Step 3: Offering Benefits and Resources Support
Key Activities
Navigators should:
Review the needs identified by the referring Case Planner.
Meet with the family or young person and assess the full scope of challenges around each need.
If the family member or young person has applied for programs or support but doesn't know the outcome, help identify application status and support next steps.
Identify what recertifications are or will be needed, and when.
Assess what program(s) the young person or family is eligible for.
Help assemble the needed information and documentation for eligible applications.
Support applications and any needed follow-up after submission.
Make referrals to relevant programs and providers that don't require an application.
Reassess any other economic and concrete resources and support (ECRS) needs not identified by the Case Planner as the case proceeds.
Share a biweekly report with the Case Planner that captures updates on eligible or applied-for ECRS supports (see ECRS Navigation Update Report).
Consider whether an NYCBenefits referral is needed for further navigation once an ACS case has closed.
Report all ECRS activities to ACS or DSS. NYCBenefits Navigators should report via regular NYCBenefits Reporting. All other Navigators should report activities to ACS through the ECRS Data Reporting Form (see Data Reporting for more context).
Jump to: Guidelines Tools
Guidelines
Your organization can design its own methods for engagement and documentation. Consider the following:
I. Make reference to previous screening.
Use the information shared by the Case Planner explicitly. Say things like "I know you already shared that you…" or "You expressed previously that…" and then ask follow-up questions, rather than ignoring information they've already provided.
II. Offer agency in prioritizing support.
Let the family or young person set a couple primary goals, such as an educational milestone, resolving a legal situation, or securing new housing. Spend your initial time focused on those. Supporting their goals builds trust and openness to you helping them with other needs.
“[The need I want to prioritize is] living situation…. I want to further my education, but I want my living situation to get settled before I jump into the other sections of my life. Those are the two main things I would want to talk to someone about to really get a hold on life. More or less, the living situation, because that’s more important if you have a family.”
– ACS-connected family member
III. Find the right time to expand screening.
Feel out the right opportunity to screen and probe for other needs that haven’t been identified. This might happen during the first conversation, but it might be easier during the second or third.
IV. Understand the challenge and their efforts to address it.
Explore the context of the ECRS need:
Assess the severity of the challenge. What's at stake, and what is the frequency or urgency?
Identify underlying factors. If the young person or family has applied for or received support for this need before, why is there still a challenge?
Discuss previous obstacles. If their applications have been denied, why?
V. Use available technical assistance.
As you support the family or young person with assessing eligibility, application status, recertification, document gathering, and referrals to other programs, make use of the training and technical assistance offered (see Training and Technical Assistance).
VI. Generate a biweekly report for the Case Planner.
The report can be generated through your internal systems and emailed as an encrypted attachment to the referring Case Planner. It can follow the ECRS Navigation Update Report.
If the referring Case Planner is in-house, they might have access to the internal systems where you have documented your work. Report or check-in with biweekly through your preferred mode to offer any needed context.
Tools
Consider using or adapting these tool templates. Clicking a link for a template will download it.
ECRS Navigation Update Report
The report includes fields of data about work performed by a Navigator that, when shared with referring Case Planners, can inform case management and documentation. It can either be completed manually or exported from internal systems as a .csv file or other format suitable to the Case Planner’s needs.
ECRS Data Reporting Form
For ACS-, Robin Hood-, and Single Stop- funded Navigators: this Airtable form should be filled out separately for every date that Navigators complete any part of Step 3.