Senior to Senior SSI Entitlements Outreach Project

摘要

This program operating in nine states and D.C. was designed to accomplish the task of bringing together resource agency personnel in the target community from the Social Security Administration, the state Medicaid, the Food Stamp office, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) to facilitate their introduction to the outreach project local staff and provide them with orientation to the project design, goals and objectives. The most revealing fact that emerged from the three year outreach project was that federal, state and local resource agency personnel rarely know one another or interact, nor do they recognize the implications for beneficiaries, of eligibility for one program and how that may affect eligibility or benefits for another program. The objective was to develop and implement outreach strategies which would help overcome barriers to low-income minority participation in entitlement programs such as (1) lack of correct information; (2) fear of government; and (3) lack of understanding about the program application procedures and point of contact.