By implementing these guiding principles in our design, our pilot was able to attract 176,000 applicants over the course of just 3 weeks. We were proud to see our efforts reflected in the final applicant demographics (click here to read the full report), where:
- 82% of applicants live in communities with medium or high economic hardship (modeled from the UIC Great Cities Economic Hardship Index)
- 70% were women
- 64% of applicants have household incomes at or below the federal poverty line
- 16% identified as having a disability
- 9% identified as homeless or housing insecure
To activate equitable and inclusive outreach, the City competitively selected six community-based organizations to provide expansive outreach over the 3-week application period: YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Center for Changing Lives, Phalanx Family Services, Spanish Coalition for Housing, Pui Tak Center, and United African Organization.
In partnership with additional community-based networks and organizations, the CRCP outreach delegates hosted more than 400 outreach events around the city, with a focus on providing direct application assistance in South and West side neighborhoods, to communities with low English literacy, and to people experiencing homelessness. Coupled with daily assistance at DFSS service centers, residents had on average 210 opportunities each week to get in-person help with their application. The YWCA also worked with the Chicago Food Depository to distribute informational flyers to 270 food pantries across the city.
“We were dedicated to getting this opportunity in front of the people who needed it most in our communities, and to giving them every chance they could to receive these resources,” YWCA of Chicago CEO, Nicole Robinson said. “Our outreach efforts had to be more than just education, we had to reduce barriers, build trust, and provide the support needed to successfully complete the application.”
Strengths-Based Outreach and Support
One group of residents that required intentional outreach to ensure inclusion were people experiencing homelessness. DFSS and YWCA affiliate Streetwise jumped into action.
“Chicagoans who face homelessness face countless barriers to stability, and direct cash assistance can support the flexibility they need to address those multiple barriers,” DFSS Commissioner Brandie Knazze said. “It was a priority to ensure individuals experiencing homelessness were able to submit applications.”
Outside of the outreach efforts from community-based organizations, the DFSS Homeless Outreach and Prevention (HOP) team tripled their regular outreach to unsheltered encampments during the application period. They would bring smart phones or tables and walk individuals through the entire application.
They coordinated directly with 50 shelter partners to provide regular updates and guide documents that would support caseworkers in doing the same. They worked with trusted messengers to help hand out flyers on location.
“Most of the people that we serve are not going to the community center or a fair, due to any number of issues,” said DFSS Deputy Commissioner of Homeless Services, Maura McCauley. “This is all about being strengths-based. We had to bring this to them.”
These broad efforts resulted in 6,111 applications submitted by individuals experiencing homelessness, currently staying on the street or in shelters – a total of 3.5% of all applicants (click here to see the applicant demographics).
Designing inclusive outreach was just one critical first step. These outreach efforts supported thousands of residents to start an application, including from hard-to-reach populations. But what happened when those individuals were ready to submit and be entered into the pilot’s lottery? It took less than 28 minutes for the vast majority of individuals to finish their application – see how our equity-based, data-driven application design led to success in our next blog piece.
