
Deb Etheridge
124:48 - 125:56
“we have— yes, we have 2 areas in which we've been able to increase staff. The legislature appropriated or funded 15 eligibility technician positions that we've put forward, and we have operationalized a virtual contact center”
- Speaker
- Deb Etheridge
- Timestamp
- 124:48 – 125:56
- Community
- Alaska News
- Location
- Anchorage
- Captured at
From the transcript
Through the Chair, Representative, we have— yes, we have 2 areas in which we've been able to increase staff. The legislature appropriated or funded 15 eligibility technician positions that we've put forward, and we have operationalized a virtual contact center to really provide that direct service on the phone with, with merited staff. And then we also have those non-merit staff, the contracted staff, and we have a non-merit demonstration waiver through the Food Nutrition Assistance Administration and those non-merit staff, which is our, our contracted staff. We have high-quality reviews through them, and we've been able to increase the staffing and access and operationalize more case processing for SNAP. And then that actually takes a lot of burden off of our eligibility technicians to look at other programs and really support all the programs that the Division of Public Assistance administers.