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| Image from GetCalFresh.org website |
We're thrilled to announce that Santa Barbara County has gone live on GetCalFresh.org! This mobile-friendly secure website promises a better, easier, more supportive way to apply for CalFresh.
Read on to learn more about GetCalFresh, why we've joined, what it offers for our community outreach partners, and what comes next!
What is GetCalFresh.org?
GetCalFresh.org is a mobile-friendly secure website that makes it faster and easier than ever for our community members to apply for CalFresh. The site uses simple language and clear explanations, and offers live chat support from a human in English and Spanish (staffed by the nonprofit organization that runs the site). Folks can apply from a computer, tablet, or smartphone, typically in about ten minutes flat. Smartphone users can even photograph their verification documents to attach them. Plus, applicants can receive text message reminders to keep their process on track, such as confirmation messages, interview reminders, and nudges to submit verifications.
Background
The GetCalFresh.org website is the heart of the free nonprofit GetCalFresh service, created by the organization Code for America with public and philanthropic funding in order to make it easier to apply for CalFresh. Code for America is a nonprofit organization of computer programmers who work with public agencies to make public services easier to access. Since 2009, they have helped 150 governments redesign services in dozens of areas.
Why GetCalFresh?
Research shows that 40% of web users’ Google searches for food stamps or CalFresh happen on a mobile phone. GetCalFresh.org lets them apply then and there, no download required. It loads fast, reads clean, and goes easy on the user’s data plan. (It works great on desktop computers too.) It’s designed to overcome three big avoidable barriers to CalFresh enrollment: abandoned applications, missed interviews, and failure to submit verifications.
Compared to existing online and paper application methods, GetCalFresh.org is easier to understand and faster to complete, provides more support during and after the initial application, and takes the pain out of submitting verifications.
How it works
Applications completed on GetCalFresh.org are ported into MyBenefitsCalWIN.org (MyBCW), and within about an hour they arrive to us in CalWIN for processing. As with any other myBCW app, verifications scanned with the app arrive together with it. Any verifications sent after the application has already been sent, however, are automatically routed to the correct DSS office's ACCESS email inbox based on the client's zip code; AOPs in each office will check these inboxes daily and process those verifications. (Documents are bundled together as a single PDF, with a cover sheet bearing the applicant’s name and birthdate to help workers locate the correct application.)
Technically GetCalFresh acts as an online CBO: Code for America is a certified outreach contractor by CDSS. Like an assister, they help translate required questions to plain language, and submit the result via MyBCW. They're just doing it with a website, rather than a face-to-face interaction.
GetCalFresh and CBOs
GetCalFresh isn’t just for applicants; it’s for our local CBOs that do CalFresh enrollment too. It includes a suite of tools that can help a community agency offer CalFresh enrollment assistance with greater speed, ease, and confidence. Working thorough us, an account is created for the CBO and as many of its individual assisters as desired. The agency gets full credit for its outreach contracts.
An assister simply logs in, and starts helping people apply. It works great, especially on an iPad. Participating agencies report helping more people in less time than with paper apps, and say it’s even fun for people to use.
A pre-screening tool improves confidence and reduces denials. A notes tool lets users provide extra info about clients. An admin dashboard and analytics tools let CBOs keep track of how many applications each assister has submitted, some limited status information, and demographic information such as how many households, students, children and seniors have been helped.
What happens now?
As of Thursday at May 25 at 12:45 p.m., Santa Barbara County is live on GetCalFresh. That means potential applicants doing a web search for CalFresh or food stamps in Santa Barbara County will see a link to GetCalFresh.org, and can use it to apply. Our first app arrived this week.
Like most counties, we’re doing a soft launch, without initial promotion (other than prominent position in web searches; Code for America has a small budget for sponsored search results). Based on the experience of other counties already on the system, generally applications trickle in slowly at first and then begin to ramp up. We are getting EW staff, clerical, and app support up to speed. We’ve announced GetCalFresh to staff, and designated Sandra Gutierrez, our myBCW DBS, as the point of contact for DSS users and eventually CBO users too. Sandra is updating the myBCW AD and verifying that clerical folks will be checking the ACCESS boxes daily in every office.
Once we have logged 10 successful applications and checked in with Code for America, we will move on to the next steps: promoting the GetCalFresh website on our materials and website, and getting our CBO partners on to the system.
What's next?
New features are planned for GetCalFresh. One is a section aimed just at students, who are often discouraged from seeking the aid they need because the rules around student eligibility are so confusing. A marketing campaign will accompany this, and we hope to leverage it to enable our partners to work together, including Foodbank with UCSB and People Helping People with Allan Hancock, to reach out strongly to students. This campaign is expected to be fully operational in 2018.
Another is a plan to add renewal functionality, to help walk people through the process and avoid needless loss of benefits. This feature is expected to be fully operational in 2019.
Want to try it?
Want to play around with GetCalFresh? To avoid clogging up the real system with fake data, please experiment using the demo at https://demo.getcalfresh.org. For any questions or concerns, or to get more information to send to peers, visit https://www.getcalfresh.org/for-counties or contact Dennis Tivey or Sandra Gutierrez here at DSS.