Lead Economic Support Specialist

Lead Economic Support Specialist

The Lead Economic Support Specialist provides training and technical and program assistance for the multi-county Great Rivers Consortium (GRC). This position determines eligibility and level of supportive services needed in a timely and accurate manner in accordance with the policy and procedures established for public assistance programs such as Medical Assistance, Badger Care Plus, Food Share/SNAP, Caretaker Supplement (CTS) and Wisconsin Shares Child Care subsidies.

• Assists in coordinating and interpreting economic support policies, procedures, rules, regulations, and mandates; completes ongoing trainings regarding changes in the federal and state regulations and technical advancements; updates policies and procedures in response to changes and advancements.
• Demonstrates effective motivational leadership techniques to support staff in daily functions; assists in providing direction to staff engaged in making eligibility determinations, referrals to employment resources, mental health and other human services related agencies; assigns and monitors work to assure efficient and timely case processing; coordinates and provides extensive new worker and ongoing worker training; develops written and verbal training content delivered individually or in group settings;
  
  provides input to Economic Support Leadership team on employee performance; assists in supervision in the absence of the Economic Support Manager.
• Contributes to the Economic Support Specialist's and GRC's quality control efforts; ensures compliance of programs; reviews casework of GRC staff to assure correct benefits are issued.
• Coordinates the provision of services to ensure that required program standards for service delivery are met to identify areas where further training is needed.
• Creates and generates workload and performance reports to measure timeliness of staff and consortium partners to ensure state and federal performance standards are being met.
• Directs expertise in public assistance programs, policies, and procedures to determine eligibility for assistance; conducts intensive investigative interviews to obtain and evaluate financial and non-financial information; researches and responds to financial and non-financial cross matches and alerts; obtains and verifies third-party information; collaborates with various agencies and support services; verifies appropriate levels of benefits and/or services.
• Researches, interprets, and applies federal, state, and local policies governing eligibility, legal rights, and responsibilities of applicants; determines correct public assistance benefits through direct client contact via office interview and telephone in compliance with required state and federal time frames; assesses individual and family needs to provide referrals to other agencies and community support services.
• Assures high level of customer service emphasizing the department core values of welcoming, ethical, compassion, appreciation, respect, and excellence; answers phones in a call center setting; responds to questions; provides case status updates; processes changes; troubleshoots problems; responds to emergency needs; re-determines eligibility and processes verifications.
• Utilizes skill in personal computer operations including a variety of standard and specialized software programs; records, maintains, reviews, and regularly corrects benefit levels and other documentation regarding applicants, using Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) and CARES Worker Web (CWW) systems.
• Identifies risk factors such as AODA, domestic abuse, disabilities, or suspected child abuse and reports to appropriate services.
• Demonstrates critical thinking to examine potential fraud, waste, and abuse as well as complaints and concerns regarding publicly funded and supported services; determines need for and prepares Fraud and Program Integrity referrals; performs basic math calculations to recalculate benefits for publicly funded and supported services; prepares for and provides effective and credible testimony at administrative hearings and during the Fair Hearing Process.
• Organizes work and establishes priorities to manage multiple projects and make appropriate decisions independently; prepares and responds to Second Party Reviews, Food Share Quality Control Reviews, Child Care Targeted Case Reviews; develops and implements GRC/agency targeted case reviews based on high error prone case processing trends.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with internal and external partners; represents Eau Claire County and GRC by participating on local, state, and consortium committees and work groups; receives and responds to technical questions from staff, consumers, and the general public about unit programs and services.
• Performs other related duties as required or assigned.

• Associate degree in human services, public/business…