1. Cindy Good Department of Public Welfare.... Ray Packer

2. What is COMPASS? “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services”

3. The Citizens’ Perspective Families have to apply for NSLP programs separately from other social service programs Parents inadvertently provide erroneous DPW Case Number information on the application form Families who are authorized for TANF or Food Stamps don’t realize that they are automatically eligible for the Free Meals program.

4. The Sponsor Perspective Sponsors need to validate the information on 3% of client applications Sponsors frequently communicate with the County Assistance Offices to verify participation in the DPW TANF/FS programs This validation is a manual process and is a large burden on the time and resources of NSLP administrators and CAOs PDE receives the annual list of TANF/FS participants from DPW and manually distributes to the Sponsors so that they can perform direct certification

5. How Can COMPASS Help? The Department of Education has evaluated COMPASS and believes it can: –streamline citizen access to the program –allow households to apply 24/7 in the privacy of their homes –provide a tool for the Sponsors to have efficient access to Online application data via the COMPASS Outbox Real time TANF and Food Stamps eligibility information Direct Certification lists

6. COMPASS Outbox View and print NSLP applications that clients fill out online View TANF/Food Stamps eligibility for all online applicants Archives online applications for 4 years Routes online applications to the appropriate Sponsor, based on the applicants’ schools

7. COMPASS Outbox

8. TANF/FS Eligibility Inquiry Provides TANF and Food Stamps participation for individuals based on DPW Case Number or SSN Minimizes the need to contact County Assistance Offices TANF and Food Stamps participation information is available regarding all students, regardless of the method used to apply for NSLP

9. TANF/FS Eligibility Inquiry

10. Direct Certification lists Available to Sponsors based on the school districts for which they administer the programs Available to view, print, or export Export is in the same format as the current file

11. Direct Certification

12. Direct Certification Detail