Greene County Department of Social Services & EVA: Saving Time and Improving Timeliness Together

In early 2024, Greene County Department of Social Services (DSS) in New York was struggling to keep up with the volume of calls coming into the agency daily. Already short-staffed with vacancies waiting to be filled, their public assistance, SNAP, and employment cases were piling up. The Greene County DSS team knew something needed to change and turned to TipCo to help them take control of their workload, especially with reduced staff members.  

Greene County DSS Before EVA 

Before implementing any new solutions in June 2024, the Greene County case statistics weren’t where they wanted or needed them to be. Kira Pospesel, Commissioner at Greene County DSS, shared that her team was able to open public assistance cases within the required timeframe only 52 percent of the time and that cases that were late (60 days or longer) made up 19 percent of the county’s caseload. Similarly, Greene County’s SNAP cases opened within the required timeframe accounted for 55 percent of their cases, while those greater than 60 days were more than 24 percent.  

Additionally, the limited workforce had an enormous impact on Greene County’s operations. “I wasn’t able to hire even entry-level staff to work the phone lines because no one in the community was interested in that,” noted Pospesel. “I had to use my examiners who were doing the work for the individuals we serve.” The agency receives thousands of phone calls and in-person visits to the office, so Greene County employees were stretched thin covering just that work, leaving them no one on the back end to work through the cases that came in. This resulted in staff members working overtime for more than a year while also dealing with retirements along the way.  

So, in June 2024, TipCo and the Greene County DSS team began working together to implement EVA solutions within the agency. EVA R&R went live to help streamline the interview and Rights & Responsibilities recitations, reducing the amount of time workers spent on the phone. And then, in May 2025, EVA Phone made its debut in the county to automate responses to agency phone inquiries, repurposing staff time to focus on more complex cases. 

EVA’s Impact on Greene County DSS 

With the help of EVA R&R and EVA Phone, Greene County’s case statistics markedly improved. Their public assistance numbers went from 52 percent timeliness up to 84 percent and 19 percent late cases down to 5 percent. And SNAP cases increased from 55 percent timely cases to 85 percent and late cases decreased from 24 percent to 0 percent. Yes, you read that correctly; 0 percent.  With EVA in place, Pospesel was able to get her agency’s social welfare examiners back to their desks to work on the cases piling up, slowly but surely working through the backlog. 

The impact of those statistics allowed Pospesel to stop buying overtime, an amazing swing in just a 12-month period of working with TipCo and EVA and saving the agency money. “I really feel it’s these solutions that have allowed me to achieve that,” Pospesel stated.  

Greene County team members have welcomed EVA into their day-to-day activities and are saving 8–12 minutes per interview, giving them time back to work on other cases. “We are so grateful right now that we did this,” Pospesel expressed. “Everyone on the public assistance and SNAP teams are just thrilled.” 

Community and State Response to EVA 

For community members, embracing a new technology can be difficult, leading to some wanting to speak with an operator instead of EVA, the AI agent. But those who have talked with EVA have found the experience to be a positive one. “EVA is very professional,” said Pospesel. “Callers actually enjoy talking with EVA; she has a very soothing voice, and she’s always positive during conversations.”  

Unlike some virtual phone assistants, EVA is designed to hold natural conversations with callers, to respond to their concerns with empathy, and to offer helpful, productive solutions to the problems that have necessitated a call to the agency. EVA is available 24/7/365, so callers can reach out for information and have a conversation outside of standard business hours, when they may need help the most.  

In addition to an encouraging reaction from the community, the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) response to EVA has been equally positive. “I think that the state OTDA believes in EVA and its impact,” shared Pospesel. “They want to see it happen, and they want us to be successful.” 

Inspired by Impact 

The TipCo team is dedicated to assisting overburdened social services teams get it all done, and hearing from our customers, like Kira and her team at Greene County DSS, about the positive impact that EVA has on not only their staff members but also on their work and their community inspires us to continue innovating. We’re working together to help agencies address some of their biggest problems, tackling them one by one with the help of collaboration and AI.