Alachua County Food Stamp Hotline

1. A partnership between DCF Circuit 8 and The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners Alachua County Food Stamp Hotline

2. Local FS participation rates below national averages, loss of potential benefits for citizens PRAB Members questioned ability of local citizens to seek assistance at DCF ACCESS Service Centers and via the ACCESS Call Center in Jacksonville Why did we need a Food Stamp Hotline?

3. Increase in applications for assistance being seen statewide, further increasing wait times in lobbies and volume of calls to ACCESS Call Centers (Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami) DCF agreed that a stop gap measure was needed and volunteered to provide site and access to trained staff, but there was no additional budget available to support local project … Why did we need a Food Stamp Hotline?

4. $14,973 requested to fund local call in number to assist Food Stamp applicants and participants to gain access to info about applying for and maintaining their benefits Approved by BOCC on 11/25/08 Press Release from County on 12/8/09 Hotline up and running on 12/8/09 Thru February 28, 2009, 821 Calls processed! Project Outline

5. Line open from 8 to 5 pm, Mon thru Fri • If line is busy customers can leave message • Messages returned same day • One temp employee hired and paid for by county via Manpower contract, line manned regardless of this person’s presence • Details of each call recorded and reviewed by supervisors Services Provided

6. Services … • Mail applications, directions to application sites in community • Answer questions regarding process and FS policy • Referrals to other agencies as needed • Answer simple case specific questions • Referrals to Call Center for detailed questions regarding ongoing cases • Encouragement and support , from a REAL person! Services Provided

7. Performance Data N=821 Number of Calls per Day

8. Performance Data

9. Performance Data Random sample of calls to line with a 95% Confidence Level and 5% error margin completed

10. Performance Data • Total cost of project through 2/28 = $5,133 • Food Stamp dollars from sample = $40,968 • Projected FS dollars for Dec 08 thru Feb 09 • If 46% of the 481 Anticipated Applications were submitted … • Then 221 applications would have been received • If 55% of these were approved for an average of $158.79/mo • Then we could project that 122 applications were approved • Six month projected total for Food Stamps would be… $115,234in Food Stamps available in local economy!

11. 821 calls from 12/8/08 thru 2/28/09 473 callers responded to quality survey and 98.3% rated service at 4 or 5, with 5 being best Customers appreciate speaking with someone Would like to improve percent of applications returned and customer follow through with process Call volume appears to be increasing over time Results

12. County staff and community partners have toured Jacksonville Call Center, positive feedback from participants Anticipate continued increase in applications, Call Centers are taking actions to increase access for customers but capacity cannot meet current needs We will encourage customers to fully complete the application process Where do WE go from here….

13. Will monitor local participation rates for Alachua County December 2007 – 19,151 FS Participants December 2008 – 22,430 FS Participants Increase of 17.1% in one year We project that current funding may allow for services beyond 6/30/09 … Where do WE go from here….