Michigan Department of Human Services offices in Benton Harbor, Lansing and Saginaw will be part of a federal tour of Midwestern welfare offices during February. The tour, being conducted by staff from the USDA Food and Nutrition Services Midwest regional office from Chicago, is to see what these offices do that makes them exceptional administrators of the federal Food Stamp Program (called Food Assistance Program in Michigan.)

"There are a number of high performing Food Stamp Program offices in the Midwest region that clearly stand a cut above the rest," Tim English, regional director of the federal Food Stamp Program, said in a Dec. 22 letter. "The Food and Nutrition Service’s goal is to find out what exactly makes some offices perform at a high level — what do they have in common, and share that information across states/regions."

English stated that they will observe the offices day-to-day operations to find certain characteristics that they have in common. Their current plans are to conduct 15 local office visits this year as listed below.

"Michigan has three of the 15 high performing sites identified in the Midwest," said DHS director Marianne Udow. "We are proud of these achievements from local office staff in these and all Michigan counties for their contributions in more effectively administering our state’s program."

Federal representatives intend to use the one-day visits to gather information through observation and interviews. Their tentative schedule includes visits to:
Hamilton County, Ohio – week of January 23, 2006
Saginaw County, Michigan – week of February 13, 2006
Ingham County, Michigan – week of February 13, 2006
Berrien County, Michigan – week of February 20, 2006
Butler County, Ohio – week of March 6, 2006
Montgomery County, Ohio – week of March 6, 2006
Ramsey County, Minnesota – week of April 17, 2006
Michigan Avenue Office, Illinois – week of April 17, 2006
Winnebago County, Illinois – week of May 15, 2006
Lake County, Illinois – week of May 15, 2006
Delaware County, Indiana – week of June 19, 2006
Benton County, Minnesota, - week of June 5, 2006
Allen County, Indiana, - week of July 10, 2006
Dane County, Wisconsin – week of July 24, 2006
Racine County, Wisconsin – week of July 24, 2006

A previous news announcement indicated one Michigan site visit would be in Battle Creek. That is incorrect. The correct site is Benton Harbor.