Abstract

The summer of 2008 was especially difficult for many in Michigan. The recession had resulted in economic devastation for families throughout the state. As Karen Aldridge-Eason, the director of the Office of Foundation Liaison describes it, “The economy was shifting and lots of people were being laid off and losing jobs for the first time.” Outside of Department of Human Services (DHS) offices across Michigan, hundreds of people lined up to battle the sweltering summer heat, waiting to apply for food stamps and other benefits to carry their families through the economic crisis. For many this was their first time through this process and it was a frustrating experience, with wait times extending to 8 hours or more, sometimes only to be told that the offices were closed when they finally reached the front of the line. In some communities, local sheriffs were called in to keep the peace. The stress on the Department of Human Services system had reached a breaking point and something had to change. Then-Governor Jennifer Granholm directed the Michigan DHS and her key policy director to come up with an improved online process for determining eligibility for benefits within six months.

This crisis jump started what would eventually become the Michigan Benefits Access Initiative (MBAI), a technology and community outreach strategy for connecting Michigan’s most vulnerable families to government benefits, of which an estimated $930 million a year goes unclaimed in Michigan alone.-1 MBAI grew to represent an unusual public/private partnership between government, foundations and the nonprofit sector that went far beyond Granholm’s original vision. By 2013, approximately 5 years after its initiation, an on-line web portal is in place for individuals to easily apply for and access multiple benefits with just one application. The outreach strategy is flipping the DHS model for accessing benefits; instead of requiring clients come to them, they are more and more meeting clients where they are. Through MBAI outreach activities, community organizations that already work with needy families play a key role in connecting them to benefits. Through the end of 2012, MBAI trained over 1,000 individuals in community organizations across the state in the on-line portal system. They reached out to over 217,000 households, with 6,588 completing the web application.2 The proportion of applications done online rather than “in line” at the DHS offices went from fewer than 7 percent to almost 30 percent by 2012, validating the wisdom of the two-pronged strategy of developing the technology and then investing in its use through nonprofit organizations across the state.

Over time, the Michigan Benefits Access Initiative has become a large and complicated undertaking for the state, needing the engagement of sectors beyond government and funding from private funders to achieve the potential to improve the lives of Michigan families. No one sector could do this work alone, and one of the key players in developing MBAI was the Office of Foundation Liaison (OFL), a non-partisan office housed in state government with the mission to broker strategic partnerships between the State and the philanthropic sector. This report focuses on the role of OFL in bringing the MBAI to fruition.

Keywords

Office of Foundation Liaison, Michigan Benefits Access Initiative, Michigan Benefits Access

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