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SUMMARY OF PROGRAM Provide the vision and mission of the State E&T program. In addition, describe how your State agency's E&T program meets the purpose of E&T which is to: Increase the ability of SNAP participants to obtain regular employment Meet State or local workforce needs Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office for Family Independence (OFI), administers Maine’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training program (SNAP E&T). Maine SNAP E&T contracts with community-based providers with expertise in employment and training to cover allowable SNAP E&T service components including Job Search Training, Education (basic and post-secondary), Work Experience, Pre-Apprenticeships, Apprenticeships, and Job Retention. Each contracted provider has unique programming that delivers case management in addition to one or more SNAP E&T components. Not all providers deliver all components of service. SNAP E&T providers distribute participant reimbursements on behalf of the State Agency to remove barriers that may impact successful completion of SNAP E&T. Maine SNAP E&T’s wide variety of options allows for a continuum of services ranging from short-term Job Search Training to reimbursing post-secondary degree programs that support regular employment and professional career development. Case management is a critical function that is federally required and integrated into all of these components at every agency contracting with the Maine OFI SNAP E&T program. Maine SNAP E&T formally partners with the Maine Department of Labor Competitive Scholarship Program (CSSP), and collaborates with the Department of Health and Human Services HOPE program, co-enrolling participants as appropriate. Providers select which components of SNAP E&T their agency will contract to deliver based on their expertise, so services vary by provider and by the geographic areas that provider agencies serve. All providers must deliver at minimum one SNAP E&T component and case management in addition to reimbursing participant reimbursements required to complete SNAP E&T programming. All SNAP E&T providers are contractually required to assure that services meet the standards of each component delivered as outlined in the federal SNAP E&T Toolkit at https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/employment-training-program-toolkit. While these providers do not directly deliver services in the educational component, they assist participants with enrollment and pay tuition on behalf of participants to educational institutions. Through its five contracts with providers located throughout the state and one Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Maine DOL Competitive Skills Scholarship Program (CSSP), Maine SNAP E&T delivers statewide services. Maine SNAP E&T staff review Maine DOL data and rely on expertise of contracted WIOA/SNAP E&T providers to assure that state and local workforce needs are considered in the development of and implementation of SNAP E&T programming. As an example, at the State level, a list of occupations that are high-wage and in demand in Maine is utilized as the list for determining post-secondary educational programs approvable for Maine SNAP E&T participants. This list is at: https://www.mainecareercenter.gov/docs/2021/cssp/CSSP2021HighWageInDemandlist.pdf. At the local level, one of Maine’s SNAP E&T providers is also a WIOA provider whose expertise includes knowledge of local workforce needs in close collaboration with local employers. This relationship benefits Maine SNAP E&T participants by increasing their workforce development and job opportunities. Maine SNAP E&T also works in collaboration with other workforce development initiatives, including current DHHS initiatives to increase availability of health workers (https://www.maine.gov/healthcaretrainingforme/), and most recently with a local chamber of commerce that understands and supports the needs of its local employers and administers it programming through a collective impact model. Is the State’s E&T program administered at the State or county level? State County Provide the web addresses (URLs) of State E&T policy resources used such as handbooks and State administrative code, if available. Enter a single URL per row. URL Resource Type Link to resource Maine E&T Rules 1/29/26, 8:19 AM State Plan ME FY26 - Original Submission https://dam-fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/microsite/snapet-mefy26stateplan//index.html 2/68