The City of Los Angeles wins Markie Award
The Angeleno Card Program is one that has made us immensely proud. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, our client, the City of Los Angeles wanted to help citizens who had been financially hit the hardest by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Angeleno Card Program was launched in March 2020 to provide direct financial assistance, via no-fee debit cards. This assistance was going to go towards low-wage hourly workers who had jobs in industries such as restaurants and tourism, as well as seasonal workers, day laborers, and self-employed individuals. The program was designed to serve residents regardless of immigration status.
The original plan was to require citizens to have their eligibility appointments over the phone. In an effort to be more efficient and help people receive faster assistance, the Office of Mayor Garcetti worked with Apex IT, TimeTrade, and Oracle to design a simple, safe and secure system that could help the office receive applicants and schedule appointments online.
Together with these tech partners, we were able to create a dual-language and easy-to-use portal to serve residents of Los Angeles. And we’re proud to say that we designed and implemented this in just three short weeks.
“Apex IT’s work helped double our pace of delivery,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “When people need help putting food on the table, they need help fast.”
The city was able to schedule more than 50,000 appointments across 21 locations in just 9 weeks. With an original goal of raising $10 million, The Mayor’s Fund surpassed that goal and raised over $36 million from private donors. This allowed them to distribute to over 100,000 residents. Not only did the system help many families in need, but it was less costly than the original approach of handling applicants through the call center. This initiative reduced costs by 30% and created a direct ROI for the city.
Due to the impressive vision and quick action, The City of Los Angeles and its Mayor Eric Garcetti were awarded two Markie Awards this year.
