| |
| Apply for Food Stamps |
| About Outreach |
| Information Line |
| Outreach Guide |
| Funding For Outreach |
| Outreach Essentials |
| FSP In The News |
| Research and Statistics |
| About this Site |
| Contact Us |
| Food Stamp Outreach Guide |
Addressing Access Issues Overcoming initial reluctance Help potential applicants understand that:
Face-to-face interview waiver The CAFB promotes the use of a Hardship Card, easy for applicants to fill out and mail to their county office. This standardizes the procedure for giving applicants flexbility in the application process. Santa Clara County has its own Hardship Waiver card that serves as an example. Supporting documents Advocates can approach counties to clarify the exact list of supporting documents needed to complete the application process. It would be helpful to obtain a checklist from the county. Here is an example from Santa Clara. Language barriers The Counties can both promote the acceptance of the application in multiple languages and print outreach materials in multiple languages. Although California counties now generally accept applications in languages other than Spanish and English, outreach materials are printed often only in English and Spanish. Mail-in procedures It might help to clarify with counties that applicants do not need to make a visit to the county office if the only purpose of such a visit would be fingerprints. More and more counties are adopting policies that will help families with hardships to apply by the mail and complete their interviews over the phone. In order to do this, they are utilizing the flexibility provided by the state regulations:
All counties should be prepared to handle mail in applications, because the state form is available online and needs to be accepted should someone download it and send it in. Please ask your county what their procedure is for mail in applications. The mail-in procedure seems to work best when the applications are sent to one person at the county who then dispatches them to the appropriate worker. Attached are two documents that provide an outline for workers so that they understand this process. You should feel free to share them with your county staff. Likewise, if your county has a mail-in application procedure that you can share with others, please let CAFB know. Here is one example of a mail in procedure, from Alameda County. San Mateo County also has a very clear procedure for mail-in applications. Customer service There are many facets of customer service that may be improved, from the speed of service to the convenience and appearance of the place of service. Congressional Hunger Center's Emerson Hunger Fellow (2003-2004) Rachel Lopez addresses some of these specific issues in her Hunger Free Community Report (see Research and Statistics). Additionally, click here for her list of potential areas for improvement; you can help tackle these problems as an Outreach Coordinator! Reaching more potential applicants Coordinators might consider teaming up with other outreach coordinators and social workers for other programs, such:
Finger Imaging As a protection against fraud, California State Legislature passed in 1996 a requirement that adult recipients of food stamps must have their finger images scanned as a “condition of issuance”: eligible households must go through the scanning process before obtaining food stamps. Advocates should familiarize themselves with finger imaging policies. Please see the following links.
Possibilities for Electronic Applications Electronic applications are coming soon to California, so it is essential for advocates to understand how they work. Descriptions of the different computer systems in California follow:
|