I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4417 

To improve outreach and enrollment for the Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2010 

Mr. SESTAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To improve outreach and enrollment for the Supplemental 

Nutrition Assistance Program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SNAP Education and 

5 Outreach Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO IMPROVE OUTREACH AND ENROLL7 MENT FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION 

8 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

9 (a) OUTREACH AND ENROLLMENT GRANTS; NA10 TIONAL CAMPAIGN.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts appro2 priated under subsection (g), subject to paragraph 

3 (2), the Secretary of Agriculture shall award grants 

4 to eligible entities during the period of fiscal years 

5 2010 through 2014 to conduct outreach, enrollment, 

6 and renewal assistance efforts that are designed to 

7 increase the enrollment and participation of eligible 

8 individuals and families under the supplemental nu9 trition assistance program established under the 

10 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. 

11 (2) TEN PERCENT SET ASIDE FOR NATIONAL

12 ENROLLMENT CAMPAIGN.—An amount equal to 10 

13 percent of such amounts shall be used by the Sec14 retary for expenditures during such period to carry 

15 out a national enrollment campaign in accordance 

16 with subsection (h). 

17 (b) PRIORITY FOR AWARD OF GRANTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants under 

19 subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to el20 igible entities that— 

21 (A) propose to target geographic areas 

22 with high rates of— 

23 (i) eligible but unenrolled individuals; 

24 or 


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1 (ii) racial and ethnic minorities, in2 cluding those proposals that address cul3 tural and linguistic barriers to enrollment; 

4 who are not participating in the supplemental 

5 nutrition assistance program; or 

6 (B) propose to target— 

7 (i) households containing elderly or 

8 disabled individuals to expand access to 

9 nutrition; 

10 (ii) families with children with special 

11 coordination with both the special supple12 mental nutrition assistance program for 

13 women, infants, and children (WIC) and 

14 the school nutrition program to ensure 

15 seamlessness; 

16 (iii) homeless populations, including 

17 both sheltered and nonsheltered families 

18 and individuals; 

19 (iv) persons applying for or receiving 

20 unemployment benefits; 

21 (v) families with physically or men22 tally disabled children in the household (in23 cluding families whose children receive 

24 Medicaid under a State plan waiver); 


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1 (vi) special attention to working fami2 lies with children in the household who at3 tend day care programs; 

4 (vii) recipients or applicants seeking 

5 or receiving training for employment or ad6 vancement to reduce or eliminate depend7 ency; or 

8 (viii) applicants and recipients of dis9 ability benefits from government agencies; 

10 (C) encourage supplemental nutrition as11 sistance program enrollees participation in nu12 trition education programs; or 

13 (D) provide case management assistance 

14 through the application process; and 

15 (2) OUTREACH.—Submit the most demon16 strable evidence required under paragraphs (1) and 

17 (2) of subsection (c). 

18 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 

19 receive a grant under subsection (a) shall submit an appli20 cation to the Secretary in such form and manner, and con21 taining such information, as the Secretary determines to 

22 be appropriate. Such application shall include— 

23 (1) evidence demonstrating that the entity in24 cludes members who have access to, and credibility 

25 with, ethnic or low-income populations in the comVerDate Nov 24 2008 20:42 Jan 13, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4417.IH H4417

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1 munities in which activities funded under the grant 

2 are to be conducted; 

3 (2) evidence demonstrating that the entity has 

4 the ability to address barriers to enrollment, includ5 ing a lack of knowledge of eligibility criteria, stigma 

6 concerns, or other barriers to applying for and re7 ceiving governmental food assistance and nutrition 

8 education; 

9 (3) specific quality or outcomes performance 

10 measures to evaluate the effectiveness of activities 

11 funded by a grant awarded under this section; and 

12 (4) an assurance that the eligible entity shall— 

13 (A) conduct an assessment of the effective14 ness of such activities against the performance 

15 measures; 

16 (B) cooperate with the collection and re17 porting of enrollment data and other informa18 tion in order for the Secretary to conduct such 

19 assessments; 

20 (C) in the case of an eligible entity that is 

21 not the State or a State agency, provide the 

22 State with enrollment data and other informa23 tion as necessary for the State to make nec24 essary projections of eligible individuals and 

25 families; and 


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1 (D) provide an assessment of legislative 

2 and administrative barriers to increasing eligi3 ble enrollment and recommendations for im4 provement. 

5 (d) DISSEMINATION OF ENROLLMENT DATA AND IN6 FORMATION DETERMINED FROM EFFECTIVENESS AS7 SESSMENTS; ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall— 

8 (1) make publicly available the enrollment data 

9 and information collected and reported in accordance 

10 with subsection (c)(4)(B); 

11 (2) make publicly available and provide to the 

12 grantee the approval rate for applications submitted 

13 by the targeted population (whether geographic and 

14 or demographic in nature) and specifically those ap15 plications submitted through the grantee; and 

16 (3) submit an annual report to Congress on the 

17 outreach and enrollment activities conducted with 

18 funds appropriated under this section. 

19 This report shall also contain a compiling of the assess20 ments required under subsection (c)(4)(D) along with the 

21 Secretary’s findings and legislative suggestions to maxi22 mize eligible enrollment. 

23 (e) NO MATCH REQUIRED FOR ANY ELIGIBLE ENTI24 TY AWARDED A GRANT.—No eligible entity awarded a 


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1 grant under subsection (a) shall be required to provide any 

2 matching funds as a condition for receiving the grant. 

3 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti5 ty’’ means any of the following: 

6 (A) A State with an approved supple7 mental nutrition assistance plan under the 

8 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. 

9 (B) A local government or State agency. 

10 (C) An Indian tribe or tribal consortium, a 

11 tribal organization, an urban Indian organiza12 tion receiving funds under title V of the Indian 

13 Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1651 

14 et seq.), or an Indian Health Service provider. 

15 (D) A Federal health safety net organiza16 tion. 

17 (E) A national, State, local, or community18 based public or nonprofit private organization, 

19 including organizations that use community 

20 health workers or community-based doula pro21 grams. 

22 (F) A faith-based organization or 

23 consortum, to the extent that a grant awarded 

24 to such an entity is consistent with the require25 ments of section 1955 of the Public Health 


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1 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–65) relating to a 

2 grant award to nongovernmental entities. 

3 (2) FEDERAL HEALTH SAFETY NET ORGANIZA4 TION.—The term ‘‘Federal health safety net organi5 zation’’ means— 

6 (A) a federally qualified health center (as 

7 defined in section 1905(l)(2)(B)) of the Social 

8 Security Act; 

9 (B) a hospital defined as a dispropor10 tionate share hospital for purposes of section 

11 1923 of the Social Security Act; 

12 (C) a covered entity described in section 

13 340B(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act 

14 (42 U.S.C. 256b(a)(4)); and 

15 (D) any other entity or consortium that 

16 serves children under a federally funded pro17 gram, including the special supplemental nutri18 tion program for women, infants, and children 

19 (WIC) established under section 17 of the Child 

20 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786), Head 

21 Start and Early Head Start programs under 

22 the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.), 

23 the school lunch program established under the 

24 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 

25 and an elementary or secondary school. 


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1 (3) INDIANS; INDIAN TRIBE; TRIBAL ORGANIZA2 TION; URBAN INDIAN ORGANIZATION.—The terms 

3 ‘‘Indian’’, ‘‘Indian tribe’’, ‘‘tribal organization’’, and 

4 ‘‘urban Indian organization’’ have the meanings 

5 given such terms in section 4 of the Indian Health 

6 Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603). 

7 (4) COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER.—The term 

8 ‘‘community health worker’’ means an individual 

9 who promotes health or nutrition within the commu10 nity in which the individual resides— 

11 (A) by serving as a liaison between com12 munities and health care agencies; 

13 (B) by providing guidance and social as14 sistance to community residents; 

15 (C) by enhancing community residents’ 

16 ability to effectively communicate with health 

17 care providers; 

18 (D) by providing culturally and linguis19 tically appropriate health or nutrition edu20 cation; 

21 (E) by advocating for individual and com22 munity health or nutrition needs; and 

23 (F) by providing referral and followup 

24 services. 


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1 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

3 (g) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized 

4 $100,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2010 through 

5 2014, for the purpose of awarding grants under this sec6 tion. 

7 (h) NATIONAL ENROLLMENT CAMPAIGN.—From the 

8 amounts made available under subsection (a)(2), the Sec9 retary shall develop and implement a national enrollment 

10 campaign to improve the eligible enrollment of under11 served populations in the supplemental nutrition assist12 ance program. Such campaign may include— 

13 (1) the establishment of partnerships with the 

14 Secretary and other Federal agencies that are con15 ducting similar national efforts that would contain 

16 significant overlapping of target populations; 

17 (2) the integration of this program and other 

18 Department of Agriculture efforts to increase sup19 plemental nutrition assistance program enrollment 

20 percentage; 

21 (3) increased financial and technical support for 

22 enrollment hotlines maintained by the Secretary to 

23 ensure that all States participate in such hotlines; 


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1 (4) the development of special outreach mate2 rials for Native Americans or for individuals with 

3 limited English proficiency; and 

4 (5) such other outreach initiatives as the Sec5 retary determines would increase public awareness of 

6 the supplemental nutrition assistance program. 

Æ 


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