Diaper Distribution Program (Maricopa County)

Diaper Distribution Program (Maricopa County) is sponsored by Maricopa County Human Services Department (MCHSD). The Maricopa County Human Services Department provides diapers to eligible families through a pilot program throughout Maricopa County, Arizona. This service is made possible through funding from the U.

S.

Diaper Grant • Maricopa County, AZ Human Services Case Studies Maricopa County Human Services Department (MCHSD) is providing diapers to eligible families through a pilot program involving MCHSD Early Education (EDD) and Community Services (CSD) throughout Maricopa County, at no cost.

This service is possible through funding made available from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by a grant through Wildfire, the Community Action Association (CAA) for Arizona. HHS is partnering with CAAs to provide diapers and diapering supplies on a consistent basis through diaper distribution programs while also offering support services for families with low incomes.

MCHSD CSD is the designated CAA for Maricopa County, providing a variety of crisis services to stabilize immediate needs of families. MCHSD CAA serves low-income residents, through Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) with cities and towns to provide Community Action Program (CAP) services.

Through these partnerships with local municipalities, MCHSD is able to leverage additional services and funding to further address the needs of residents in local communities. Problem or Need Addressed by the Program Diapers can range in cost from $0. 30 to upwards of $0.

75 each depending on the size and features. This program offers diapers in a variety of sizes from newborn to older children, including young adult sizes for household members with special needs. With the current economy and rising inflation, basic living expenses have soared.

Families with low-incomes are disproportionately impacted by these rising costs, increasing their struggle to meet those basic needs more now than ever. Maricopa County is one of the fastest growing counties in the United States with 12 percent of the households having children under the age of five living at 100 percent below the poverty level.

The monthly supply from Maricopa County's Diaper Distribution Program provides eligible families with approximately $75 worth of diapers, per month for up to 12 months. Families with multiple children will benefit from this program, off setting this basic expense. As the designated Community Action Agency, the Community Services Division was selected to implement the Diaper Distribution Program which began in March 2023.

This pilot provides the distribution of diapers to residents throughout Maricopa County. This program was implemented across multiple divisions within the Human Services Department, with focus on the Community Services Division and Early Education Division (EED).

The EED east valley office was selected to immediately store and track the distribution of diapers, in addition to focusing initial outreach efforts to vulnerable families that are receiving or seeking early education services for their young children. In tracking the distribution of the diapers, EED is responsible for capturing the household demographics and other federal services that the household is receiving.

The east valley EED office is co-located with MCSHD's Arizona@Work program which provides a variety of workforce services to County residents. The co-location of the Maricopa@Work program allows families to easily access the following workforce services: career guidance, job search, access to hiring events, paid work experiences/ apprenticeships, resume development, and occupational training grants.

Families who are seeking diapers are informed of these available workforce services along with other MCHSD program services to include but not limited to: senior services, rent/ utility assistance, homeless services, and home improvement services. In addition, the Diaper Distribution Program is promoted to families receiving Community Action Program services, through the established partnership with local CAP offices.

As part of the partnership with local CAP offices, the primary objectives of CAP services are aimed to strengthen community capabilities for planning and coordinating the use of a broad range of resources related to the elimination of poverty; the organization of a range of services so that these services may have a measurable and potentially major impact on the causes of poverty and help families and individuals become fully self-supportive.

The CAP program promotes innovative and effective community- based approaches by attacking the causes of poverty while addressing needed gaps in services and expand the resource base of programs directed to the elimination of poverty. As a Community Action Agency, the Community Services Division receives a variety of federal, state, and local funds to provide crisis services, primarily rent and utility financial assistance.

Families receiving diapers through the Diaper Distribution Program, are referred to the CAP program for rent and utility assistance. Through this combination of assistance, families are able to have their basic needs met. Based off the most recent data, 10 percent of the families that have received diapers have also received rental/utility assistance.

As a CAA, the Community Services Division is also responsible for the implementation of a case management program, Empowerment Pathways Program (EPP). EPP provides services that are intended to address the needs of the household through Evidence Based Coaching (EBC). A goal of EBC is to steer how staff works with families toward a coaching philosophy that places the client in the lead and staff playing a critical supporting role.

This is a shift from the practice of staff driven service delivery to client driven service delivery, which empowers the client to take ownership of their progress and ultimate success. EPP assists families in resolving crisis situations while connecting them to additional services within their community. The Diaper Distribution Program has allowed MCHSD to reimagine and redesign the delivery of services to families with low incomes.

Using EED as the entry point for this program service, it provides the opportunity for EED staff to gain a comprehensive understanding of the household's needs by leveraging the current rapport with the families. Staff is able to quickly assess the various services that the household may be able to benefit from and assist in making those connections.

This approach creates a seamless entry point for families to access HSD program services, meeting the needs of the entire family that would lead to outcomes as it relates to Evidence Based Coaching (EBC).

In an effort to increase the accessibility of the Diaper Distribution Program, MCHSD is working to establish a distribution center in the west valley to reduce the travel burden for families that do not live near the EED east valley location. This new location will be centrally located in west valley, in close proximity to the west valley CAP offices.

Families eligible to receive diapers must reside in Maricopa County, outside the cities of Phoenix, Glendale, and Mesa and must be within 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), which equates to an annual income of $45,000 per year for a family of four. Once a family is deemed eligible, they will receive their allocation of diapers for the month. Diapers are distributed Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4 p.

m. MCHSD has received an initial allocation of over 700,000 diapers for our service area and is averaging a monthly distribution rate of 30,000 to 40,000 diapers per month, which demonstrates the overwhelming need for this service. MCHSD anticipates that the establishment of a west valley distribution center will more than double this rate.

The Community Services Division aligns services to create systems of support to avert crisis and manage the impacts of poverty. This is achieved through our designation as a Community Action Agency (CAA). As a Community Action Agency, Community Services is funded through a combination of state, federal and local funds.

Diapers have been identified as a need in Early Education as well as families looking to engage in the workforce. The grant that Community Services received was through our existing partnership with the Arizona Community Action Association, Wildfire.

Due to our already existing partnership, Wildfire was able to allocate Diapers to the Maricopa County Human Services Department and the Community Services Division was able to accept the diapers. There were no additional costs associated with this grant as Community Services could leverage the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), which is the building block to Community Action Agencies across the Nation.

CSBG allows Community Services to bill a portion of our staff's time while the other divisions, Early Education and Workforce also have funding that makes this effort an allowable expense. This diaper distribution now occur on both the east and west valley.

When this pilot was first launched the East Valley Center was selected as the primary distribution center, with the plan to move this pilot to operate on both the East and West Valley. These sites were chosen as they are the main service area for both Early Education and Workforce.

The Community Services Division has partnerships with municipalities in both the east and west valley, so it was critical that accessibility to the diapers was considered. Maricopa County Human Services has been able to rely on the programs offered by our current divisions to serve residents. The program does not have any direct associated costs with the distribution of the diapers.

The direct services of the diaper program is managed by the Early Education supervisor. The program leverages Maricopa County Human Service staff to volunteer in order to assist clients and minimize the time a client needs to wait. Maricopa County Human Services Department created a volunteer registration for the program.

This was the most effective and efficient way for the Early Education supervisor to ensure that there were enough volunteers for the program. The Early Education staff would place a monthly order so that there were enough diapers to meet the demand. The staff that regularly supported this program consisted of One (1) Supervisor, Two (2) Management Analyst, One (1) Management Assistant and One (1) Operation Specialist.

The average time billed to this program with all staff is . 38 percent, with the ERE at $754. 03 and IDC at $522.

82. Bringing the total monthly cost of staff's time is $2,877. 85.

The Human Services team has delivered over 700,000 diapers with an average cost of . 30 and upwards of . 75 per diaper with the cost to the department $2,877.

85 which was an easy justification of staff times with a high level of impact to residents the Human Services Department touches. Results/Success of the Program Since March 2023, Maricopa County Human Services Department (MCHSD) began providing diapers to eligible families through a pilot program involving MCHSD Early Education (EDD) and Community Services (CSD) throughout Maricopa County, at no cost.

The intent of this pilot was to deliver diapers to those families in need. Maricopa County Human Services saw this as an opportunity to remove internal silos for families and begin to offer Maricopa County residents, who are eligible for the programs Human Services offers an opportunity to access additional resources.

Community Services was able to maximize their ability to offer the Diapers, while not occurring additional costs by internal program partnering. The Diaper Pilot allows the Maricopa County Human Services Community Service Division an opportunity to approach clients from a Whole Family Approach.

The Whole Family Approach is a framework designed to build a family well-being by intentionally and strategically working with children and the adults in their lives simultaneously to identify the needs of the entire family. A Client Tracking report required Maricopa County Human Services to identify other services provided to the family as well as identify referrals offered to the family in addition to the diapers.

The Client tracker was a snap shot of a point in time for a client, at time a resident applied for diapers the Maricopa County Human Services Department was identifying other services to provided to the family.

There were 24 services identified which included but were not limited to the following: Utility Assistance, Rental/Housing Assistance, Health Services, Financial Literacy/Empowerment, Legal Services, Job Development, SNAP and WIC Assistance, Head Start, Energy Education. The Tracker also identified any referrals made to a client so that services still needed could be captured and identified.

The referral list mirrored the services provided. In order for the Diaper pilot to gain traction, it was imperative that the services offered be accessible to the entire Maricopa County service area. In order to achieve this goal, Maricopa County Human Services launched the pilot program in the East Valley Career Center and several months later launched the Diaper Pilot in the West Valley Career Center.

Both sites have established a distribution schedule which allows the Maricopa County Human Services staff coverage to meet the needs of the local community.

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