Washington, DC—The Department of Human Services (DHS), Income Maintenance Administration (IMA), held a grand opening today for its new Change Center customer call center operation at 33 N Street, NE, which was developed to allow IMA customers to report changes in their household or circumstances primarily by telephone, and by fax or mail.

IMA customers are poor and low-income District residents receiving or having applied for TANF, Food Stamps, and medical assistance. Prior to development of the Change Center, IMA customers had to visit one of IMA’s seven Service Centers throughout the District to report mandatory information required to maintain their public assistance. This requirement made cash-strapped IMA customers use carfare, need child care, and lose time from work to make mandatory visits to an IMA Service Center. 

“The Change Center is a major initiative that will deliver more convenient customer service to IMA customers and assist IMA staff in further improving accuracy of information. IMA customers deserve service conveniences just like the customers of any other entity,” said DHS Director Yvonne Gilchrist.

IMA customers can call the Change Center at (202) 727-5355 Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. The Change Center is completely multilingual with access to more than 140 languages. For further convenience, IMA has established kiosks in each of its offices for customers to use to contact the Change Center and fax information.

“We are proud of the Change Center and continuously strive to better serve IMA customers. The Change Center is based on best practices in the Food Stamp program, is customer-friendly, and will help to ensure that IMA customers receive all of the benefits they are eligible for,” said IMA Administrator Kate Jesberg.

IMA has drastically improved its ability to accurately determine the amount of Food Stamp benefits available to individuals and families. This measure, known as the error rate, is now five percent, which is below the national average. The Change Center is expected to assist IMA in making further improvements in the Food Stamp error rate.