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other communities of color, for immigrants, and for people with a high school diploma or less lay bare our nation’s history. A history of structural racism that kills people of color and robs them of their livelihood. A history of public policies that undermine the aspirations of working people who want to train for a better job. A history of economic recovery strategies that pick winners and losers rather than creating real pathways to prosperity for everyone.

But today, as the NSC Board, we come to you in a spirit of hope, responsibility, and determination with the release of Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability. This call to action offers a vision for the role that skills policy can play in an inclusive recovery. A recovery in which workers and businesses most impacted by this recession, as well as workers previously held back by structural barriers of discrimination or opportunity, are empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from economic expansion and restructuring.

Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery will guide our coalition’s work over the next two years. And over the coming months, we will share actionable legislative agendas and in-depth policy solutions that achieve the goals we put before you today. Solutions that state and federal policymakers can run with. Solutions based on the experience and expertise of our member businesses, labor-management partnerships, community organizations, community colleges, and education and workforce experts. Solutions that will require your advocacy to make them real.

America cannot train its way out of an economic crisis, nor can skills policy shoulder alone the weight of a more inclusive economy. Inclusive skills policy on its own will not dismantle structural racism, bring economic security to every worker, or ignite sustainable growth for every small business. A web of policies and practices contributes to these goals. But skills policy has an essential role to play and must be part of our nation’s path forward.

So it’s with a sense of hope, responsibility, and determination that we ask you to walk with us on this path and shape this journey.

In solidarity,

Andy Van Kleunen, CEO and Board member, along with the rest of the NSC Board

The post Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

As states reopen and jobs in sectors with high concentrations of women workers are returning, working mothers will see increased pressure while trying to balance work, childcare, and school schedules that are contingent on when and if the coronavirus spreads. And the situation may be dire for permanently displaced women – especially low-income workers – who need to prioritize housing and food security needs of their families above reentering the job market.

An inclusive economic recovery must prioritize investments in education and training tied to labor market demand – and the necessary support services – to connect displaced women to the upskilling needed to fully compete in the economy’s restructuring and expansion.

Just the facts, ma’am

One story that emerged during the Great Recession was the disproportional economic impact on men, as job losses battered the manufacturing and construction sectors, which traditionally employ male-dominated occupations. The current recession is trending in the opposite direction, a phenomena not seen in economic downturns in the United States. When many state stay-at-home orders temporarily closed businesses in April 2020, women (age 20 and over) saw a peak unemployment rate at 15.5 percent, compared to 13.0 percent for men, on a seasonally adjusted basis. While unemployment rates for both men and women have trended downwards in recent months, the impact of this recession – and subsequent recovery – for women will be closely studied for years to come.

Here are some workforce trends experienced by women during this pandemic and recession:

• Unemployment rates for Black women and Latino women continue to trend higher than white women. As of July, rates for Black and Latino women (age 20 and over) were 14.1 and 14.4 percent, respectively, compared to a 10.3 percent unemployment rate for white women. Research shows that Latino women are heavily represented in sectors that were most impacted by pandemic shutdowns.

• A similar trend exists for foreign born women, whose monthly unemployment rates are trending four percentage points higher than native born women – 14.7 percent versus 10.7 percent in July. Of note here is the disparity between foreign born men and women: the unemployment rate for foreign born men (10.7 percent) is just one percentage point higher than the rate for native born men (9.5 percent).

• While some jobs held by women have retuned – most notably in the leisure and hospitality sector – working hours and income, by extension, have not. One in four women worked part-time in July but wanted full-time work. Prior to the pandemic this rate was one in ten.

• Overall, women make up about 39 percent of frontline workers and are highly concentrated in health care practitioner and support occupations. Women also hold a large percentage of cashier positions in retail and grocery stores. It is especially important to note that workers of color hold a majority share of the health care support jobs, and nearly one in four health care support workers are single mothers.

• Women (41 percent) were more likely than men (31 percent) to have teleworked because of the pandemic in May, the first month this data point was available. By July, these percentages had fallen and narrowed: 29 percent for women and 24 percent for men. In general, workers with higher levels of education have a greater ability to telework during this pandemic.

• For parents, working from home also requires balancing childcare needs – nearly 40 percent of workers who teleworked because of the pandemic in May had children under 18. While the data do not allow us insight into who is providing extra childcare, women, on average, spend more hours per day caring for children. And recent analysis by the Census Bureau points to three in ten women aged 25 to 44 who were not working in mid-July due to COVID-19 related childcare issues.

• Short- and long-term dislocation of women from jobs will also impact their future career trajectories and earnings. One research study estimates that for women the average earnings loss during a recession amounts to 3.3 years of pre-displacement earnings.

We’re facing an unprecedented confluence of events that has resulted in a disproportionate impact on job loss among occupations that employ more women. This occupational segregation, particularly for women of color in lower earning positions, is an important racial equity lens to bring to skills investments. Some sectors where women are majority job holders have low potential for automation, while also lacking lack skill development and career advancement opportunities.

Take action

September is national Workforce Development Month, a recognition that the education, training, and career advancement of our workforce allows the United States to remain competitive in an international economy. This year, the need for skills investments is critical to helping those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and to jumpstart the halting recovery for women.

Skill policies that broaden the infrastructure talent pipeline by supporting workers’ success (BUILDS Act) and sector partnerships that center apprenticeship and other work-based learning strategies (PARTNERS Act) can help all workers, especially women, succeed in 21st century careers. And access to wrap-around services, including high-quality childcare, are essential for young mothers to fully participate in retraining opportunities.

Make your voice heard: investments in our public workforce system must uplift the voices of displaced women workers so they can be a full part of an inclusive economic recovery.

The post Workforce Update: A Balancing Act for America’s Working Women appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

There are approximately 4.5 million American parents who are between the ages of 18-24.  Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, many young parents faced significant challenges in balancing their jobs and childrearing responsibilities with efforts to build additional skills and advance in their careers.

As policymakers and workforce advocates adapt o a pandemic-affected world, ensuring that skill-building policies are intentionally inclusive of this population can help to ensure a level playing field for all of America’s workers, regardless of their age or parental status.

A holistic approach to workforce

While NSC’s recommended policies center on workforce development and education, research shows that it is vital for them to also include the ancillary supports — such as childcare, tuition, and transportation assistance — that are necessary for young parents to attain their education and career goals.

As policymakers take action to support young parents and other constituents who are scrambling to find their economic footing, three touchstones will be crucial to incorporate. In each case, advocates and policymakers should be mindful that the enactment of strong policies should be supported with appropriate amounts of funding, guidance, and technical assistance to enable high-quality implementation at the state and local level.

Policy touchstones to inform action

• Invest in accelerated pathways. Strategies such as Integrated Education and Training, Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), and guided pathways have demonstrated effectiveness in helping individuals with skill gaps, which include many young parents, to quickly prepare for in-demand jobs.

• Respond to evolving digital inclusion needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid existing discrepancies in home broadband internet access, digital device access, and digital literacy skills. People of color are disproportionately affected by these disparities, as are parents. Given that many young parents are people of color, it is important to ensure that new policies to support education and workforce development in a pandemic-affected world help to remedy rather than magnify equity gaps.

• Provide high-quality childcare. It’s so straightforward a solution that it may seem difficult to believe that most workforce programs don’t fund childcare for their participants. But many programs do not have the resources to provide such services, thus leaving young parents burdened with figuring out their own childcare arrangements.  Policymakers and skills advocates should create and expand investments in high-quality childcare programs for workforce development participants, including young parents.

Learn more about each of these touchstones in the full Young Parents and Workforce Development in a Post-Pandemic World report.

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This path forward, outlined in A 21st Century Reemployment Accord, includes four key pieces:

1. Expand access to skills training by making workers who lose their jobs eligible for a Dislocation Training Account, providing up to $15,000 in public funds to invest in training through an apprenticeship program, with a community organization or at a community or technical college. Studies suggest financial concerns are the largest barrier to workers succeeding in training. Reskilling for jobs of the twenty-first century will require short and longer-term training, frequently outside of traditional degree programs, yet today’s workers are often unable to access public funds to support training for quality non-degree credentials.
2. Launch a federal “Reemployment Distribution Fund,” providing access to income support, through robust unemployment insurance and wage-replacement subsidies, that mitigate the financial impact of job loss on workers, their families, and communities. An initial investment of $20 billion as well as sustainable funding, should empower states to draw down funds to cover the length of training and job search necessary for workers to access a job of the twenty-first century. A first step for Congress to accomplish these goals would be to expand Trade Adjustment Assistance to cover a far larger set of workers, such as those who lose their jobs permanently due to automation.
3. Create a network of “Twenty-First Century Industry Partnerships” among businesses, education providers, the public workforce system, and community organizations to ensure the significant public and private investments necessary to respond to worker dislocation caused by technological changes in the workplace align with employment opportunities in in-demand industries. Industry and sector partnerships are a best practice across the country but need to be expanded to more industries in more local areas to reach the scale necessary to respond to challenges associated with technological change in the workplace. This expansion will mean a dedicated federal investment.
4. Maximize eligibility for and access to other support services under existing federal programs for workers during the reemployment process. Barriers to accessing childcare, transportation, and other support services — such as eligibility that doesn’t permit workers to access subsidies while in training programs, underfunding that leads to long waiting lists, or the fact that our social safety net programs reach too few people — make it harder for workers to succeed in training programs necessary for reemployment. To maximize retention and success in a new job, these services should be available to workers during the transition period in a new job, as well. Any federal response to job loss caused by technological change needs to provide workers with access to comprehensive, robust support services that improve worker success and retention.

The new report is the second in several publications National Skills Coalition is releasing this summer detailing recommendations for an inclusive and equitable economic recovery from Covid-19. Read the full brief for more detail on how to modernize reemployment to serve workers and businesses.

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New guidance from the federal government can help skills advocates to improve digital access and equity for adult learners and workers. In particular, several federal agencies have clarified how existing policies can be used to remedy technology gaps faced by many US jobseekers and workers.

What are barriers to digital inclusion?

Key elements of digital inclusion, sometimes described as the three legs of the stool, are: 1) home broadband internet access; 2) access to up-to-date digital devices; and 3) digital literacy skills. Individuals face barriers when they lack one, two or all three of these elements due to their income levels, geographic location, and other structural factors such as racism. (This last issue is explored in more depth in NSC’s recent Applying a Racial Equity Lens to Digital Literacy fact sheet.)

In a Covid-affected world, skills advocates have documented ways in which each of these barriers is preventing people from gaining access to crucial services. For example, both teachers and students — especially those in rural areas — are struggling with lack of access to affordable broadband internet. Individuals are sometimes resorting to sitting in parking lots to use a library or school Wifi signal to teach or participate in classes.

When it comes to device access, numerous providers have shared stories about how jobseekers and adult learners are attempting to participate in classes despite having out-of-date technology, being forced to share a single tablet computer or smartphone with other family members, or having devices that do not include unlimited data plans.

Finally, the pandemic has also heightened the challenges for individuals who did not have strong digital literacy skills pre-Covid. National Skills Coalition analyzed the digital skill gaps of US workers in a recent report, The New Landscape of Digital Literacy.

(Further resources on digital inclusion issues are available through the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and the Digital US coalition, of which NSC is a member.)

What federal policies can support greater digital inclusion?

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program can be used to support certain digital inclusion efforts, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. In particular, 2013 federal guidance explains that “A State may use Federal TANF funds or State “maintenance of effort” (MOE) expenditures to purchase computers, provide training and cover the cost of Internet access for eligible, needy families.”

Notably, because states are allowed to set different eligibility criteria for various benefits or services under TANF, the guidance also notes that “The criteria for helping families purchase computers and/or access the Internet could be broader than the criteria used for cash assistance. For example, a State could make computers and Internet access available to all families with incomes below 150 percent of the poverty line.”

HHS issued updated TANF guidance pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. While this guidance is not specific to digital inclusion issues, it does once again affirm the broad flexibility and discretion that states have in determining how best to use their TANF funds.

Similarly, US Department of Agriculture has clarified that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) funds can also be used to support digital inclusion. Guidance issued in April 2020 explains that if the pandemic has caused SNAP E&T providers to move to online services, “States may use SNAP E&T funds —50 percent Federal reimbursement funds or direct Federal grant funds — to purchase laptops or other computer equipment that may be loaned to E&T participants.”

Importantly, the guidance also notes, “States must follow Federal cost principles regarding disposition of equipment.”

In addition, the  US Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration (ETA) has issued guidance for federal workforce grant recipients as part of a Spring 2020 Coronavirus FAQ. The guidance clarifies that “Grant funds can be used to purchase supplies or equipment to assist in providing program services and training in a virtual setting during this time. […] Laptops and tablets usually fall within the definition of supplies, which do not need grant officer approval.”

The guidance also links to relevant sections of federal regulations that define the terms “supplies” and “equipment.”

Finally, skills advocates can take advantage of opportunities under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to tackle the third leg of the digital inclusion stool – digital literacy. In particular, WIOA Title II (also known as the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act) lists digital literacy as an allowable activity.

More information about digital literacy in this context is available from the US Department of Education via a 2015 fact sheet from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE).

Using CARES Act funding to support digital inclusion

The federal CARES Act passed by Congress in March 2020 included $150 billion in funding for state, local, and tribal governments. Some local governments have announced plans to use these funds to support greater digital inclusion. For example, San Antonio’s City Council is considering a stimulus package comprised of CARES Act and local funds that would invest $27 million in digital inclusion efforts, primarily focused on home broadband internet access for low-income households.

National Skills Coalition is continuing to monitor developments in how federal policy can be used to support digital inclusion and equity. Stay tuned for further policy recommendations on how policymakers can support digital equity as part of an inclusive economic recovery.

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