Training on My Accounts Page at 6/28 Coalition; SNAP Outreach Update

1. EOHHS Virtual Gateway Team to Conduct "My Accounts Page" training at June 28th SNAP Coalition Meeting:

We are pleased to report that staff from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) Virtual Gateway team will be conducting a one-hour training on the My Accounts Page at Tuesday's Food SNAP Coalition meeting (June 28th). The MAP has become an important tool for clients and anti-hunger organizations to track the status of an application, benefit amount, DTA assigned worker, view the most recent SNAP notices, and more. The training will start at 10AM sharp, followed by a regular Food SNAP Coalition meeting starting at 11 AM til Noon. Here's a description of the training from EOHHS:

EOHHS Virtual Gateway staff will provide an overview and demonstration on how consumers can register for and use Virtual Gateway’s My Account Page (MAP) to view their Health Assistance/Food/Cash Assistance benefits. Virtual Gateway staff will walk users through the Self Registration process and how to access My Account Page as well as provide a review of the benefits page within MAP. This presentation will also take a look at which users can access benefit information, what a user needs to provide in order to self register, and what is required to view their benefit records.

2. SNAP Outreach Update:

In a recent email, we erroneously advised you about USDA SNAP Outreach Grants. This was inaccurate. USDA has not announced any recent Outreach grants for 2011. (Some old USDA emails re-surfaced as if new in my email in-box, we were so excited and shipped them out without double checking. Apologies !).

However, now that we have your attention, if your organization engages in regular SNAP outreach work funded through private foundation grants (or cash donations), you may be able to receive federal reimbursement for these SNAP outreach activities. SNAP outreach includes application and recertification assistance. The University of Mass Medical School (UMass Medical) currently works with a number of community groups in the state who have applied for federal reimbursement for both SNAP outreach, and SNAP Employment and Training (ET) provided to the SNAP clients. UMass will be assisting additional community groups interested in leveraging this federal money. This fall, Lauren Arms Ledwith of UMass and her colleagues will be hosting public sessions on SNAP outreach, SNAP-ET and the process for receiving federal reimbursement. If you want to get on the UMass email list for these public sessions or other information about SNAP Outreach or SNAP-ET as it becomes available, contact Lauren's assistant at UMass, Eve Dolkart: eve.dolkart@umassmed.edu


REMINDER: June's Food SNAP Coalition meeting is Tuesday, June 28th from 10 to Noon at St Francis House, 39 Boylston Street, Boston, MA - 6th floor! MAP training starts at 10 AM sharp!