Executive Summary: Strategies to Improve the Effectiveness of SNAP's Employment and Training Program

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps people with low incomes avoid hunger and afford food. It stimulates the economy, improves individuals' success at school and work, and promotes better health. At the federal level, SNAP is operated by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. SNAP's Employment and Training (E&T) program is designed to assist participants in gaining skills, training, or work experience that help them obtain regular employment. States operate these programs and have flexibility in the services they provide, who receives them, and the entities that deliver these services. However, SNAP E&T has onerous restrictions and entrenched biases that most hurt communities of color. Several policies are rooted in racism and classism. By perpetuating systems of oppression, SNAP E&T pushes critical nutrition aid out of reach. These obstacles keep the program from serving as a supportive pathway to opportunity. In the full report "Strategies to Improve the Effectiveness of SNAP's Employment and Training Program," the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) analyzes these challenges. This executive summary provides key findings from the report, along with federal recommendations, state recommendations, and suggestions as to how leaders can make SNAP E&T more effective by ending racist harms.