Montgomery County JFS seeks consultant to measure COVID impact

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

The Montgomery County Department of Job & Family Services is putting out a request for proposals because it wants a consultant to measure the negative impact of COVID-19.

This initiative will use American Rescue Plan Act funding to analyze data obtained since the beginning of the pandemic “for potential improvements to the workflows that affect customer support and case processing in the operations of our Family Assistance and Children Services divisions,” according to Kevin Lavoie, assistant director of communications.

He said the vendor that’s selected will examine how workflows can better serve clients and staff. The vendor will take into consideration snapshots of staffing levels, cases handled during the pandemic and other data.

The chosen vendor will give recommendations on how the county can improve workflows in the most effective ways.

“We saw an increase in Family Assistance cases during the pandemic, as we, like others have experienced higher staff turnover and vacancies and made adjustments to our workforce practices during that time. We effectively pivoted to handle that volume in those circumstances, but are interested in using lessons learned for continued improvements” Tom Kelley, assistant county administrator, said in a statement.

For Montgomery County JFS, there were about 69,592 SNAP recipients in March 25, 2020, and by March 14, 2022, the number was 78,497.

For Medicaid in the county, as of March 25, 2020, there were 132,853 recipients and by March 14, 2022, there were 175,476 recipients.

About the Author