What happened in 2018 at mRelief?
In 2018 at mRelief, we solidified our end-to-end process, expanded our text messaging platform and launched our first screener on voice.
63% Benefits Received Rate
The tools that we have built in 2018 have allowed us to reach an average approval rate of 63% for our users applying for SNAP in San Francisco County. This increase has resulted from targeted interventions in documents submission and rescheduling, which were previously the most challenging part of the application process.
Our new documents uploader allows users to submit required verifications through web or SMS, either by uploading photos of documents to a customized link or by sending photos in a text. If the SNAP office needs someone to clarify pieces of information related to her case, we can easily coordinate an electronic DocuSign statement for her to sign via email.
Our automated rescheduling tool has also increased our approval rate by ensuring that users who initially miss their appointments can still complete the process. When a user indicates that she can’t attend a scheduled SNAP appointment, we propose a few new appointment times. If those new times don’t work, we immediately gather the information necessary to complete an interview via phone instead. Now, 92% of our users complete their SNAP interview.
300% Increase in CA
In addition to expanding the scope of our product, we also expanded our reach. New outreach strategies in California culminated in a 300% increase in families served. In 2017, we helped 8,119 families discover that they likely qualify for SNAP in California, and in 2018, we reached 32,906 families.
We also spread the reach of our technology across the country. Our eligibility screener is currently live in 42 states, and here are our outreach numbers compared to 2017.
Expanding to Include Voice
In 2018, we also expanded our SNAP tools to be inclusive of voice. Check out our voice screening tool, available in California in partnership with the California Department of Social Services. Backed by the Knight Foundation, this tool is similar to our web and text messaging approach in that it is entirely adaptive based on how a user answers questions and responds to spoken and dialed numbers. We pursued voice for a few reasons:
- Landlines are still a thing – 10% of our users who check their eligibility, thousands of users each year -- are landliners
- We don’t take literacy for granted – 32 million adults in the U.S. (14% of the population) can’t read.
- We wanted to engage under-enrolled seniors with more tools – NCOA reports that multiple studies show seniors prefer phone-based enrollment.
- After-hours services enable counties to provide more coverage and automated voice solutions that are easy-to-use are really light-weight integrations for governments.
So this meant we had to slightly revise our tagline and as of 2018, mRelief is now the easy-to-use tool on web, text and voice for Americans to sign up for SNAP.
Growing with Partners
This year, our partnerships have helped us reach more people who are likely eligible for SNAP than ever before.
- In San Francisco County our end-to-end service has resulted in a 63% CalFresh approval rate.
- Our partnership with Catholic Charities in Chicago has enabled us to reach more than 11,000 SNAP eligible families in Illinois.
- Our work with the California Department of Social Services has helped us connect 23,000 families to CalFresh.
- In Yolo County, California, we helped boost enrollment numbers among students by more than 500%.
We can’t wait to expand our reach in 2019 and take steps toward enrolling 1 million families in 2020.
