by Joel Addington
Staff Writer
The move to a newly renovated building couldn’t have come sooner for the staff of Jacksonville’s ACCESS Florida Service Center.
About three weeks ago during heavy rains, their old location on Beach Boulevard flooded and everyone was forced out of the building used by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to dispense public assistance.
“We did the best we could by going to areas where it was not flooded,” explained operations consultant Rodney Gillis. “But eventually we had to shut the building down. It was a very old building.”
The ACCESS Florida program provides Medicaid, food stamps and temporary cash assistance to nearly 100,000 Jacksonville residents.
The new service center at 3720 Beach Blvd. officially opened Thursday with Department of Children and Families Secretary Bob Butterworth on hand for the ribbon cutting.
“This is a great location,” he said. “The last place, you didn’t feel too good walking in there or working there ... it was horrible. I felt embarrassed as an employee of the State of Florida. (Now) we’re providing Floridians with the dignity they deserve.”
Other new service centers were opened in Clay County a month ago and in Nassau County about six months ago.
“This one was probably the worst,” said Butterworth.
The new 2,300-square-foot service center space was recently renovated, giving the facility a fresh, clean appearance.
Butterworth said the center should service about 3,500 new applicants in the first year.
“The needs of these people are critical,” he said. “It’s our duty to meet their needs in an urgent manner.”
Vicki Abrams, the center’s operations manager, said the new facility will help the department move closer to that goal.
“The whole set up is more customer friendly and self service is easier so they (applicants) can do as much of the application process as possible themselves,” she said.
The 14 computer stations used to apply are located in the lobby and provide privacy to residents while they fill out their applications online.
ACCESS Florida’s online application saves taxpayers about $83 million, according to DCF data.
However, DCF continues to work to shorten the time it takes to process customer applications.
“We have an outside vendor that we’re working with to get people (assistance) cards faster, so we can get someone eligible immediately,” said Butterworth.
The new center is smaller than its predecessor and has two full-time staff members and one back-up employee.
“Our lobby is very open and is almost the same size, but we have less staff space in the back,” said Abrams. “This is a front-door operation. We don’t do a lot of the processing at the new center. It’s a totally different service model.”
Butterworth also recognized a local group, the Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry (BEAM), for its help in getting people through the application process in an area where no service center exists.
BEAM is one of DCF’s 167 partner organizations in Clay, Duval and Nassau counties that provide even more locations for residents to apply for assistance.
“Many people we can potentially serve are going to other assistance agencies like food banks or places to get clothing assistance,” said Abrams. “So when they go there for other assistance they can apply for food stamps or Medicaid or temporary cash assistance.”
For more information, visit www.myflorida.com/accessflorida.