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Redwood City –It’s only 10 a.m. and the Human Services Agency office in Daly City is bustling. Clients fill out paperwork on clipboards while young children play with toy trucks. It’s a typical day in the office for Alfredo Hernandez.
Sitting across the desk from Hernandez, a public service specialist, is an older woman with gray hair and red lipstick. Clutching a purse and in tears, she points to the papers scattered between them.
As she relays her troubles in Spanish, Hernandez listens intently while quietly sliding a tissue box to her. Responding in Spanish, he tells her she will get the help she needs and then asks her to wait to meet with a human services benefit analyst who can dive more into her case.
Now more relaxed, she silently moves to a chair to wait.
Henriquez hands her a few more tissues, smiles and calls up his next client.
Solving problems and simplifying complex processes is central to the work of public service specialists like Hernandez. They help county residents apply for state and federal assistance programs, including CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, EBT and more. If clients require more in-depth help, they are redirected to another Human Services Agency specialist.
Lilian Aguilar, a public service specialist in the agency’s Redwood City office, puts it this way: “We are the frontline workers, and we try to direct them to where they can get help.”
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