LINCOLN — U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at promoting a Nebraska program that has helped hundreds of food assistance recipients get new and better jobs and reduce their need for public benefits.
The legislation is the first piece of his “Proven Nebraska Solutions Ready for America” package. The legislation’s goal is to encourage other states to follow Nebraska’s lead.
In this case, the SNAP Next Step program helps people getting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits identify employment barriers and figure out ways to overcome them. SNAP benefits are commonly known as food stamps.
“We owe it to struggling Americans to provide them opportunities for a hand up and not just a handout,” Ricketts said about his bill. “Better jobs and higher pay mean these workers can spend more time with family and be less dependent on government assistance. It’s a win for workers, their families, employers, and taxpayers.”
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SNAP Next Step began during Ricketts’ administration as governor of Nebraska. It started as a pilot program in Grand Island in 2016 and is now active in 41 counties.
In the program, workers from both Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor work with participants to identify employment barriers and figure out ways to overcome them.
The program has helped many participants get jobs that pay better, have better benefits or have more family-friendly work hours. Those who finished the program increased their monthly income by more than $2,100. About 60% were able to get off of food assistance and the other 40% reduced their need for SNAP benefits.
One of the success stories was April Claussen, a single mother who got help through SNAP Next Step to go back to community college and get out of a low-wage, low-skill convenience store job and into a better-paying job with benefits.
Speaking in 2021, she said the program helped her pay for books, buy gas to get to job interviews and craft an effective resume. More importantly, she said, the state employees who worked with her provided the coaching and encouragement she needed to persevere.
“They set my path, they pushed me,” she said. “The accountability and support they gave me was phenomenal.”
Other past participants included a single mother who went from making $900 a month with no benefits as a waitress to making $2,700 a month with health insurance, a pension and other benefits. Another person went from earning $492 a month through part-time self-employment to $2,528 a month, which meant being able to get off food stamps.
But the program is limited in scope. To date, 906 people have started the program and 423 have completed it, according to HHS officials. Some who started are still enrolled or working with the program to find employment. People can enroll or leave the program at any time.
The number of participants is a small portion of the 156,755 people currently getting SNAP benefits in Nebraska. The total includes children, the elderly and people with disabilities who are unable to work.
SNAP Next Step is Nebraska’s version of a federally required SNAP Employment and Training program. Federal law requires all states to have such programs but gives them considerable flexibility in designing the programs, including the populations and locations to target and the components to incorporate.
Ricketts’ bill would make clear in law that states can use SNAP administrative funds to recruit people for employment and training programs and to carry out the programs. The legislation also requires states to post a benefits calculator online so people can see how increased wages would affect their benefits and whether they would be better off earning more.
Ricketts’ spokesman, Ian Swanson, said the senator will be working to build “bipartisan and bicameral support” to get his proposal included in the upcoming farm bill.
Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of July 2023
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Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon serves in a women’s singles quarterfinal match of the badminton 2023 U.S. Open at the Mid-America Center on Friday, July 14, 2023.
The US’s Presley Smith hits the shuttlecock behind Allison Lee in a mixed doubles quarterfinal match at the badminton 2023 U.S. Open at the Mid-America Center on Friday, July 14, 2023.
Lin Chun-yi, representing Chinese Taipei, takes to the air to hit a shuttlecock during a men’s singles quarterfinal match at the badminton 2023 U.S. Open at the Mid-America Center on Friday, July 14, 2023.
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Sunlight creeps in as a worker welds the dome to the building after the Raising of the Dome All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church near 193rd & Harney streets on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Bishop Constantine of Sassima, left, and Fr. Alexander Lukashonok watch the Raising of the Dome for All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church near 193rd & Harney streets on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Workers weld the dome to the building after the Raising of the Dome All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church near 193rd & Harney streets on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
From left, Jerry Carlson, Judi gaiashkibos, Zahn McClarnon, Loretta Jordan and Tammy Rohde visit an old dairy barn on the site of the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial School, which operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Names and other messages from the children can still be seen written on and carved into the wooden beams of the barn. Photographed in Genoa, Neb., on Monday.
Loretta Jordan, of Omaha, gets a closer look as she and her son, Zahn McClarnon and Judi gaiashkibos, the executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, visit an old dairy barn on the site of the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial School, which operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Names and other messages from the children can still be seen written on and carved into the wooden beams of the barn. Photographed in Genoa, Neb., on Monday.
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Trey Alexander (23) shoots a free throw during the Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball practice at the Championship Center in Omaha on Tuesday.
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A photograph of Mildred Lowe with her mother taken in 1924. Mildred died at 12 years old while attending the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial School, which operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her niece, Carolyn Fiscus, a member of the Winnebago tribe, came out to observe as archeologists with History Nebraska excavate a potential burial site for children who died while at the school. Photographed near the site of the school, bordering the Loup River Power Canal in Genoa, Neb., on Tuesday.
Jarell Grant, Zahn McClarnon and Mark Parker monitor and observe as Brittany Walter, a forensic anthropologist and consultant with History Nebraska, excavates a potential burial site for children who died while at the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial School in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Photographed near the site of the school, bordering the Loup River Power Canal in Genoa, Neb., on Tuesday.
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A worker steams the wrinkles out of American flags before a campaign rally by Former President Donald Trump at the MidAmerica Center on Friday, July 07, 2023.
Former President Donald Trump throws “Famers for Trump” hats to the crowd during a campaign rally at the MidAmerica Center on Friday, July 07, 2023.
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Sylvia Black poses for a portrait in her garden shed at her Papillion home on Thursday, July 06, 2023.
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