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\f0\fs24 \cf0 >> JOANNE: A report found that people are being hung up on 350 times a month,
joining me are Sandra McBrayer and Nick Macchione.\ Thank you both for being here, Nick I want
to begin with you and talk about this report, how long has this phone service been in use
and when did you learn that it was hanging up on people?\
>> Well, the access center is an ability for anyone to call into without going in physically
to a family reseniors center to access information and to start the eligibility process for public
assistance.\ Not just for food stamps but Medi Cal, offer
to work or Medi Cal in terms of health insurance.\ We have started this initiative for the past
two years and we saw the need and hearing from the community the importance of being
able to call in and not necessarily have gone to go to a physical site\'a0 \
>> JOANNE: So for two years has it been hanging up on people?\
>> No, we started the project about two years ago, when we began the planning of what might
it look like, what is access center, this is something\'a0 \
>> JOANNE: How long have you known that this has been a problem?\
>> When we started the call center and people started calling in about a year into it we
realized that we were going to need assistance, experts, again, we're not experts in call
centers and we hired a state wide expert that came in, did a full study and this came as
a result of one of the recommendations by one of our advisory boards with community
participation and that started about February\'a0last year.\
We completed the study and a number of recommendations were laid out and we began to implement those.\
>> JOANNE: One of them is hiring more people so they can answer the phone, have you done
that?\ >> We are embarking on that process, we added
17 in the fall, we are adding 50 more as a result of the recommendations of the study
in phase 1 and an additional 50 in phase 2.\ >> JOANNE: Sandra your organization tracks
food stamp use so many of the numbers I'm going to run by you are familiar to you.\
Between 2006 and 2011 enrollment numbers have been up dramatically, 83,000 five or six years
ago, now 236,000, but participation rate is still the lowest out of 22 large metropolitan
areas studied by a national think tank so 43% of the people that are eligible are actual
getting food stamps here in San Diego county.\ Why is it tougher than in other large cities?\
>> I don't think it's tougher, you need to look deeper into the numbers.\
A lot of adults are not applying for food stamps.\
I talk to adults throughout the county who are saying they are trying on their own.\
In San Diego county, when you look at the numbers, there is about 136,000 kids who live
in poverty at the federal rate and of those 127,000 currently have food stamps.\
So with families with kids they're accessing food stamps so we want more to, because more
kids in poverty as the economic crisis continues.\ But as you dig deeper there are some who are
choosing not to and others who are saying\'a0 like on unemployment, they're saying I'm still
not eligible for food stamps.\ >> JOANNE: I have to tell you, I've been cover
this gone issue for a long time, we have interviewed a number of people who have gone through this
process, and these stories are not new to you, Nick, whether they're in a line, the
questions asked, how they're being treated, I think when you are saying people are choosing
not to, a lot of people are saying no, it's the process that I go through when I try to.\
>>> It is a difficult process, they've heard that over the years, that's why access started
where parents are saying I can't afford to take off and find a baby sitter and stand
in line so the county has implemented systems to help with that, video conferencing, trying
to say to parents and families how do we make it easier.\
That's part of what this study was about.\ >> JOANNE: Nick, you know that KPBS looked
at the budgets, the county board of supervisors has consistently reduced spending on health
and human services at the same time increased spending in other areas, specifically public
safety.\ Are you getting the money you need to hire
the people so that people get this benefit?\ >> Excellent question and we have been reducing
the budget.\ Unfortunately it's not the board of supervisors,
it's the state of California\'a0 \ >> JOANNE: Well, let's back up on that, okay,
because the federal government, the USDA provides 100% of this benefit, the state and the federal
government provide 85% of the admin costs, the county is only responsible for the 15%
of the admin costs and as demand increases the state doesn't increase the per applicant
fee but it combines you money every time you sign someone up so how do we blame this on
the state?\ >> For the last 12 years the state has given
no increases for the administration of these programs.\
>> JOANNE: Right but they do increase when demand goes up, they haven't increased the
per application fee that you receive.\ >>> The struggle all counties have I will
tell you in talking with my colleagues is that the state of California doesn't give
adequate resource for the administration.\ That said, are we adding funds to positions,
not only are we adding funds with the resources we have but we spent nearly $4 million in
developing the access center.\ This came about in 2009 when the board of
supervisors approved nutrition security plans, and that's what embarked on how do we make
it easier, work with all of our partners and make it easier for the applicants to call
in.\ So there has been a conscious investment in
this program.\ I think we do care about getting to families.\
I think the numbers indicate as you pointed out, there are some families that are not
choose to go apply, but it's not for the lack that they don't know about the program.\
If they don't want to go to a welfare office to call in.\
>> JOANNE: I'm going to leave it there but we want to make sure you come back after you've
made these changes.\ }