Resources to Initiate Successful Employment (RISE) is a three year, $22 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) pilot (December 1, 2015 through September 30, 2018), funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS). RISE services will be federally funded 100% for the pilot duration, with the requirement that all Communit
y Based Organizations (CBOs) and colleges work towards identifying a 50% non-federal match yearly to ensure sustainability. Although Washington’s Basic Food Employment and Training (BFET) program is effective, there is a gap in the success of participants who face multiple barriers. RISE proposes to fill the gap by offering enhanced services using random assignment to assign participants to either RISE services or to be part of a control group. RISE will enhance the current BFET program by adding a standardized approach to comprehensive case management (CCM), work-based learning (WBL), and Strategies for Success (SFS). CCM includes coaching, navigation and providing or referring participants to other services as needed. WBL can include unsubsidized and subsidized employment, pre-apprenticeships, work-study, internships, career exploration and development of a career pathway, and the integration of vocational skills and employability skills with on-the-job-training, community jobs, transitional jobs, and employer engagement. SFS are instructor led discussions which could include topics such as balancing work and life stress management, problem solving, and critical thinking, which assist with enabling individual’s to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. These additional services will assist clients in barrier resolution and gaining experience needed to become self-sufficient. Washington expects to provide RISE services to 7,000 participants over the three-year period. Participants will receive CCM, SFS and WBL if appropriate either through contracted CBO, college or a combination of both. Additionally, RISE participants can receive current BFET services which include: service coordination, navigation of financial and academic resources, job readiness training, job search, vocational education, and retention and career advancement services. Providers will offer these services as well as wrap around support services to reduce barriers. RISE is part of a national study on the effectiveness of SNAP employment and training programs that will inform policy makers when making decisions about work programs in future Farm Bills. As such, FNS is requiring random assignment as a part of the pilot’s robust evaluation process required under the 2014 Farm Bill. Random assignment is the gold standard for determining whether an intervention causes the desired outcomes. It allows for simple analysis and interpretation and is more reliable than other methods. This is the method that policymakers have confidence in and is the required method for participation in the pilot. All participants in RISE will be randomly assigned to either RISE (treatment) or BFET (control) groups. Pilot participants will be randomly assigned to the treatment and control group on a 50/50 ratio, with the exception of youth ages 16-17 who will be randomly assigned on a seventy percent treatment thirty percent control group ratio due to a lack of resources available to this population.
