7. Combination of Activities
Under section 1902(xx)(2)(E) of the Act, an applicable individual demonstrates community engagement if the individual engages in any combination of work, community service, participation in a work program, and enrollment in an educational program less than half-time. The combined hours for the activities must be a total of not less than 80 hours for such month.
As specified at new § 435.552(e)(1), a State would only need to combine an individual's educational program hours with hours spent performing other activities if the individual is enrolled in the educational program less than half-time. If the applicable individual were enrolled in an educational program at least half-time, then that individual would already have demonstrated community engagement as specified at § 435.552(a)(4). At new § 435.552(e)(2), we specify that the hours for work, community service, and participating in a work program must be determined separately and based on the time spent performing those activities in such month. As specified at new § 435.552(e)(3), States must calculate the hours for less than half-time enrollment in an educational program as described in § 435.552(d).
New § 435.552(e)(4) specifies that once the State determines an individual's hours for work, completing community service, participating in a work program, and less than half-time enrollment in an educational program in such month, the State must add these hours together to obtain the total hours for all activities. The combined time for all activities must be a total of not less than 80 hours for an applicable individual to meet the community engagement requirement as described at § 435.552(e). However, the State might not need to determine an applicable individual's total number of hours for all types of community engagement activity if the applicable individual demonstrates they met the 80-hour requirement through any combination of activities. For example, consider an applicable individual who is enrolled in community college for 4 credit hours, which converts to 51.96 hours of activity, works for pay for 30 hours, and participates in community service. Because the individual's education and work activity totals 81.96 hours for the month, in the interest of efficiency, we encourage a State to conclude that the individual has met their community engagement requirement for the month and not consider the individual's community service activity, as it is not necessary to meet the community engagement requirement.