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Solid Ground on Case Management: Fighting Poverty with Better Data
Solid Ground is a fifty-year-old Community Action Agency in Seattle that combats poverty with direct services like domestic violence shelter, homelessness services, public benefits legal assistance, transportation, and housing tenant services. It also conducts referrals for other services and provide community education on food and nutrition, social justice, and Medicare. We spoke with Cole Poppsinger, database administrator for Solid Ground, on how CaseWorthy’s case management platform has helped his entire organization make data-driven decisions with easier reporting methods.
The Challenge
Solid Ground provides case management and direct services for many clients experiencing varying levels of poverty and inaccessibility to essential social determinants of health (SDoH). Because its network is varied and based on community resources, client intake, assessment, referral, and follow-up have been challenges that were typically handled on disparate systems that didn’t communicate to each other, or on spreadsheets. Reporting and data quality, as a result, were huge challenges that cost time to solve for, and adding other community services not strictly required by funders was very difficult without the ability to test those services.
How We Helped
“CaseWorthy has helped us serve our clients just by simply having all our information in one place,” Cole says. By seeing client demographics, in the CaseWorthy system, Solid Ground was able to see gaps in its services and the needs of certain populations. After implementing CaseWorthy, other client management systems are no longer necessary—and neither were the spreadsheets.
Key Benefits and Efficiencies
Time and Cost Savings
Being able to pull reports in CaseWorthy with the click of a button, Cole notes, is already a huge benefit in itself. Before, reporting was much lengthier and difficult because of the myriad ways client and program data was being collected and stored. By consolidating case management systems into one, Solid Ground ensures that downstream problems with service and client reports are prevented.
Client Management
Intake is a prime example of how CaseWorthy has helped with client management: Case workers are able to collect data during intake and coordinated entry with the local Continuum of Care (CoC) program in a way that meets their partners’ standards and helps coordinate care throughout the service network. And with CaseWorthy’s training modules, case workers are better prepared to help their clients get the help they need.
Data Security and Compatibility
“There is a potential cost to the lower data security of a spreadsheet,” Cole remarks. And because Solid Ground provides direct services to survivors of domestic violence, higher data security through CaseWorthy’s data transfer and storage practices is crucial. Also, Solid Ground can directly receive Washington State data (InfoNet) as well as other types of data, and accurately transfer them to its system.
Wide Adoption Among Staff
Cole notes how staff behaviors within CaseWorthy have helped him implement procedures and workflows for case workers because he’s been able to see what reports and data fields they’re frequently missing, duplicating, etc.
Lessons Learned and Tips for Implementation
“If you’re preparing for implementation, my advice is to have all your ducks in a row beforehand, because any inconsistencies in your data will be magnified later,” Cole clarifies. He recommends having a plan for managing the transition of systems among all staff members, to make sure everyone knows how easy the CaseWorthy training materials make it. And while he notes that CaseWorthy’s team has always helped him solve for any issues he’s had, he adds, “Make sure users understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and why the information is going into CaseWorthy.”
Being able to overcome old obstacles or let go of old processes and technology is itself a huge relief for social service organizations. However, laying the foundation for better data quality helps communities look to their clients’ future needs. Cole Poppsinger’s testimonial reminds us of how CaseWorthy’s simplified reporting, in itself, makes case management more manageable.
