Governor Greg Gianforte’s DPHHS has outsourced safety net employment assistance and training to Montanans receiving food and cash aid from SNAP and TANF to a government services contractor based in Virginia, Maximus. Two of the long-time Montana businesses that previously provided these services to the State have already announced the closing of their doors, and more may follow.
“In a March 20 letter posted to its website, the Career Training Institute in Helena announced that the loss of the SNAP and TANF assistance contracts meant that it will be “dissolving” the nonprofit “after 4+ decades of successfully providing workforce development in the tri-county area.”
“Another organization, Career Futures in Butte, has also said the loss of the state contracts will force its closure in the coming months.”
Unfortunately, Maximus has a bit of a spotty record. Kansas hired it in 2016 to handle Medicaid applications and fired it by 2020 because of so many processing and customer service problems. But never let it be said for Gov. Gianforte the Montana job creator that he won’t try an idea that already failed for Sam Brownback, while shipping local jobs out of state for good measure.
Current Montana Free Press story on Gianforte’s outsourcing
More coverage and background from The Daily Montanan:
Helena employee training non-profit to close after new company gets statewide contract
Montana’s plan to hurt those already hurting
Local organizations connecting Montanans to social programs fear closure