Five Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services  projects, implemented to enhance customer service during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been selected to receive service awards from the American Society for Public Administration Southern California Chapter.

The department will accept the awards at ASPA’s 72nd Annual Awards Luncheon on June 7 at 11 a.m., at the California Endowment in downtown Los Angeles.

Serving over 3.5 million L.A. County residents, DPSS is the nation’s largest social service agency and recognized as a leader in its customer service delivery.  The department was selected in five 2022 ASPA award categories, including the Clarence A. Dykstra Award for Excellence in Government, Tom Bradley Diversity Award, Winston Crouch Award for Innovation in Government, Henry Reining Outstanding Organization Award, and the Earl Warren Outstanding Public Service Award.

The ASPA awards will be presented to DPSS teams for the following projects:

The Civil Rights Section’s American Sign Language and Video Remote Interpretive services was awarded ASPA’s Clarence A. Dykstra Award for Excellence in Government for enhancing the department’s communication with deaf or hard-of-hearing customers seeking public assistance. DPSS customers were provided with an option to receive interpreter services via a live ASL interpreter or ASL VRI technology.

The Communications Section received ASPA’s Tom Bradley Diversity Award for the implementation of the “What Is” explainer video series featured on the department’s website and YouTube channel, which provides residents an overview of programs and services in a user-friendly way and includes Closed Captions/subtitles and interactive transcripts in 10 languages. This video series, which meets ADA and international standards for accessibility, proved useful in helping thousands of first-time customers who turned to DPSS seeking public assistance.

The CalWORKs Program’s Children & Youth Tutoring Program received ASPA’s Earl Warren Outstanding Public Service Award for its collaboration with the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The program offered online academic tutoring services to CalWORKs school-aged children, youth (kindergarten through 12th grade), students with special needs, and those who experienced homelessness.

The Outbound Text Campaign for Food Giveaways received ASPA’s Henry Reining Outstanding Organization Award for collaborating with the Board of Supervisors, L.A. Regional Food Bank, and other community organizations, to coordinate Public Health Emergency food giveaway events for families in need during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Renewal Line Project received ASPA’s Winston Crouch Award for Innovation in Government for launching the nation’s first Renewal Line project, providing more than 3.5 million DPSS customers with an option to renew their benefits entirely over the phone. Customers were able to renew their benefits over the phone at their convenience, without the need to mail paperwork or visit a DPSS office.

Founded in 1948, the mission of ASPA is to inspire and promote public service leadership in the Southern California region. The chapter includes members that encompass the entire public administration community, representing all ranks of governments, non-profits, universities and private industry leaders who work with public administrators.