By Aaron Sanderford
OMAHA — U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., hosted two roundtables Monday highlighting legislation he is proposing that would offer other states a chance to mimic a Nebraska program offering skilled job training to people on food stamps.
Ricketts pitched the value of Nebraska’s “SNAP Next Step” program at a gathering at Heartland Workforce Solutions, a job-training center in north-central Omaha. About 20 people attended. More than a dozen people attended a similar meeting in Grand Island.
Nebraska officials say 906 people have enrolled in Next Step since it started in 2016. Participants in the voluntary program, open to any Nebraskans receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, can receive education, job training and more.
Planning for the benefit cliff
The program also promotes working with participants to calculate how and when their public benefits would decrease as they earn more from a new job. The goal, Ricketts said, is helping people plan financially for the change and ensuring it’s worthwhile.
“We don’t want anybody to be a net loser on this,” Ricketts said. “We want people to be able to improve their income.”
Helping people overcome the fear of losing benefits before they are financially ready is vital, said Shannon Grotrian, interim deputy director of the Division of Children and Family Services for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
“One of the fears people have is what happens if I take that job,” she said. “This program and its casework help people be confident.”
How it works
Julie Henningsen, the interim administrator of HHS food programs, said her caseworkers make sure people can find available money for community college coursework, union training, resume writing and transportation.
Many of those participants end up seeking associate degrees, nursing coursework, truck driver training or referrals to public-private partnerships such as Ignite Nebraska, an effort to recruit, train and retain workers in information technology.
Shannon Melton, a representative of Ignite, credited “SNAP Next Step” and programs like it for helping unemployed and underemployed Nebraskans work with Ignite and others to get jobs at local companies like Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Nebraska.
In Nebraska, Ricketts said, 60% of “SNAP Next Step” participants earn enough now that they no longer need SNAP benefits. The other 40% earn enough that they require less aid to feed themselves and their families, he said.
State statistics requested from DHHS by the Nebraska Examiner show program participants earned an average of $265.49 a month when they started the program and $2,421.75 a month after securing their first job with the program’s help.
Participants, on average, also saw their average monthly need for SNAP benefits drop. The average participant received $508 when starting the program and $190 after getting a new job. DHHS shares the program with the Nebraska Department of Labor.
Proposal coming Tuesday
Ricketts, who said he will introduce the SNAP proposal Tuesday as his first standalone legislative proposal, said he plans to work with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate to incorporate it into the next Farm Bill, including Sen. Deb Fischer, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
He said he has confidence it can be adopted because all the proposal will do is give states the flexibility to use some of the 5% in administrative money they receive from the federal government for the SNAP program for this purpose.
Ricketts, a former two-term governor facing voters next year for the first time since being appointed senator by his successor, said he is trying to bring a little of what he learned about improving customer service for taxpayers to Washington, D.C.
He acknowledged the challenges facing a rookie senator in the GOP Senate minority from a low-population state but said the program is worth other states considering.
“It’s completely voluntary,” he saide. “Because it’s not costing any new money … I don’t really see what the objection could be.”