LANSING – Residents can sign up for unemployment benefits and food assistance grants through a single portal on the state’s website and officials are working to move more services there, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Wednesday.
The Helping Hand Web Site compiles all of the human services programs available through the state and some local non-profit agencies on a single page and either allows visitors to see if they are eligible or guides them to where they can find more information.
“The bottom line is we want to reduce the hassle of getting help,” Granholm said. “We don’t want to see long lines at Human Services offices and we don’t want to see long lines at unemployment insurance offices.”
The site allows online applications and renewals of food assistance and unemployment because current federal regulations allow those services to be offered without a face-to-face meeting with a caseworker. But Human Services Director Ismael Ahmed said the department is applying for waivers that could allow applications for cash assistance and Medicaid online as well.
Granholm said those who do not have Internet access at home would still have access to the system by being able to call local service providers. They could either direct the caller to a nearby place with a computer or they could take the application over the phone.
But she said a growing number of those seeking assistance were recently employed and are more likely to have home Internet and other technology available to them. And she said one of the initiatives the state is hoping to fund with federal stimulus money would be to expand broadband access to those areas of the state without access to the service.
In addition to easing work for residents seeking services, Granholm said the site would allow caseworkers to refocus their efforts. “Department of Human Services employees have caseloads that are so huge,” she said. “This allows workers to help families in a more direct way that need assistance.”
The system will also ease the load on local nonprofit service agencies, said Scott Dzurka, president of the Michigan Association of United Ways. “We’ve seen a 50 percent increase in calls to our local call centers,” he said. “Helping Hands provides us an online starting point to provide those services.”
And, given budget struggles for both the state and the non-profits, Dzurka said the collaboration allows both parties to make the best use of their resources.
Granholm said she also hoped to see more people apply for particularly food assistance, bringing more federal money into the state.
“The benefits have a significantly positive effect on local business,” Ahmed said.
Unemployment and food assistance are also combining by bringing some unemployment insurance caseworkers into local Human Services offices, either permanently or on a traveling basis depending on the office, Ahmed said.
Given that applicants are entering information themselves, Ahmed said the site could further reduce the state’s error rate on food assistance, further reducing the fines it pays to the federal government for those errors. The department has already reduced those errors enough to be able to shift some funds from fines to automating application and tracking systems.
And he said the information provided could also help to reduce fraud.
Granholm said the state would also redouble its efforts to fight fraud. “We will make sure there’s an aggressive effort to pursue those who would take advantage of the system,” she said.
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