How a (Survey) Monkey is Helping Revitalize the Public Benefits Task Force

November 2, 2009

Next Meeting: Dec. 3 in Syracuse

In the past the Welfare Task Force, coordinated and led by Empire Justice staff, was a major force in developing advocacy approaches, providing training, support and networking opportunities for welfare advocates located throughout New York.  In recent years funding concerns at Empire Justice, restrictions on organizations funded by the national Legal Services Corporation as well as budget restrictions which often made travel to meetings prohibitive, led to a less active task force with fewer meetings.  It also appeared that fewer state and foundation grants were directed toward welfare advocacy resulting in fewer advocates dedicating their time to welfare issues.  However, Empire Justice staff believed that the task force was not only still viable, but vitally important in confronting changes in benefit programs.

Was that belief shared?  We decided to survey New York advocates by using a simple and easy to use Internet program (with a fun name) called “Survey Monkey”.  The advantage of surveying in this way is that it's fast, it's free and the results can be compiled immediately.  Fifty-two advocates responded to the survey which asked for input on what the task force should do and how often it should meet. 

Here’s what we found out:

1.  Advocates want to meet about significant public benefits topics.  So bid a fond farewell to the Welfare Task Force and welcome the more appropriately titled, “Public Benefits Task Force”.

2.  Advocates want to meet face to face and more than once a year.

Ideally, how often should the task force meet?

Response                                              Percent

a. Once a year                                       6.1%
b. Twice a year                                     30.6%
c. Three or four times a year                   61.2%
d. Never                                                0.0%
e. Meet electronically only                        2.0%

3.  Advocates want to come together as a Task Force for many reasons.

Updates On Litigation and Case Law    63%
Changes in Laws and Regulations   78%
Training with CLE Credit Provided   51.0%
Collaboration on Advocacy Initiatives   66.7%
Help Identify New Issues and Develop   69%
Strategies in Response

 4.  Advocates predict that finding funds to bring people together will not be a concern for the Task Force if travel costs are reasonable.

Here’s what we are doing in response to the survey:

1.  The Public Benefits Task Force will endeavor to meet regionally three to four times a year beginning  Dec. 3 in Syracuse. 
2.  To ensure that every advocate who wants to be a part of the task force can do so, all regional meetings will be available via conference call or other media.
3.  We hope to schedule an annual state-wide meeting of the Task Force coordinating it with events such as the Partnership Conference.

To be fully informed on what’s happening in Public Benefits, we recommend that you:

• sign up for the Empire Justice website (http://www.empirejustice.org/) which has a registration feature which will allow you to customize both your use of the website and materials and announcements you might want to receive; and,
• sign up for the public benefits discussion group which is on the Western New York Law Center web page at: http://service.wnylc.com/email.signup/email.signup.cgi

For additional information about the Public Benefits Task Force please contact Don Friedman or Saima Akhtar.