Bread for the City staff and clients attended the 2023 DHS Performance Oversight Hearing to offer their testimony before the D.C. Council and share their experiences and suggestions on how the D.C. government can better serve the community’s needs.

Several Bread for the City clients and medical patients depend on the D.C. Department of Human Services (DHS) for public benefit programs, including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, D.C. Healthcare Alliance, and Interim Disability Assistance. In addition, Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic runs a public benefits practice advocating for clients who, due to agency error, are not receiving the public benefits to which they are legally entitled. The Legal Clinic also works closely with Bread for the City’s Care Management team, who assists clients in navigating the public benefits system.

Testifying on behalf of Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic, staff member Perri Wilson described systemic issues with D.C. Healthcare Alliance benefits, like any patients losing their Alliance health insurance coverage at no fault of their own because of DHS errors.

Kate Baasch testified on behalf of Bread for the City’s Care Management team. She detailed the obstacles community members face while applying for Interim Disability Assistance, such as inconsistencies that have led to wrongful denials of benefits to that community members are legally entitled to.

Bread for the City’s clients also provided testimonies rooted in their lived experiences, sharing stories about their challenges with DHS and demanding DHS make changes to serve the community better.

For more information:

Click here to read the full written testimonies submitted by Bread for the City.