NV.gov
General Information
The Employment and Support Services unit has the responsibility to plan, develop, implement and maintain program policies and procedures for the TANF Employment and Training Program (NEON) and the SNAP Employment and Training program (SNAPET).
The NEON program provides Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients a means to acquire employment related education, vocational skills, work experience and job seeking/retention skills to allow them to achieve economic independence through employment. The program assists recipients in overcoming barriers to employment by providing support services including, child care assistance, transportation assistance and employment related special needs such as clothing and tools. TANF recipients with significant barriers to employment such as drug/alcohol addiction, domestic violence issues and /or mental health concerns are case managed by the Division's licensed social workers.Drug/Alcohol treatment, domestic violence shelter/counseling, and mental health treatment/counseling is available to work-eligible TANF recipients via contracts with service providers and referrals to community agencies and organizations. All program services are developed and provided with the ultimate goal of assisting the family achieve their highest level of economic self-sufficiency.
The SNAPET program is a voluntary program that offers job search training, supervised job search, employment retention services, education, case management and support services to SNAP recipients.
The Employment and Support Services unit also participates in a number of TANF-related community initiatives such as, reduction of child poverty, reduction in out-of-wedlock births, teen pregnancy prevention, statutory rape education/prevention, healthy marriage and faith-based services.
New Employees of Nevada (NEON)
Purpose:
NEON is a program designed to help mandatory TANF participants, possessing various degrees of job readiness and experience, gain fulfilling employment through:
Life Skills
-
- Parenting
- Job search
- Budgeting
- Designing strategies for life's pot holes
- Placement assistance
- Education
- GED preparation
- Skill training
- Post Secondary training
- Assessments of
- Employability
- Strengths
- Goals
- Barriers
Community Work Experience Program (CWEP)
- On-site training
- Practical experience
- Learning to function within expected guidelines
The NEON program also provides SupportServices in the form of:
- Work-related clothing
- Work-related tools
- Transportation assistance
- Bus pass
- Gas reimbursement
- Car repairs
- Work permits
Eligibility:
NEON is a mandatory program for adult members receiving TANF cash assistance. A single parent is required to work with their case manager to find and participate in thirty hours of activities designed to improve their employability each week. When two parents are in the household the participants are required to participate thirty-five hours per week.
Benefits:
Work experience, like volunteer work, can be an opportunity for growth, expand your horizons and make new contacts within the community. Work experience gives you an opportunity to:
- Learn new skills or keep your skills current
- Establish a recent and local work history
- Develop or maintain good work habits
- Obtain job references by developing your reputation as a productive potential employee
- Help your family adjust to a working schedule
- Become more confident in the work force
- Build confidence in yourself and your skills
Non-Compliance:
Nevada has strict rules regarding time limits households may receive TANF cash. Therefore, when mandatory TANF participants fail to comply with work related activities, they are given a once-in-their-lifetime thirty (30) day period to comply. Once the thirty days has elapsed, the household loses their TANF cash monies. After the thirty (30) day period is used, mandatory participants must become compliant within ten (10) days.
Social Services
Purpose:
When a NEON mandatory TANF cash recipient has significant employability barriers which prevent them from obtaining and maintaining self-sufficiency, they are referred to the state's licensed social workers. Social workers provide comprehensive assessment and intensive case management of barriers including:
- Substance abuse
- Domestic violence
- Mental health issues
- Teenage pregnancy and parenting
- Child protective services
- Chronic homelessness
Social workers are also charged with assisting with crisis intervention.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAPET)
Purpose:
SNAPET strives to provide voluntary participants with the skills necessary to obtain and maintain sustainable employment in-demand careers.
Eligibility:
SNAPET is available to SNAP recipients ages 16 and over who would like to volunteer to participate in the program. At any time, a>
Benefits:
The SNAPET program offers:
- Job Search Training and Supervised Job Search to assist participants with skills for employment such as completing resumes and applications, interviewing skills, and goal setting.
- Employment Retention Services assist participants who gained employment while participating in SNAPET with support to retain their employment.
- Education assists participants with increasing their marketable skill level for in-demand career which required additional or specific educational training or certificates.
- Case Management to assist the participant with identifying and exploring employment pathways, necessary supports, and developing an employment plan.
- Supportive Services that are reasonable and necessary to participate in the SNAPET program, such as bus passes, gas reimbursement, work-related clothing and more.
Special Projects
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 refers to the Social Security Act, Section 413, for Child Poverty. It requires each state to submit an annual statement of the Child Poverty rate in the state. The first statement was due May 31, 1998. In subsequent years, if the Child Poverty rate increases by 5% or more from the previous year as a result of the state's TANF program, the state is required to prepare and submit a corrective action plan to the Secretary within 90 days.
A corrective action plan will outline the manner in which the state plans to reduce their Child Poverty rate and a description of actions to be taken. The state shall continue to implement the corrective action plan until it is determined the Child Poverty rate has decreased. Three factors in developing the Child Poverty rate are as follows:
- The number of children who receive free or reduced-price lunches.
- The number of SNAP households.
- The County-by-County estimates of children in poverty as determined by the Census Bureau.
One of the greatest concerns of Congress in passing the PRWORA was the negative effect of out-of-wedlock births and the need to address issues relating to marriage, stability of families, and the promotion of responsible parenthood.
Nevada supports the goal of reducing out-of-wedlock births and curtailing the negative effects of such to birth mothers, the children, the family, and society. A contract is in place with the Division of Health to educate, provide birth control supplies, examinations, laboratory testing, tubal ligations and vasectomies for selected males. This program is primarily aimed at those in the twenty (20) to twenty-nine (29) age brackets.
One of the main goals of NDWSS is to prevent and reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy rate among women ages fifteen (15) to seventeen (17) by one third or no more than thirty-five (35) per one thousand (1000) births by the year 2005.
To reach this goal, the Division of Social Services has been teaming up with outside agencies in order to improve Nevada's out-of-wedlock / teen pregnancy birth rates. The state funnels money from the TANF Block Grant to five (5) Community Action Teams throughout Nevada for teen pregnancy prevention.
Countless studies show teen mothers are far less likely to graduate from high school, have a 75 percent likelihood of Welfare dependency at some time in their lives, 50 percent experience domestic violence and suffer more health complications with pregnancy. Children of teen mothers are more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs or affiliate with gangs, drop out of high school, are three times more likely to serve prison time and more likely than others to become teen parents themselves.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 requires states to conduct a program designed to reach State and local law enforcement officials, the education system, and relevant counseling services, providing education and training on the problem of statutory rape so teenage pregnancy prevention programs may be expanded in scope to include men. The law shows considerable concern for the issue of teenage pregnancy and its impact on Welfare. A variety of provisions address this issue, many of them governing the conditions under which pregnant or parenting teenagers may receive welfare.
The goals of Nevada's Statutory Rape Project are to support more aggressive enforcement of statutory rape laws in Nevada and to promote prevention of statutory rape therefore, reducing teen pregnancies.
In 2000, the first year of the project, the University of Nevada School of Medicine, through contract with the Division of Social Services, produced a training curriculum which includes a compressed video titled "In Harm's Way: Our Children and Statutory Rape". The Nevada Public Health Foundation, through contract with the University, developed and produced a two hour training curriculum, manual and compressed video designed to reach state and local law enforcement officials, the education system and relevant counseling services statewide which provide education and training on the problems of statutory rape so teenage pregnancy prevention programs may be expanded in scope to include men. They also provided a compressed video transmission for six 2-hour presentations. Training sessions offer remote satellite communication. Distance Education courses were made available via the Internet by accessing the Foundation's web site.
In 2001, the second year of the project, the Nevada Public Health Foundation, through contract with the Division of Social Services provided; technical training to local law enforcement personnel, including police, prosecutors, and judges, education systems, social services, and other relevant counseling services, to receive education and training on the problem of statutory rape. The project has also extended its efforts out to the general public to increase awareness of the extent of the statutory rape problems in order to develop a public mandate to aggressively enforce statutory rape laws. Along with the education a marketing campaign has also followed with brochures and videotapes.
In 2002, a planned third year of the project, the Nevada Public Health Foundation, through contract with the Division of Social Services, will provide technical education and assistance to professionals, including police, prosecutors, judges, victims witness advocates, social workers, teachers, other services providers and the general public to include parents and adolescents in order to increase the number of arrests and successful prosecutions for statutory rape violations and to better assist victims. A resource manual will be developed, to include experts and organizations nationwide, who can provide technical assistance to prosecutors, judges, police officers, and victim witness advocates in the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of statutory rape cases. NPHF will continue to educate through a marketing campaign consisting brochures and videotapes. In order to further enhance victim's assistance, the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, through subcontract with the Nevada Public Health Foundation, will develop and deliver professional education on domestic violence training.
In 2003, the NPHF, through contract with the Division of Social Services continued to provide technical education and assistance to service providers and the general public. The project also introduced evaluations to determine if the class participants increased their knowledge as a result of participation.
2004 - 2005 will see a continuance and expansion of services. Project goals for 2004 - 2005 include:
- Utilize information acquired in the Statutory Rape Education Project Evaluation to improve the program and deliver additional resources for education professionals and voters of the need to enforce statutory rape laws.
- Provide technical education and assistance to professionals, including police, prosecutors, judges, and service providers, to increase the number of arrests and successful prosecution for statutory rape violations and to better assist victims.
- Increase reporting of statutory rape.
- Increase victim awareness and services to reduce harm of statutory rape to the adolescent victim.
- Increase awareness in order to generate a public mandate to aggressively enforce statutory rape laws.
Purpose:
The Repatriation program is intended to provide temporary assistance, care, and treatment for individuals after their return to the United States from travel in a foreign country due to physical or mental illness, destitution, or because of war, the threat of war, or a similar crisis.
Eligibility:
The repatriates eligibility must be:
- Certified by the Department of State, in the form of a referral to the Department of Health and Human Services
- Have US citizenship
- Present in the United States at the time of application
- Possess no means of income
- Sign a repayment agreement
- Medical / psychiatric care
Benefits:
The repatriate may be provided:
- Cash
- Vouchers
- In-kind assistance
- Direct payment of certain bills
When families are in crisis due to domestic violence, loss of their residence, etc., NDWSS social workers find shelter and assist the family through the crisis through intervention, guidance and referrals to other agencies and providers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Mandatory Work-eligible NEON TANF participants are: A mandatory TANF participant is one who receives a cash grant for themselves and their children.
Yes. A mandatory TANF participant may claim an exemption to stay home with a child under the age of one year.
The exemption is no more than twelve (12) months within the lifetime of the mandatory TANF participant. Since TANF participants are limited to twenty-four months of TANF cash at one time, losing a years time designed to help you become self-sufficient may not be wise.
Yes. Support services include vouchers for work-related items such as clothing, equipment, and work permits