SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY

2020 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• To ensure access to critical public assistance benefits during the pandemic, the County of Orange Social Services Agency expanded call center hours and coverage, mobilizing 84 additional staff as call agents; activated a novel drive-through benefits issuance; and enhanced online services to allow clients to apply for / check on CalFresh, Medi-Cal, General Relief and CalWORKs. • During the pandemic, SSA staff volunteers conducted 65,500 welfare calls on elderly and disabled In-Home Supportive Services clients, facilitated 350 food and essential item deliveries and made thousands of referrals to community resources to ensure critical needs were met. SSA received a CSAC California Counties Innovation Award for these efforts. • SSA secured approval from the California Department of Social Services to issue a one-time stipend to over 13,500 eligible CalWORKs families in Orange County to help with unforeseen expenses related to distance learning for school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic. • Federal law requires all states to implement Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for Medicaid-funded personal care services. Through concerted education and outreach efforts, SSA achieved a 99.24 percent compliance rate, totaling 66,243 IHSS providers and recipients enrolled in the California EVV portal in 2020. • SSA secured a total of 207 participating restaurants across 30 of 34 Orange County cities in the County’s Restaurant Meals Program (RMP), increasing food options for elderly, disabled and homeless CalFresh recipients. Since 2018, over 327,000 meals have been served, generating $4.7 million in revenues for local businesses. • In FY 2019-2020, SSA’s Families and Communities Together platform delivered critical services from 15 Family Resource Centers to over 12,000 clients. With a vision of ensuring all children grow up in stable, nurturing families, and safe, supportive communities, FaCT’s evidence-based tools help strengthen families and prevent abuse before it begins.

2021 GOALS

• SSA will implement a new lobby design with technology enhancements for more efficient lobby flow, an improved customer experience and consistency in lobby flow processes, for all SSA regional public assistance benefit office locations. • SSA will enhance the agency’s outreach function, programs and processes to allow for increased public awareness and community engagement, and increased accessibility and responsiveness to continue to meet the needs of our community, especially with hard to reach populations. • Awarded $637,000 in grant funding for Transition Housing Program and Housing Navigator Programs, SSA will earmark funding that will be used to help young adults ages 18-25 secure and maintain housing, with priority given to young adults formerly in the foster care or probation systems. • SSA will pilot a two-year program in Orange County that pre-enrolls incarcerated individuals for CalFresh benefits when they are within 30 days of release from a correctional facility. This pilot will increase program access, streamline the application process, help individuals successfully reenter the community and potentially reduce recidivism rates. • SSA, in partnership with the OC Health Care Agency and the Probation Department, will mobilize a County mobile response team to respond to caregiver and youth calls received through the statewide Family Urgent Response System (FURS), to provide current / former foster youth and their caregivers access to immediate 24/7 support. • Continue to participate in the mandated California CalWORKs Outcomes and Accountability Review (Cal-OAR) implementation plan. A local, data-driven program management system that facilitates continued improvement of county CalWORKs programs, Cal-OAR collects, analyzes outcomes/best practices and reviews client engagement, addressing “How are we doing?” and “Where can we do better?”