CGI Provides Disaster Assistance Program Support to New York City

During this difficult and challenging crisis, CGI collaborated with HRA to establish relief and support centers and other tools to enable New York City to respond to its citizens in need.

The Client
New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) is charged with the delivery of social services and public assistance benefits to roughly two million New York City residents. With nearly 13,000 employees and 50 field locations, the management of technology and business process improvement efforts is a complicated task—one made even more complex by new requirements of welfare reform and the challenges of implementing e-Government initiatives.

The Challenge
CGI has been providing a wide array of technology and business consulting services to New York City’s HRA since 1995. These services have evolved from systems design and implementation support for the workfare program to a range of other IT and business consulting services. CGI projects have included these services: systems design, implementation, and management; intranet application design, development, and support; policy analysis and performance reporting; development of a new model for technology implementation planning; reorganization of the Office of Program and Policy Development (OPPD).

CGI’s disaster assistance program support in New York City encompassed not only the management of the September 11 disaster area, but also the management of a range of supportive benefits to those affected directly or economically.

Providing disaster assistance in New York required rapid collaboration between city, state, and federal organizations. During this difficult and challenging crisis, CGI collaborated with HRA to provide assistance in several areas.

The Technology

• ASP (Active Server Pages) technology
• Microsoft SQl Server 2000
• Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), version 4.0

The Results
CGI built and hosted the Twin Towers Jobs website for the city, on which employers could post vacancies for displaced workers and agencies could obtain the latest job listings. The site was hosted in collaboration with New York State.

CGI assisted the HRA in quickly establishing a disaster relief center in Lower Manhattan. CGI supported computer installation and workflow design for the center to enable efficient HRA caseload processing. Other agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross also used the center to provide citizen assistance. CGI worked with the city and FEMA to support the Disaster Assistance Service Center operations.

CGI supported the establishment of the Pier 94 center to serve the emotional needs of families of victims who were missing or had died. Citizens could visit the center to talk and be with others who had similar experiences.

CGI assisted at the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) One Stop Center, where citizens could go to access a full range of social services including income support, food stamps, medical assistance, case management, and job placement.

CGI implemented a database for client tracking and supplied staff to assist in securing emergency help and job placement. For the four “Twin Towers Joblink” centers that the city established, CGI provided operational analysis, program development, and tools and procedures to track center activity. CGI also assisted in establishing the Twin Towers Joblink Hotline for citizens to find information about where to obtain support services.

CGI developed an inventory of benefits, assistance organizations, and contacts to enable caseworkers to better refer citizens to the appropriate sources for assistance. This initiative also uncovered gaps in services that needed to be addressed.

New requests were made daily by the city, and CGI re-deployed resources as needed to respond to changing agency needs.