About PBRC

The Public Benefits Resource Center was established to address inefficiencies and inadequacies in government social welfare programs which prevent poor, disabled and elderly people from receiving the benefits and services for which they are eligible.  The Center provides the public and social service providers with information and assistance on over 60 government benefit programs including income assistance, medical care, food programs and child care.

The Services of the Public Benefits Resource Center

The Center is a single site where both the public and service providers can obtain up-to-date information and assistance on government benefits.  Some of the services the Center provides are:

• Training for social service providers on a full range of programs, basic through advanced levels.  Emphasis is placed on how programs work together, "packaging" programs for clients with many needs, and helping clients utilize benefits in the transition to self-sufficiency.  PBRC provides approximately 30 different workshops a year at CSS.

 
• Publications and booklets with up-to-date information in everyday language.  The Center publishes the PBRC Manual; A Guide to Government Benefit Programs for Individuals and Families in New York City, which is updated quarterly, as well as New York City: A Basic Guide To Services And Community Resources, A Health Care Resource Guide, and a series of workbooks used in coordination with our trainings.

 
• Telephone consultation to social service providers on more complicated benefit problems.

 
• A public benefit information line for the general public.  Trained volunteers from CSS's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, under the supervision of professional staff provide information, benefit screening, application assistance and advocacy on government benefit programs.

Anyone who needs to negotiate the complicated system of government benefits can access the services of the Center.  Soup kitchen staff, church workers, social workers and case workers in nonprofit organizations, educators, medical professionals and all those who help people in need use PBRC's publications, attend training workshops and use the staff consultation services.

Social service workers often have little formal training to prepare them for their role as entitlement counselors.  Clearly written information on these programs and specialists with whom to consult are hard to find.  Without in-depth knowledge of program eligibility, documentation requirements and appeals procedures, service providers cannot advocate effectively, and clients may be denied or lose needed benefits or never even know about them.

CSS: A History of Influence on Government Benefits

For more than 150 years, CSS has sought to improve the lives of low-income New Yorkers through direct services, advocacy, and research on many aspects of poverty.  From its studies on widows' pensions and social insurance early in the century to its influential work in welfare reform, homelessness, and housing policy in the 1990s, CSS has been a leader in documenting the inadequacies of social policies and implementing innovative solutions.

The demand for a systematic approach to entitlement counseling, coupled with the problems inherent in the current system, inevitably led to the development of the Public Benefits Resource Center in 1994.  Through careful documentation, the Center is to bring insights about how to improve government benefit programs to the attention of entitlement administrators, advocates, and government officials.  Information gathered is used to inform CSS's future public policy and legislative efforts.

For more information on PBRC services contact Migdalia Molina at (212) 614-5497 or visit our website at www.cssny.org/pbrc, for information on benefits call the Benefit Information Line at (212) 614-5552.

David R. Jones, CSS President and Chief Executive Officer
Bruce A. Hubbard, Esq., Chairperson of the Board of Trustees 

January 2007 

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