Case Study, Consulting Services • Published 12/20/2021 Disaster Recovery & Large Program Management Case Study: Fulton County, Georgia

Overview

In early March 2021, Fulton County, Georgia received federal funding for their Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to offer emergency rental and utility assistance to eligible residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the county’s preparedness, responsiveness, and successful outreach efforts, overwhelming community demand for the program forced the county to pause intake of applications to ensure residents were served with the highest level of care.

Postlethwaite & Netterville (P&N) recognized Fulton County’s immediate needs and was able to quickly identify and offer services and resources available at P&N to assist the county with the massive backlog of applications. With the need to deliver the ERAP funds as quickly as possible to eligible residents, Fulton County was challenged to identify and deploy resources to:

Approach

To meet the needs of Fulton County, P&N immediately and effectively augmented case management resources to expand application review capacity and expedite the rate of adjudications and payment disbursements. In August 2021, P&N assumed Program Administration operations to provide services across all functional areas of Fulton County’s ERAP to coincide with the reopening of the application portal.

P&N’s depth and breadth of experienced resources were ready to deploy as needs arose. P&N continually assessed processes and policies as well as standardized and streamlined the case management function with a strong focus on quality and compliance with program guidelines.

Local Impact

Fulton County’s ERAP will distribute nearly $100 million total ERA allocation to eligible households impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the critical need for financial assistance to renters and landlords during the pandemic, Fulton County was able to augment its staffing and infrastructure with P&N’s resources to get these federal funds to those most in need. Due to Fulton’s exceptional program performance, the County requested and received over $50 million in reallocations to serve the needs of its constituents.

From P&N’s initial engagement to full program and financial management, the rate of adjudications and disbursements increased exponentially – a 109% increase in average number of weekly payments and a 160% increase in the amount of assistance disbursed per week. For Fulton County, this equates to exceptional constituent services and, just as importantly, a direct economic impact on the local community.

*The time period for this case study is March 2021 – August 2022 for all Treasury allocations.

Services

P&N can assist organizations with recovery efforts involving a broad spectrum of services, including:

• Case review and final determination (adjudication)
• Applicant outreach
• Training, communications, and change management
• Project management
• Financial management
• Funds disbursement
• Policy development and implementation
• Business intelligence and reporting
• Appeals
• Stakeholder communications
• Integration of existing technology/systems with custom solutions for management of communication, data, and documentation

Additional information and support:

P&N understands the federal grants management process and has collaborated with many states, counties, parishes, and local governments to navigate complex compliance requirements. Our experienced team can help you design efficient processes while maintaining a focus on the appropriate, transparent, and efficient distribution of funds. Contact Jennifer Butler, Director of Disaster Management & Recovery, to discuss how we can help.