Background
Long and complex food stamp applications have long been cited by low-income households as a barrier to getting food stamps. Many people who need food assistance end their application process as soon as they see or try to the complete the application form itself. Want to see the old application? Go to http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/pdf/DFA285_A2.PDF.
Thanks
to the hard work of advocates during the 1999 legislative session,
California’s Legislature passed SB 2013, which required California to develop
a simpler and shorter food stamp application form.
During the
past year and a half, administrators and advocates worked together to develop an
application that would serve as an effective outreach tool for counties and
community-based organizations.
How the new application works
Like other
states with short applications, California will now provide applicants with a simple
form that they can fill out on their own and return to the food stamp
office. During their interview with
a food stamp worker, the applicant will be asked a number of additional
questions in order to complete the application process.
This interactive interview process allows the county to get all of the
information required by federal law—without making applicants fill out pages
and pages of complex information on their own.
Many counties already have an interactive interview process like the one described above. In these counties, applicants fill out a short form called the SAWS-I for Food Stamps, Medi-Cal and cash assistance, and then complete the application process during an interactive interview. In these counties, advocates will need to work with the county to determine whether food stamp outreach will be more successful using the new food stamp-only form, or with the short and simple SAWS-I.
What can advocates do?
The new application will be available to counties at the end of this month. We ask that advocates get in touch as soon as possible with their county’s food stamp manager. (If you don’t know who your county food stamp manager is, just ask us or ask your local county department) Ask to meet with them to discuss using the new application as a tool for outreach in your county. See below for detailed information about what to recommend to your county, or click here for a printable pdf version of these recommendations.
Feel free to contact George Manalo-LeClair at (415) 777-4422, ext. 103 if you would like more information about the new application or assistance in working with your county to put the new application into place.
Recommendations for Counties (click here for a pdf version)
California’s
new food stamp application has tremendous potential for increasing food stamp
participation among hungry families. As
a short, simple mechanism for starting the application process, the new form
will be especially effective as an outreach tool.
When
are counties required to use the new form?
California’s new food stamp application will be available to counties before April 1, 2002. According to the state’s department of Social Services, counties are required to accept the new form as of March 1, 2002 (though the effective date of this requirement is whenever the new forms become available).
There is a grace period built into this requirement: counties are allowed to use up their old stock of food stamp-only forms before ordering the new application. In addition, counties that already have an interactive interview process are not required to reprogram their computers in order to adopt both parts of the new application (i.e. the short form plus the new interactive interview).
Regardless
of these exceptions, all counties are required to accept the new form and
initiate the application process without requiring duplicative information from
the applicant.
How
can advocates ensure that the new form will boost food stamp participation?
We
strongly encourage advocates to meet with their county’s food stamp manager as
soon as possible to provide the following recommendations:
Each
county needs to communicate with their caseworkers and clerks about the new
application. We recommend that they have at least one point person who can
handle the new application if an applicant comes in with one—even if the
county hasn’t officially switched over to the new form. This is an important protection for any applicant who gets a
new form and tries to use it in the early stages of implementation.
We also recommend that you ask the county to take you on an application
walk-through—to take you through the steps of using the new application.
This will give you a chance to see how the applications are processed,
and it may help the county to iron out its procedure for accepting the new
application.
Let the county know where and
how you think the new application could be used as an outreach tool.
Brainstorm ways that your organization or others in your community could
make the new application available, and let the county know your specific
recommendations.
If
you are already doing food stamp outreach or want to start, ask the county to
provide you with copies of the food stamp application.
If your county is a “SAWS” county (meaning they already have an
interactive interview), talk with the county to determine whether the new food-stamp-only
form or the initial SAWS application is
a better tool for outreach.