The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created and established in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln, its mission and motto, to “Do right and feed everyone.” Dubbed the “People Department,” the agency was set to support the people who fed the country, especially those who supported the union army during the Civil War. Functions of the department included agricultural technology and education, public policy leadership, natural resource protection and related issues.
Since its inception, over 160 years ago, the department has recognized that it hasn’t always provided equal access to all its services and programs. In 1997, Timothy Pigford and a group of farmers from Cumberland County, North Carolina claimed they were denied approval for funds from the USDA, solely on the basis of race, and that their complaints had not been investigated. This opened what became known as one of the largest civil class action lawsuits in US history, Pigford v. Glickman and, later, Pigford II. The USDA continues to work to remedy some of its shortcomings and deficits in efforts to reestablish itself as the scaffolding American farmers and agricultural producers have always needed it to be.
Most recently the department enacted a piece of legislation that would address discrimination in USDA farm lending programs. Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden, directs the USDA to provide and disburse $2.2 billion to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination when participating in a USDA farm lending program prior to January 2021. To implement Section 22007 of the IRA, USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) was created as an organized plan to help ensure farmers and program participants received the support they needed for awareness about the program, solicitation and completion of applications, scoring and eligibility reviews and more.
USDA was required to hire non-governmental administrators to facilitate the details of DFAP and ensure the program’s success. They signed a contract with The Midtown Group, one of the top staffing businesses in their region, and CDMPSC’s vendor partner, naming them the national administrator to serve the program. Midtown looked to CDMPSC to create solutions for call center support and technology on a national level.
Several curious, sometimes frustrated, and discouraged farmers and their second parties needed a supportive refuge, a place to learn about the program, ask questions and complete applications.
As a strategic consulting, staffing, and technology professional services company, Construct Design Manage Professional Services Company (CDMPSC) had the skills, talent, and plan of action to appropriately support the work of our vendor partner to assure that the details of this program were appropriately and diligently met, satisfying the client, USDA, and caring for its constituents, the program participants: farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, and their second parties.
Several curious, sometimes frustrated, and discouraged farmers and their second parties needed a supportive refuge, a place to learn about the program, ask questions and complete applications. As The Midtown Group’s vendor partner, CDMPSC established a centralized call center that handled both national and regional calls and hosted farmer care specialists available to answer caller inquiries 15 hours a day, 7 days a week except for federal holidays during which the call center closed. The DFAP call center boasted a team of over 350 compassionate, empathetic, and dedicated customer service representatives that included agents (which we referred to as Farmer Care Specialists) and supervisors, all serving both national and regional callers, complete with virtual farmer technical assistance (TA); assisting with application details/completion, language interpretation services and translation services.
CDMPSC also provided scalable technology, Amazon Connect, with high occurrence of availability and superb operational excellence for the call center to receive calls, return calls, maintain a running record of all calls and their nature (including details about how each caller was assisted and if the call was successful), as well as IT support, helping callers who needed password resets and resolutions of other IT issues they may face when accessing their online account or completing online DFAP applications. We provided knowledge management (creating call center scripts and other program documentation) and workforce management (scaling up to over 350 farmer care specialists, managing schedules to ensure coverage of the call center operating hours, and providing professional development via call center training and refresher courses).
- 68, 270 total call handled
- Call center available 7 days a week, 15 hrs a day
- 350+ dedicated staff
- Managed 58% of calls received
CDMPSC maintained consistent communication with both USDA officials and administrators and The Midtown Group by attending regularly scheduled meetings to report on status, any issues or concerns that may hinder progress, etc. CDMPSC also hosted training for farmer care specialists and supervisors, held refresher courses to cultivate keen, sharp staff and maintain a standard of excellence throughout the duration of the program.
CDMPSC is proud of the outcomes we continue to achieve with our vendor partner throughout this program. Please connect with us by filling out the form on our contact page if you are interested in partnering with our firm to create timely, innovative solutions for your company.
