Broward County, FL – In 2008, there were 54,000 unemployed Broward County residents with some areas of the county having unemployment rates as high as 17%. As there are no unemployment offices in Florida, individuals wishing to receive benefits had to apply over the phone or on the internet, a task that proved to be difficult for countless senior citizens. If a mistake is made in enrollment, a flag is placed on the account and the distribution of benefits is frozen until the error is fixed. The only way to fix errors was to call an overburdened central phone system for the state of Florida. BOLD Justice discovered that employees at Broward County’s Work Force One stations could be trained to fix these flags in a matter of minutes. BOLD Justice turned out 1,600 people to their Nehemiah Action where they obtained a commitment from Broward County Commissioner Eggelletion, a member of the board overseeing Work Force One, to ensure that Work Force One employees receive the necessary training to fix these flags. As of 2009, 2,700 people per week go to one of the three Work Force One stations. Approximately 900 of those people at each station are there for issues of unemployment and to remove flags from accounts.
