FEATURE: Economic Assistance and Work Services Division

Economic Assistance and Work Services Division Administrator, Shawn Tessmann
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It is my opinion that the EAWS world of “income maintenance” is perhaps the least well-understood service component of the department. How we function is just so different than most of the rest of human services. Instead of case management, we operate a call center. Instead of individual success stories, we seek to understand our impact through data. Instead of one-on-one relationships, our contacts number in the tens of thousands per month.
We’re just different. 
Except, (drumroll here)…..we’re actually not. Most of our staff strive with outsized passion to make connections and deliver stellar services in spite of the (sometimes dehumanizing) nature of the call center. Would it surprise you to know that we have lots of staff 
in EAWS with social work backgrounds, behavioral health experience and deep interest in building community connection? I hope not, but the breadth and depth of the experience of the EAWS team surprises even me on a regular basis. Here is my humbly submitted top ten list of things about EAWS you may not know (in no particular order).

1. The work we do is super, super wonky and technical. While every component of human services has policies and standards that guide the work, EAWS is accustomed to receiving and implementing masses of instruction from our state partners (both DHS and DCF) on a literal daily basis. Almost always, these daily directives involve a new wrinkle or a new exception to how the work needs to be done that needs to be understood, applied and remembered.
2. EAWS is performance and data driven. Under the terms of our contracts with our state partners, we are measured and quality controlled routinely and stringently. Do we have the right posters in our lobby? Did people wait too long to get through to an agent on the call center? Was the benefit authorized correct (to the dollar!)? What do our staff, advocates and partners think about our service delivery? All of these elements and many, many more are the subject of at least annual monitoring and drive our continuous quality improvement efforts. 
3. Our partnerships extend beyond the county in a very meaningful way. EAWS is the fiscal and operational lead for the Capital Consortia which also includes Columbia, Juneau, Adams, Sauk, Dodge, Richland and Sheboygan counties. We’re not only the largest consortia outside of Milwaukee in terms of people we serve, we also stretch over 200 miles geographically from east to west. EAWS is also actively collaborating with the state and other consortia all the time.
4. It’s not only about the Job Center. Did you know that EAWS has out-stationed staff at ACCESS community health clinics? At the UW? At the South Madison Job Center? At Reach Dane? At Early Childhood Initiative sites? We have many partnerships in place where entities purchase the services of our staff so they can have them on-site. We are thrilled with these partnerships and would love to do more of them.
5.  Change is second nature to EAWS. Our staff is on the front lines of every major policy swing in public benefits. We opened up healthcare services under the Affordable Care Act and brought in tens of thousands of childless adults. We’ve also closed benefits for failing to comply with work requirements and drug testing policies. Every change in administration and philosophy, those we do and don’t agree with, we roll with it. We don’t have a choice.
6. We have very thick skin. Clerical staff in particular get the nod here. Imagine how heartbreaking it is to deny someone Foodshare because of a state-directed technicality. Now imagine telling someone “no” face to face and in person. When they’re hungry. Unfortunately, that’s also our business too often.
7. EAWS is incredibly tech-saavy. Our team uses multiple state systems everyday and figuring out how to make them work can be a challenge. Sometimes the different systems implemented by the different state agencies (surprise!) don’t work well together. Thank goodness we have loads of techno wizards who have developed tips and tricks along the way who are happy to share their knowledge. 
8. We collaborate geographically in ways that are unusual in human services. Unlike other service areas of the department, we work on each others cases—across county lines—all the time as a matter of routine. We strive to balance competing needs and interests and cultures of eight very different counties to promote a “Capital” culture whenever we can. We jointly plan work and deliver solutions that seek always to maximize capacity and do the most good. 
9. We throw the very best parties. Chili cook-offs, Mardi Gras, free throw March Madness brackets, penny wars and more. Not sure why it is that all our fun involves competition, but that’s our vibe and we love it. 
10. The people in this division care. Very deeply. EAWS is proud to support lots of staff-driven “fun committees” and “Capital Connections” teams who routinely do great work in the community. We’re having monthly food drives during unwinding as just one example. 

We take our work very seriously under difficult circumstances. This year the unwinding of the public health emergency will challenge us again. But I know we will get through it and serve our community in ways that inspire me all the time, and should inspire you too.