Here’s how one program helps get people off food stamps | McClatchy Washington Bureau

An award-winning Fresno program led by former business executive Pete Weber could help other communities improve employment and training opportunities for the nation’s neediest, lawmakers suggested Tuesday.

With a combination of high praise and pragmatically detailed questions, House Nutrition Subcommittee members made clear their interest in Weber’s Fresno Bridge Academy. More of the same might be planted in the next congressional farm bill.

“We know there are lots of people out there who want the kind of assistance we provide,” Weber told the panel, a part of the House Agriculture Committee.

The 6-year-old Fresno Bridge Academy enrolls recipients of CalFresh assistance, which formerly was known as food stamps. Through nine Fresno County locations, the academy puts the volunteer participants through a comprehensive 18-month program aimed at getting them off public assistance.

This year, more than 1,500 families have been enrolled, and the program is expanding to San Joaquin, Madera and Napa counties.

“We provide everything from education support to employment training to life skills,” Weber said. “We also engage the children. . . . We work to make sure their kids get to school.”

Using funds authorized by the 2014 farm bill, the Agriculture Department last year selected the Fresno Bridge Academy as one of 10 nationwide grant recipients. The $12.2 million grant is helping the Fresno program expand, while giving officials a chance to see what works and what doesn’t in mending a crucial part of the social safety net.

Statewide, 4.4 million California residents receive CalFresh assistance.

Although a formal evaluation isn’t due until 2021, Weber on Tuesday morning cited an array of positive findings. More than 80 percent of the Fresno program participants have gained new jobs or significantly higher wages, he reported, while about 30 percent have left the food stamp program by the time they graduate.

A longtime businessman, Weber also cited the Fresno Bridge Academy’s unique “cost-benefit model,” which puts a dollar value on what taxpayers get back for what they spend. According to Weber, every dollar spent on the program results in $5.50 in taxes being paid or other public benefits.

Weber’s report during the 90-minute hearing prompted Rep. Ted Yoho, a conservative Florida Republican, to make note of the “incredibly successful” results, while Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., called the work done by the Fresno Bridge Academy and other grant recipients “incredibly important.”

Earlier this year, Weber and the Fresno Bridge Academy were among five recipients of the 2016 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.

“He makes a compelling case,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, adding that Weber’s organization is “doing a terrific job.”

The praise, in turn, could take shape as public policy over the next few years, as Costa noted that the hearing Tuesday was part of “setting the groundwork for the next farm bill.”

Typically written every five years, the farm bill includes money for what’s now called, at the federal level, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The 2014 bill provided $391 billion for the program over five years, and authorized the grant ultimately awarded to the Fresno group.

Some conservatives now want to further tighten time limits and work requirements for the beneficiaries of nutrition assistance, with the impending loss of certain waivers prompting Kim McCoy Wade, the CalFresh branch chief from the California Department of Social Services, to warn against results she called “very harsh.”