Farmers in the west are responsible for the nation’s abundant supply of crops like avocados, apples, oranges, and almonds. Both large-scale and community growers alike take advantage of the rich soil and beautiful climate to help them cultivate some of the most delicious and profitable produce the ground can yield. Unfortunately for some, favorable weather and fertile earth simply aren’t enough. As environmental changes impact the season’s gleaning, social determinants such as racism and prejudice create unnecessary obstacles for agricultural workers preparing and sustaining their land for the season’s harvest.
While the USDA was created to be a scaffolding for agricultural producers and forest land owners, it recognizes that it has fallen short in some of its practices and left the very people it meant to protect, vulnerable and bereft. In 2022, President Biden signed into law Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which directed 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. The USDA hired national and regional administrators to carryout this initiative. Analytic Acquisitions (AA), a 8A, woman-owned small business and minority owned firm delivering professional and IT services to government clients in defense and civilian agencies was the administrator hired for the west regions of the United States (west of the Mississippi). CDMPSC committed as a vendor partner with AA, delivering a centralized call center complete with technology that boasted 99% operational excellence, language interpretation and translation services.
Program prospectives and participants appreciated the full scale service provided by the call center. Operating hours were 8a-8p local time, and callers could receive information about the program, launch specific inquiries about their individual instances, receive technical assistance for completing their applications and continue to benefit from the support of the call center for status updates now that their applications have been submitted.
Support from the call center, by way of scheduling, offered callers the convenience of setting up appointments amiable to their personal timetables so they could receive the help they needed to successfully submit their applications.
The technology solution CDMPSC provided for the program, Amazon Connect, made it possible to serve callers in a secure cyber environment featuring the operational excellence of monitored AWS infrastructure complete with alarms detecting the potential for allergists to help protect program participants’ personally identifiable information from fraud and scams. The language interpretation and translation services we offered (Spanish, Navajo, Armenian, Arabic, Hmong, Arabic-Iraqi) meant that every caller had an option to receive support in the language of their choice, eliminating yet another barrier that may have otherwise prevented them from fully participating in the program.
On the ground, regional locations were set up to facilitate in-person technical assistance and events. Support from the call center, by way of scheduling, offered callers the convenience of setting up appointments amiable to their personal timetables so they could receive the help they needed to successfully submit their applications.
- 13, 466+ applications submitted
- 7, 070 calls handled
- Language interpretation services provided for Spanish, Navajo, Armenian, Arabic, Hmong, Arabic-Iraqi
Our work with our vendor partner proved beneficial for the people who needed it most. We offered top tier, consistent service and we are proud of the outcomes. What are you working on and how can we partner with you? Click below to start the process of innovative solution creation with us.
