This Upjohn Institute issue brief notes strategies to ensure SNAP benefit retention. Data from seven states showed that almost half of SNAP participants exit from assistance within one year, and one half of these exiters remain eligible but are dropped from caseloads since they fail to meet administrative filing requirements. The issue brief illustrates how many states, including Michigan, have tried to reduce administrative burdens by allowing participants to track and manage their benefits online.

Piloted in Michigan and expanded to other communities nationally, Double Up Food Bucks is an innovative program for reducing food insecurity and has generated benefits for families relying on SNAP, farmers, and the communities in which they live. The program doubles the value of SNAP benefits spent on locally grown fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets and grocery stores; this enables families to purchase healthy produce in greater quantities and at the same time supports local farmers.

This working paper from the Upjohn Institute identifies how over half of registering households in multiple states leave SNAP within one year of entry, rather than complete administrative requirements to receive benefits. The paper’s author studied Michigan and combined administrative SNAP and Unemployment Insurance records; findings are relevant for case managers in states other than Michigan.

This issue brief from Mathematica Policy Research provides a review of the informal child care network in Detroit. Interviews were conducted with program staff and other key informants regarding parents’ use of informal child care. Site visits and interviews with parents and caregivers were also conducted to learn more about informal care networks. Reasons parents choose informal child care and the quality of the available informal child care are explored.

This issue brief from MDRC describes the Detroit Promise Path, a Detroit Regional Chamber initiative that allows Detroit high school graduates to attend college tuition-free. The Detroit Regional Chamber partnered with MDRC to add supportive services to improve the academic outcomes of students who earn free tuition. Those services include access to campus coaches, financial incentives to meet with those coaches, enhanced engagement to jobs and classes during the summer, and use of a monitoring information system that monitors program participation. Early findings from the first year showed that 95% of students responded to coaches’ outreach, 96% of students found the program valuable, and the program had a sizable impact on enrollment in the second semester.

The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund released the results of an evaluation of a three-year investment in free, one-on-one financial counseling to residents in five cities. This project was based on a model that originated in New York City, in which individuals in financial trouble receive personalized help from a professionally trained counselor through their local government. Bloomberg Philanthropies partnered with Denver, Lansing, Nashville, Philadelphia, and San Antonio to see how they could replicate this model. In each city, the local government implemented the model and contracted with a nonprofit partner to provide counseling services. Over 22,000 individuals received financial counseling, and they were able to achieve positive financial outcomes like opening bank accounts, reducing debt, improving credit, and establishing emergency savings. Each city also found sources of public funding to sustain the program beyond the Bloomberg Philanthropies grant.

The National Association of State Workforce Agencies released this report about State labor market information (LMI) shops. State LMI shops have varying roles and responsibilities in different State governments, and may be part of the State workforce agency or a separate agency, but all LMI shops can foster effective workforce development through the products they disseminate and the services they provide. The report uses Michigan, Utah, and Washington as examples to demonstrate the integral contributions of these States’ LMI shops to the workforce system.

The Office of Family Assistance will host a webinar on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) coordination. In this facilitated webinar, presenters will provide an overview of the structure of the LIHEAP block grant and the flexibility afforded to states in its administration and opportunities for coordination with TANF. Presenters from the states of Michigan and Pennsylvania will also discuss examples of different approaches to LIHEAP coordination with TANF and other supplemental funding streams, to maximize the reach of energy assistance to families in need.

This webinar has been rescheduled. An email alert will be sent when a new date is confirmed.

The December issue of the SNAP to Skills Newsletter focuses on Michigan’s SNAP Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) program. Its own program, called Food Assistance Employment & Training, or FAE&T, is administered jointly by its Department of Health and Human Services and the Workforce Development Agency. In the future, Michigan plans to bring on additional partners, deepen the collaboration between agencies, and develop a Partner Handbook.

Throughout the past three years, the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices has provided technical assistance to Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming to develop statewide plans to improve outcomes and reduce cost of care for high-need, high-cost Medicaid enrollees. This road map from NGA can be used by states across the country that are interested in housing as an element of improved health and a reduction of costly health services.