1. Introduction to DHS Programs
Maria Cimini, Associate Director Policy, RI DHS
October 2, 2018

2. RI Department of Human Services
DHS is an organization of opportunity, giving a lifeline with a full continuum of services to ensure:
Families are strong, productive, healthy, and independent.
Adults are healthy and reach their maximum potential.
Children are safe, healthy, ready to learn and reach their full potential.
Elders and individuals with disabilities receive a full continuum of services to enhance their quality of life.
Veterans are cared for and honored.

3. Programs serving low-income individuals and families
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: SNAP
Rhode Island Works Program: RIW
Child Care Assistance Program: CCAP
Medicaid, Medical Assistance Program: MA (ACC, ACA)
General Public Assistance: GPA-Bridge
Katie Becket
Long Term Supports and Services
Medicare Premium Payment Program
Medicaid for Elders and Adults with Disabilities (EAD or ABD)
Medicaid for Working People with Disabilities (Sherlock)
State Supplemental Payment (SSP)
Refugee Cash Assistance Program (RCA)

4. 48 States and the District of Columbia
2018 Federal Poverty Level (FPL) Guideline Table
Family Size
100%
135%
150%
180%
185%
225% 1
$12,140
$16,389
$18,210
$21,860
$22,464
$27,315 2
$16,460
$22,221
$24,690
$29,628
$30,456
$37,035 3
$20,780
$28,053
$31,170
$37,404
$38,448
$46,755 4
$25,100
$33,885
$37,650
$45,180
$46,440
$56,475 5
$29,420
$39,717
$44,130
$52,956
$54,432
$66,195 6
$33,740
$45,549
$50,610
$60,732
$62,424
$75,915

5. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, SNAP provides eligible families and individuals with a monthly benefit to purchase non-prepared food.
Eligibility is based Household Size and Income (Deductions).
Exceptions: students, ABAWDs, immigrants

6. Household Definitions
Household: Any group of individuals who live and eat together –or- an individual who lives alone or with others but purchases and prepares their food separately
Elderly/disabled household: A household where anyone in it is either age 60 or older or determined disabled by a government entity
General household: A household where no one in it is elderly or disabled
Roommates who do not share meals do not need to apply together and should not be listed on a Customer Portal application
Spouses or partners with common children, who live together, even those who eat separately, can not be in separate households
Cohabitating parents and children: Children under age 22 who live with their legal guardian/parent, must be counted as part of their parents’ household (even if they have their own children)
Foster children can be counted as part of the household with their subsidy included, or both can be excluded (adopted children and their subsidies can not be excluded.
Important notes about household size
Hard to define households

7. Income SNAP eligibility is always based on monthly income
Earned income from employment
Income from child support or alimony
Government benefits: SSI, Social Security, Supplemental Payment, SSDI, TDI, Unemployment, RI Works, GPA
Retirement pensions
Income of children in household:
Unearned income of children, such as Social Security Survivors benefits, counts as household income.
Earned income of children counts as income if the child is age 16 or older unless they are enrolled in high school. If in high school, income is included at age 18.
NUMBER IN SNAP HH
SNAP MAX
GROSS
MONTHLY
185%
200%
NET
INCOME
100% 1
1872
2024
1012 2
2538
2744
1372 3
3204
3464
1732 4
3870
4184
2092 5
4536
4904
2452 6
5202
5624
2812

8. Deductions
Deductions – expenses subtracted from gross income to get to net income
There are just 5 expenses authorized as deductions by the federal government
Earned income deduction
Standard deduction
Dependent care deduction
Medical expense deduction
Shelter deduction
Expenses of other kinds: loans, internet, car payments, etc. can not be considered.

9. College Student Eligibility
Officially college students between the ages of are not eligible for SNAP benefits. However, college students may be eligible if they:
Have children (under age 6 or under age 12 without access to child care)
Have a disability
Work a work study job
Work, on average, at least 20 hours a week
Students are considered students even during semester breaks.
Students with meal plans are not eligible to receive benefits.
College student flyer

10. Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents
As part of welfare reform of 1996 a subset of mandatory work registrants, knowns as ABAWDs, became subject to a more stringent work requirement.
(A)ble (B)odied: not Permanently or Temporarily disabled
(A)dult: at least 18 and under 50 years of age
(W)ithout (D)ependents: no children under age 18 in their SNAP household
ABAWDs can only receive SNAP benefits for 3 months in a 36 month period unless they meet work requirements or have an exemption.

11. Impacted ABAWDs
Beginning September, 2018, ABAWDs living in thirteen RI cities and towns are subject to a 3-month time limit:
Barrington Cumberland Exeter Glocester
Jamestown Lincoln Little Compton
Narragansett Newport North Kingstown
North Smithfield Richmond Warwick

12. Exempt ABAWDs
ABAWDs who are meeting work requirements do not lose their benefits after 3 months. In order to meet work requirements, they must spend an average of 20 hours a week (80 hours a month) participating in:
Work: for pay, unpaid, in-kind
Training: SNAP E&T, WIOA funded work programs
ABAWDs who are “unfit for work” do not lose their benefits after 3 months.
DHS staff may make a visual determination of unfit for work.
A community partner may provide verification of “unfit for work” to assist our staff with making the assessment that someone not “medically verified” is still unfit for work.

13. Rhode Island Works (RIW)
Rhode Island Works is Rhode Island’s cash assistance program. It is largely funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.
TANF was the result of welfare reform of 1996 in an attempt to end generational poverty by, among other things, applying timelines for cash assistance and requiring employment of participants.
Families with little income and minor children in the home may be eligible for a twice-monthly cash benefit.
Eligibility is based on income, household composition, resources, and program participation.

14. RIW Benefits
Families receiving RIW receive a cash benefit as well as child care supports.
In order to receive assistance they must sign an employment plan.
In order to maintain benefits they must participate hours weekly on education, job skills, vocational training, or employment activities.
Families are also eligible to be connected to life skills and social service supports.
Families cannot have more than $1000 in resources.
Household size
Monthly income limit/maximum monthly payment amount 1
$327 2
$449 3
$554 4
$634 5
$714 6
$794

15. RIW Timelines
Rhode Island has a 48-month lifetime cash assistance limit with a 24-month periodic time limit.
Families can receive benefits for 24 months, then must be off for 36 months, and then can receive an additional 24 months of benefits.
Individuals or families may receive benefits beyond those timelines if they face a “hardship” such as domestic violence, homelessness, short term disability, etc.

16. Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
CCAP subsidizes the cost of child care for low-income families requiring child care for their children so that they may go to work or participate in an authorized employment and training program.
CCAP subsidies are available for children until they turn 13, or until age 19 if the child has a disability.
Eligibility is based on the income of the household, the need for care, immigration status of the child, cooperation with the office of child support enforcement.

17. CCAP Income: Entry threshold & On-going threshold

18. Need for care
Child care assistance is only available during the hours the parent is:
working, or
participating in an authorized Employment & Training opportunity.
CCAP is not available for hours a parent is:
in school (unless an RIW parent completing high school)
Available to watch the child (unless the parent has a documented disability requiring the child to have care)
Foster children are eligible for CCAP

19. Immigration and Child Support Enforcement
CCAP eligibility only looks at the immigration status of the child. We do not ask the immigration status of the parent.
CCAP requires cooperation with the Office of Child Support Enforcement for all children in the applicant household, not just those children needing supports.
Custodial parents must cooperate or provide proof of “good cause” such as domestic violence

20. Child Care Providers Families identify their own child care providers.
Providers can be found at exceed.ri.gov.
Families pay those providers a reduced rate and DHS reimburses the child care provider the difference.
Care can be provided all day for non-school-aged children or school-aged children during the summer.
School-aged children can be approved for before- and after-school care.

21. Medicaid
Federal Medical Assistance is known as Medicaid. It has other names depending on the population served.
Pregnant women, families with children: RIte Care, RIte Share
Income guidelines vary depending on factors of the population and may be different for different members within the same household.
Medicaid provides health insurance in Rhode Island through:
Neighborhood Health Plan of RI
United Healthcare
Tufts-Health

22. Medicaid eligibility Tax filing household
Income guidelines as applied to different household members

23. General Public Assistance (GPA) - Bridge
GPA is a cash benefit available to single adults without children.
In order to receive this benefit, up to $200 a month, the applicant must:
Be age 18 or older
Be determined disabled by a medical professional with the expectation that the disability will prevent them from working for at least 12 months
Have applied for and awaiting a decision from SSA on an SSI/RSDI determination
Have less than $400 monthly income and less than $1000 in resources
Sign that they will reimburse DHS for the funds received if SSI is approved

24. Immigrants and Program Eligibility
All programs have citizenship and immigration criteria
Immigrants must be “qualified immigrants” in order to receive benefits.
Qualified means that they are: refugees, asylees, legal permanent residents (green card holders)
Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for all program benefits.
Exception, undocumented pregnant women may receive Medicaid for pre-natal care and delivery.
Undocumented immigrants may be in a household with eligible immigrants and apply for benefits on behalf of their documented or citizen children.

25. Legal Permanent Residents
Children with Legal Permanent residency status may be eligible for program benefits.
Adults (age 18 and older) cannot receive benefits until they’ve had their Legal Permanent Residency status for at least 5 years.
Exceptions: adults who’ve been determined disabled by a government entity, served in the US armed forces, have completed 40 quarters of SSA work history, have a petition to stay in the US due to domestic violenc

26. Mixed status households and eligibility
If a household has members with differing immigration and citizenship status, in most cases, income of all household members must be on the application but income of ineligible household members will be pro-rated.
When applying for benefits on behalf of citizen or documented children, an undocumented adult will have to:
list their name on the application
list income and expenses associated with their household
The undocumented adult should also indicate they are not seeking benefits for themselves. In that case, they do not need to provide their birthdate, social security number, or immigration status.

27. Sponsor Deeming
Immigrants sponsored by an individual to come to the United States must provide information about their sponsor.
A portion of their sponsor’s income will be included in the benefit calculation.
Sponsor income is considered available to an immigrant until: the immigrant becomes a citizen, the immigrant has 40 quarters of work history, the sponsor dies.
If the immigrant does not receive support from a sponsor, they may claim indigence. This allows benefit determination to be made without the sponsor’s income but the sponsor’s information will be shared with ICE.

28. Should someone apply?
Everyone has the right to complete an application.
You may use information I’ve shared to day or at this pre-screener to help someone make a decision:

29. How to apply All programs require an application.
Applications can be completed:
on-line at
On paper with a DHS-2, printable at “under programs and services”
Medicaid and CCAP eligibility will be determined based on a completed application and verifying documents.
SNAP, RIW, and GPA also require an interview. The SNAP interview may be in person or over the phone. RIW and GPA require in-person interviews.

31. Verifications necessary
Program verification requirements vary some, but all programs require:
Proof of RI residency
Identity of head of household or primary applicant
Proof of at least 30 days of income (pay stubs, award letters, letter from employer)
Other verifications necessary may include:
Work schedules
Student enrollment
Proof of pregnancy
Housing and utility expenses
Medical expenses
Child support payments
Application for other benefits

32. Application and Benefit Timelines
For all programs, DHS must make a determination on an application within 30 days.
Exceptions: some SNAP applicants must receive an initial determination within 7 days. GPA applicants may request a 45 day review if they are delayed getting medical documentation to DHS.
Once found eligible, households can continue to receive benefits for:
SNAP: one year with the completion of a six month report
RIW: one year with the completion of a six month report
CCAP: one year
Medicaid: one year
GPA: six months

33. Community Resources
All state and federal programs for low-income individuals and families
The Economic Progress Institute
economicprogressri.org
SNAP
URI SNAP Outreach Project
Eatbettertoday.com
Family Advocacy
RIPIN (RI Parent Information Network)
Ripin.org

34. Questions?
Maria Cimini, Associate Director Policy, Research, Development
RI Department of Human Services