This past spring, leaders from PICO affiliate Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN) leveraged the power of being part of a national network to help push through critical reforms to the Food Stamp Employment and Training (FSET) Program, a federal program to help working poor Food Stamp recipients gain skills, training, and experience and help increase their ability to obtain regular employment.

MCAN and the state coalition it helps lead, the Workforce Solutions Group of the SkillWorks initiative, won the support of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to end an eligibility restriction called the 120 hour rule, which made most working poor people ineligible to receive job training through FSET. But a key hurdle to winning full House support lay in the ability to move the Chair of the House Nutrition Subcommittee, Congressman Joe Baca (D-43rd) in San Bernardino, California.

To reach Congressman Baca, MCAN leaders reached out to sister PICO affiliate in San Bernardino, Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC), which arranged a meeting with Baca and won his support for the FSET amendment. These provisions were part of the recently enacted 2008 Farm Bill.

Andy Van Kleunen, Executive Director of The National Workforce Alliance in Washington, D.C., commended PICO for its role in helping pass the FSET amendments, stating, “The work of MCAN and its PICO affiliates was central to our successful efforts to better ensure that food stamp recipients can gain the skills they need to get and keep a decent job.”

For more information on MCAN, visit www.mcan-oltc.org. For more information on ICUC, visit www.icucpico.org