Self Sufficiency Services Passes Audit with Flying Colors

The County’s Self-Sufficiency Services this month passed an important audit with flying colors. Most County offices can sympathize in the stress an audit brings, from long inventory processes to compliance checks.

This is an important part of our work, tied to the County’s Strategic Initiative of Evaluation and Accountability and value of integrity.

Self Sufficiency Services supports San Diegans who can’t afford healthy, nutritious food, or medical care, or need support growing their career.

One of the essential pieces of their operation is their Document Processing Center where applications and other documents that help validate eligibility for services are received. The week of Sept. 18 they were audited and reported zero findings.

“It is not often that a fairly large division such as the Document Processing Center comes through an audit with zero findings,” said Self-Sufficiency Services Director Richard Wanne, “especially having just recently transitioned to a new eligibility determination system last July. It takes a lot of communication with staff, training, and monitoring for quality and timeline adherence, and I could not be more proud of our team.”

The Document Processing Center opened in 2013 to provide a centralized location to receive customer applications and documents. The center provides support to 13 Family Resource Centers and other support offices across the county, serving more than a million customers. The center receives and registers over 30,000 benefit applications, and almost 500,000 documents monthly. Over the last year, the center imaged more than 5.8 million documents.

The center has a quick turnaround, working diligently to complete tasks within one business day, ensuring vital applications and documents are ready for Human Services Specialists to process and determine customer eligibility.

“This reflects the dedication, commitment, and highly technical knowledge that the center’s staff have,” said Self-Sufficiency Services Deputy Director Adriana Ramirez. “Our staff understand the importance of their role, not only within their assigned group, but as part of the larger Self-Sufficiency Services mission and our impact to our communities.

“Behind every document and application that comes through the Document Processing Center,” Ramirez said, “is a child who needs to see a doctor, a mom who needs help putting food on the table, a disabled individual who might be trying to fend off homelessness. These are fellow San Diegans, our neighbors and friends, who need a little help with the basic life necessities, and our staff have that deeper understanding.”

The auditors told the Self-Sufficiency Services team they will share best practices from the Mission Valley DPC with other centers around the state and perhaps beyond. Congratulations to the Self-Sufficiency Services Document Processing Center team.