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SAN DIEGO COUNTY - CalWIN Success Story

When the 2007 Firestorm hit San Diego County, County officials knew they would be seeing an increase in assistance requests from displaced County residents. More than 500,000 people were asked to evacuate their homes and local governments and the Red Cross opened up more than 50 shelters for displaced families.

In the weeks that followed, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) staff set up shop at several Local Assistance Centers (LACs)- one-stop shops for residents to come and apply for emergency assistance from city, county and federal agencies.

The ability to process applications for food stamp assistance was made easier by utilizing the CalWIN system. HHSA staff used CalWIN to determine eligibility for Disaster Food Stamp Program (DFSP) benefits to nearly 6500 households. Ultimately, approximately 5400 households were issued benefits through the system.

One of the true benefits of CalWIN was highlighted during the crush of applications. Due to the use of a common eligibility determination system, (CalWIN) staff from Santa Barbara County was able to assist us backfilling at our regular offices that had staff deployed to the LACs.

Submitted by:
Kim Forrester
County CalWIN Manager