The policy shock
In July 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act expanded SNAP work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. The age threshold widened from 18–54 to 18–64. The child-in-household exemption narrowed from children under 18 to children under 14. Previously exempt groups — veterans, former foster youth — lost their exemptions. States were required to implement immediately, with most enforcement starting by late 2025 and early 2026.
For Monroe County, the impact was immediate and overwhelming. Federal changes to ABAWD work requirements created confusion among residents, who flooded the local Department of Social Services with calls. People who had been receiving nutrition assistance for years suddenly faced new verification requirements and documentation demands. Many were managing chronic health conditions that made consistent nutrition essential. The questions were urgent and personal: Am I still eligible? Do the new age rules apply to me? Does my health condition qualify as an exemption? What do I need to prove?
Staff faced an impossible task: answering thousands of routine eligibility questions while managing actual casework — all under tight implementation deadlines with no additional resources. Traditional approaches to this kind of policy communication — printed mailers, phone trees, walk-in appointments — couldn’t scale to meet the demand. Every hour an eligibility worker spent answering the same exemption question was an hour not spent on complex cases that required human judgment.
Monroe County is not unique. Counties administer SNAP in ten states: California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In New York alone, ABAWD enforcement began March 1, 2026 statewide (outside Saratoga County, which started earlier). Every one of those counties faced the same volume problem: residents who needed clarity, staff who couldn’t provide it at scale, and a deadline that didn’t care about either.
Thirty days from concept to live
Monroe County, working with TogetherNow and IBM, decided to build something that had never existed in their county: a digital self-service SNAP work rules screener that could give residents immediate, personalized answers without requiring a caseworker interaction.
The tool was designed, developed, and deployed in less than 30 days.
That speed wasn’t the result of cutting corners. It was the result of building on the Connect360 platform’s configuration-based architecture. Connect360 is a Community Information Exchange (CIE) platform that enables closed-loop referrals, cross-agency data sharing, and configurable workflows for health and human services. Unlike systems that require custom code for every new feature, Connect360 allows new tools and workflows to be built and launched rapidly using the platform’s existing infrastructure.
The screener asked simple questions about age, work activities, health status, and caregiving responsibilities. Based on the answers, it instantly provided personalized results: whether the resident was likely exempt, likely subject to work rules, or in a category that required caseworker consultation. For those subject to work requirements, the screener didn’t just inform — it connected. Users were immediately linked to job placement, training, and volunteer opportunities through the integrated platform.
Community-informed design was central. Caseworkers provided continuous feedback on the question logic, ensuring the tool reflected the real-world complexity of exemption criteria. TogetherNow, which operates the MyWayfinder platform on Connect360 infrastructure, brought the community perspective — how residents actually understand these questions, what language creates confusion, what sequence reduces anxiety.
The results: 2,000 screenings and a new model
The numbers from the first 2.5 months tell a clear story:
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total screenings | 2,000+ in first 2.5 months |
| Exemption rate | 65% of users identified an exemption and received clear next steps to notify the agency and avoid losing benefits |
| Work-rules connection | 6% learned they were subject to work rules and were immediately connected to job placement, training, and volunteer opportunities |
| Time to deploy | Less than 30 days from concept to live screener |
| Platform | IBM Connect360 (configuration-based, no custom code required) |
The 65% exemption finding is the headline — but it’s worth pausing on what it means. Nearly two-thirds of the people who were anxious about losing their food assistance discovered, within minutes, that the new rules didn’t apply to them. Without the screener, many of those people would have either flooded DSS offices with calls, waited weeks for a caseworker conversation, or — worst case — simply stopped participating in SNAP out of confusion and fear.
The 6% who learned they were subject to work rules received something equally important: immediate connection to support. Instead of a letter telling them they had a new obligation, they got a pathway. The Connect360 platform’s integrated referral system linked them directly to employment services, job training programs, and volunteer opportunities that would satisfy the work requirement. This is what closed-loop referrals look like in practice: the same system that identifies a need connects the person to the solution and tracks whether the connection was made.
Why this matters beyond Monroe County
The SNAP ABAWD changes aren’t going away. As of March 2026, New York State’s last county waivers have expired. Nevada, Washington, D.C., and dozens of other jurisdictions are implementing expanded work requirements this year. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that millions of additional SNAP recipients are now subject to ABAWD rules that didn’t apply to them before July 2025.
Every county faces the same equation Monroe County faced: sudden policy complexity, unchanged staffing levels, and residents who need answers now. The question is whether they absorb that demand through overburdened caseworkers — or whether they deploy digital tools that handle the routine questions so staff can focus on the cases that require human expertise.
The Monroe County screener demonstrated something broader: that a CIE platform built for configurability can absorb policy shocks in real time. When the next federal change comes — and in human services, it always comes — the county doesn’t need a six-month IT procurement cycle. It needs 30 days and a platform that was designed for exactly this kind of rapid adaptation.
The health connection
This isn’t just an eligibility story. It’s a health story.
When people quickly understood their SNAP status, they avoided gaps in nutrition assistance that directly threaten health stability. For residents managing diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic conditions, consistent access to food isn’t a convenience — it’s a clinical necessity. A disruption in SNAP benefits can cascade into missed medications (choosing between food and prescriptions), emergency room visits, and deteriorating chronic disease management.
The broader Monroe County experience with Connect360 and MyWayfinder has shown that Medicaid members with chronic conditions achieve better health outcomes when nutrition support, mental health services, housing stability, and employment connections are coordinated through a single platform. The SNAP screener is one piece of that ecosystem — but it’s the piece that kept people connected during a moment of maximum vulnerability.
When employment connections happened automatically for those needing work support, families maintained continuity rather than experiencing the health deterioration that accompanies food insecurity. When staff spent less time answering routine questions and more time supporting complex cases, vulnerable populations remained informed and connected to services that kept them stable through the transition.
Can other counties do this?
Yes. That’s the point.
The Monroe County screener was built on Connect360’s existing architecture. The logic — age thresholds, exemption criteria, work activity categories, caregiving status — is based on federal ABAWD rules that apply nationwide. The specific exemption criteria and implementation timelines vary by state, but the screener’s structure is portable. A county in North Carolina, Ohio, or California could deploy a localized version of this tool on the same platform within the same timeframe.
The work in Monroe County became an exemplar for neighboring counties, demonstrating how the screener could be adapted and adopted to support their own residents. That’s the scalability argument for building on a CIE platform rather than a one-off custom application: the investment in Monroe County created a reusable asset that other jurisdictions can deploy without starting from zero.
Connect360 is hosted on Microsoft Azure, meets HIPAA / HITRUST / 42 CFR Part 2 compliance requirements, supports HL7 FHIR and HSDS interoperability standards, and is available through the Azure Marketplace with a 30-day deployment pathway. It is the same platform powering LA County’s Domestic Violence Project and Sonoma County’s ACCESS program.
Frequently asked questions
What is a SNAP work requirements screener?
A SNAP work requirements screener is a digital self-service tool that asks residents a series of questions about their age, employment, health status, and caregiving responsibilities, then provides a personalized determination of whether they are subject to ABAWD work requirements, exempt, or need to consult a caseworker. Monroe County’s screener was built on the IBM Connect360 platform and deployed in under 30 days.
What are SNAP ABAWD work requirements?
Under federal law, Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) must work, volunteer, or participate in approved training for at least 80 hours per month to receive SNAP benefits beyond three months in a three-year period. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 expanded ABAWD criteria to include adults aged 18–64 (previously 18–54) and narrowed the dependent child exemption to children under 14 (previously under 18). These changes significantly increased the number of SNAP recipients subject to work requirements.
How quickly can a SNAP screener be deployed?
Monroe County deployed its screener in less than 30 days from concept to live tool, using the Connect360 platform’s configuration-based architecture. No custom coding was required. The platform’s existing workflow and referral infrastructure allowed the screener to be built, tested, and launched within a single procurement-free cycle.
What is a Community Information Exchange (CIE)?
A Community Information Exchange is a technology platform that connects health and human services agencies, community-based organizations, and residents through shared data, closed-loop referrals, and coordinated care workflows. Unlike a simple resource directory, a CIE enables bidirectional communication: agencies can refer, track, and measure whether services were actually delivered and whether outcomes improved. Connect360 is a CIE platform built by IBM on Microsoft Azure for state and local government use.
Which states have county-administered SNAP?
Counties administer SNAP in ten states: California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In these states, county agencies are directly responsible for enrollment, eligibility determination, recertification, and work requirement compliance — making them the frontline of any federal policy change.