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Sign our petition to reopen the Robles Center!!

As of January 1, 2010, the State of Wisconsin has officially taken over the FoodShare program. Hunger Task Force’s press event serves the community by announcing the closure to the public and giving directions to applicants on where to go to apply.

Due to the state takeover, Milwaukee County’s South Side office, the Robles Center, has been closed. Robles was the traditional application site for Spanish, Hmong and Lao speaking immigrants. Its closure presents significant challenges to those populations which attempt to secure benefits in a timely fashion. The State Department of Health Services has failed to outreach to and inform applicants for public assistance over the last six months of transition from County to State management of the FoodShare program.

FoodShare applicants whose primary language is not English are encouraged to visit room 105 at Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center, 1242 W. Vliet Street in Milwaukee. Hunger Task Force staff speak Hmong and Spanish and can assist applicants during their interview and application process. Applicants can still apply online using ACCESS at www.access.wisconsin.gov or call the FoodShare hotline at 1-888-947-6583 for assistance.

The state began managing processing duties for Milwaukee County in May due to the county’s error rate and delays in processing aid applications. However, the state appears to have been unprepared because the last few months of 2009 were spent with the state scrambling to provide timely benefits to thousands of FoodShare applicants. Although the state claims to be completely caught up with its backlog, Hunger Task Force continues to see applications which have not been processed within the 30-day time requirement.

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