Greetings everyone!
Many things are happening in the world around us. Recently, we’ve seen disasters and tragedies, and with them we’ve seen the people willing to help others. All of these things affect our work and our personal life. During these stressful times, we should always be aware of the things in our lives that are causes for celebration. Things like your child’s first day of school, your spouse or partner’s hugs or kind words, or maybe a snuggle from your pet. These are just a few of the things that can make our life special; don’t overlook them.
Getting that tough case completed, or having all the items scanned--celebrate these accomplishments, too! You should celebrate your professional successes, big and small, as you are the people who are willing to help others.
Don’t forget to celebrate your role in DPA’s accomplishments in SNAP timeliness. In October 2016 our SNAP timeliness was at 68%; we ended August 2017 at 92%! FNS has let us know they are very pleased with this progress and it looks like we’ve successfully avoided the sanctions that were about to happen. This is a direct result of all of you and your hard work to get here. Our work is not done; however, as we work to sustain this level of excellence we know we have the team to do it.
This turnaround happened because you’re working the BPR in most offices. Nome just rolled out BPR and they also share a non-lobby with Fairbanks. The SE offices of Juneau, Ketchikan and Bethel now share a lobby and a non-lobby as well. Long Term Care is working through their backlog and preparing to go into BPR and use PathOs. The Mat-Su Region continues to work same day and can often assist in the backlog effort. The VCC continues to cold call clients; if the client does not answer, they work what they can before pending the case, a time saver for the next person. Thank you all for working cases to completion and ensuring our clients’ needs are met, for staying on top of the registrations and scanning, and for the leadership that I see every day in each of you.
Meanwhile, the backlog team remains focused on the Brown Track for the Mat-Su and Coastal Regions. During September, they touched 6,373 cases. As of October 6, they currently have 10,213 cases left to work in the brown track and then it’s off to the next region! Unfortunately, backlog processing has slowed down due to the age of the applications and the hiccups that we are experiencing with ARIES. In September, the VCC touched 1,435 cases, which has really helped bring in the timeliness for those XFS cases. Overall, we touched 21,785 cases in September; that’s a lot of families that have been helped!
In addition, our TA families and our Work Services teams are having their requests acted on quickly. Our Clerical teams are starting to work together across the state to help each other out, therefore keeping ET’s processing cases. Please, remember that all the regions and all staff contribute to the success of the backlog initiative and moving towards the goal for all of us to work today’s work today. Every day is a learning opportunity and finding a solution to the barriers that are presented to us every day is something DPA excels at.
Thank you,
Tammie and Aimee