AGENCIES JOIN TO IMPROVE ASSISTANCE WITH UTILITIES BILLS

A collaborative effort by several social-services agencies may result in quicker, more efficient access to funding for families needing assistance in paying their utilities bills.

East Missouri Action Agency, American Red Cross, Salvation Army and other agencies that help families pay delinquent utilities bills have streamlined their assistance efforts by requiring individuals to begin the application process at EMAA. Once the application is completed, the individuals receive referrals to the agency best able to meet the request, said EMAA community services representative Kevin Sexton.

This differs from the previous method of providing assistance, during which the various agencies did not collaborate and therefore could not determine who had received assistance from other agencies or whether an agency had funding available. The lack of collaboration often resulted in a duplication of services or frustration when people made multiple trips to various agencies only to learn the organization was out of funds until the next funding cycle."We should be able to tell through our intake process what other agencies a person has been through," Sexton said. "What we're hoping to do is use the money more efficiently and help individuals needing assistance get to the agency that has the assistance in the quickest manner possible,"Sexton said his agency was selected to initiate the intake process because it requires in-depth assessments of each applicant to determine why they are needing emergency financial assistance."We try to do a more overall assessment of what the family needs in terms of things like income tax help and medical information," he said. "Hopefully, we can share this information with the agencies providing community assistance and hopefully help the families move on to self-sufficiency."Requests for assistance paying delinquent utilities bills are fairly high in the area, and many agencies run out of funding before every request is met, Sexton said. Requests are especially high during peak usage like mid-winter or mid-summer. Sexton said: "During the early parts of these periods there's not really a big problem of running out of money. It's later in the funding cycle that we have agencies running out."Although a rising number of families is moving off welfare rolls and beginning to find jobs, Sexton said there has been no corresponding decrease in the number of assistance requests. "At this point I haven't seen a large decrease in the number of people having crises, which I think means they're working, but they're not moving beyond a poverty wage," he said.

Salvation Army Major Robert Gauthier said his agency sets aside about $1,000 each month for utilities assistance and pays up to $50 towards a delinquent bill. There is always a high number of requests, and the organization usually runs out of money within two weeks of the start of the funding cycle.

As a result of the collaboration, the Salvation Army changed its funding cycle from the first half of the month to the second half of the month."Most of the agencies were giving funds from the first of the month on, and usually we were out by the 10th or so," Gauthier said. "This way we can catch people at the end of the month who might otherwise be missed because everyone else is out of money."Gauthier said the collaboration appears to be a good one and could encompass more programs in the future. "Down the road we're going to see more working together between agencies, which I think is a good thing," he said. "This is the first step of funneling people through one source, and it will eventually include housing and some other things also."