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Forum Set For Missourians Facing Long Waits For Social Services

The Kansas City Workers' Rights Board will hold a community forum Wednesday evening to draw attention to long waits for programs the Missouri Department of Social Services administers.

Alice Kitchen, a steering committee member, says it's been more difficult to apply for Medicaid, food stamps and other programs since the department outsourced much of the Family Support Division's work to a third-party company.

"The people who are affected are not the most vocal, the most visible, and they don't have the kind of clout that many citizens who would be irate and not accept that substandard service," says Kitchen.

In September, Social Services Director Brian Kinkade acknowledged the long wait times in testimony at the statehouse. He told lawmakers that staffing issues at contractor YoungWilliams' call center contributed to the long waits and about three-fifths of callers to his department hung up before they could be helped.

YoungWilliams has since agreed to a corrective active plan that calls for getting wait times to six minutes or less, according to an email from Department of Social Services spokeswoman Rebecca Woelfel.

"Wait time and call abandonment numbers are improving," she writes.

The average wait time had dropped from ten minutes in September to about six minutes by mid-October, according to a chart the department provided.

The forum will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church, 3800 Troost, Kansas City, Mo.

Elle Moxley covered education for KCUR.
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