PROGRAM SERVICES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS
The Office of the Deputy Director coordinates the program operations for the 30 Social Service programs administered by the Board. In addition to program services the Office of the Deputy Director supervises the Management Information Systems Department (MIS). Incorporating program services and information technology under one individual enables better coordination of information technology services across program disciplines. The program services division is comprised of four administrative departments working together to produce a coordinated and unified service plan that strives to meet the needs of each individual who requests assistance. In addition, the coordination of services extends beyond the confines of our Woolverton Street site. The Board conducts outreach efforts at 12 Mercer County community organizations, and maintains liaison and referral partnerships with over 50 additional community agencies. This network enables staff to assist all citizens of Mercer County and enhance the services provided within the eligibility parameters of Board programs. Truly reflective of the agency's mission statement, Program Services staff assists all residents of Mercer County, including the taxpayer, needy families and individuals, the aged, blind and disabled population, and community organizations. Dedicated staff continues to provide service delivery in a competent, efficient, and professional environment.
2004, THE YEAR IN REVIEW
In 2004, change continued to be the norm. Over the course of the year approximately 50 people opted for an early retirement initiative. This resulted in the appointment of new Department Heads for the Social Services Department and Income Maintenance Department, the Assistant Administrative staff and many of the supervisory personnel in these departments. The Document Control Department evolved into the Management Information Department, headed by a newly appointed individual from the private sector. All technology personnel were centralized in this department with a single individual directing development. Centralizing all technology functions in one department was a major change. Reassigning that department from Administrative Services to the Deputy Director enabled better coordination between program concerns and technology development issues. Medicaid became a department in its own right headed by a newly appointed Department Head in June 2004. This led to some minor reorganization in the department and improved internal processes. A major change was the transfer of Medicaid date entry from the Document Control Department to the Medicaid Department. This enables Medicaid eligibility information to appear more quickly on the state databases. In October of 2004, a new Deputy Director was appointed. Despite the many personnel changes in the administrative and supervisory areas, the agency continued to run smoothly. This was due to the fact that with the exception of the Management Information Department head, all appointments made were in-house personnel with decades of experience behind them. Some of these individuals came from different disciplines within the agency which brought new perspectives to the respective departments.
Another major change in 2004 was the consolidation of work activities under the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLW) and the Mercer County One Stop Career Center. This resulted in the loss of the contracting and monitoring processes for state Employment Directed Activity monies in both Work First New Jersey programs, General Assistance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. This was accompanied by the loss of the staff involved in these functions at the Board. In addition, Board staff was collocated at the Mercer County One Stop Career Center to better service our common client base. The initial loss of these functions at the Board resulted in a major decrease in the participation rate for Work First New Jersey activities. The process of refining the consolidation of these activities remains a work in progress and through monthly meetings with all the entities involved in the process, the participation rates are gradually beginning to rise.
As predicted applications and program participation rates continued to increase in 2004. This increase required modification of internal procedures regarding applications and the handling cases in general. In spite of the increase in program participation and applications the Board continued to achieve high marks in several program audits and maintained a Food Stamp payment accuracy rate below the state’s average.
The Social Service department expanded their use of the appointment process in 2004 in response to the increased demand for services. This resulted in fewer walk-ins and better control of the workload.
Staff maintained their presence in the community through memberships on various committees and boards including the Mercer County HIV consortium, the Mercer Task Force to end Homelessness, the National Coalition for the Homeless, the Department of Corrections Discharge Planning Committee, the Princeton Junior League, Children’s Futures and the Mercer County Head Start Child Development Program. In addition, the Board was again awarded grants for the Homeless Hotline, Supportive Assistance to Individuals and Families (SAIF), and Special Initiatives.
Challenges and Goals for 2005
In 2005, all the departments will continue to settle into the new positions and roles assumed in 2004. The method of routing applications to the Income Maintenance Department and processing these applications upon receipt will be modified to improve the timely issuance of benefits. Social Services plans to reorganize staff so that customers deal only with one worker for all their needs relating to social services, emergency assistance and Work First New Jersey activities. This will be less confusing for the customer and by allowing one worker to handle all aspects of the case, including managing the “to work” activities, as well as, social needs and barriers to employment service will be rendered in a more efficient manner.
The new initiative by the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) started in 2004 but was put on hold. This initiative is a result of legislative mandates to ensure the safety and well being of New Jersey’s vulnerable children and families. Since some of these children and families are common customers of both DYFS and the Board, agency staff is expected to play a major role in this initiative. Mercer is to be a pilot county for this initiative and was very involved in the developmental process until the initiative was placed on hold.
The consolidation of Work First New Jersey work activities with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLW) will continue to evolve over 2005. It is expected that a true “One Stop” will be formed in 2005 at 26 Yard Avenue, Trenton and that Board staff will be collocated at that location to provide a complete service package for our common customers.
The Management Information Systems Department (MIS) anticipates eliminating all reliance on Digital Equipment Corporations’ (DEC) workstations in 2005. This will enable more efficient processing of information by using softcopy data from the Division of Family Development, eliminating unnecessary hardware and reliance on proprietary data. The final implementation of an agency-wide Oracle data base for case tracking and appointment scheduling will eliminate the reliance on multiple unrelated data base systems in the agency for increased efficiency and improved communication. Along with this will be enhanced project management and reporting for all agency departments. The present computer room will be rebuilt and upgraded and a disaster recovery system will be implemented.
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