By Craig Anderson

The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services will host a series of town halls to discuss ways to improve State Service Centers.

The four events will take place in July across the state to highlight the steps the department is taking to transform how it serves Delawareans and to receive feedback.

As part of its strategic plan to make access to services easier, in 2022, Health and Human Services launched the State Service Reimagined project to research, create and implement improvements in the State Service Centers. It is part of Gov. John Carney’s Family Services Cabinet Council.

“We are committed to building a better experience for Delawareans who access our services,” said Daniel Walker, the department’s deputy cabinet secretary. “In order to deliver quality services and improve our State Service Centers, it was necessary to involve our community and service users. Without their input, this project would have failed to deliver on our promise to reform the way we provide critical services.”

The town halls will take place as follows:

• July 13 at 6 p.m. — Dover Public Library, 35 Loockerman Plaza.
• July 15 at 1:30 p.m. — Route 9 Library & Innovation Center, 3022 New Castle Ave., New Castle.
• July 18 at 6 p.m. — Georgetown Public Library, 123 W. Pine St.
• July 26 at 6 p.m. — Wilmington Public Library, 10 E. 10th St.

These events are open to the public, but registration is encouraged for planning purposes at bit.ly/dhsstownhall.

The Dover meeting will also be livestreamed on the DHSS Facebook page and at de.gov/live. Spanish and American Sign Language interpreter services will also be available.

Each town hall will include a resource fair, during which representatives will assist individuals who have questions related to their benefits or who are seeking assistance.

To enhance services from the perspective of the clients, the department also hosted engagement sessions throughout fall 2022.

“Our 15 State Service Centers serve thousands of people every week and are a critical resource to Delaware,” said Renee Beaman of the Division of State Service Centers. “The findings of this initiative give us an actionable path forward, keeping our service users in mind every step of the way.”

For information, visit de.gov/community or email stateservicecommunity@delaware.gov.