Individuals seeking essential social services across the United States often face significant administrative burdens that make accessing aid time-consuming, complex, and discouraging. In rural areas like southeast Iowa, these challenges are intensified by geographic isolation, limited digital access, and a lack of centralized service infrastructure. Pathfinders RC&D sought strategies to reduce administrative burdens for residents in six Southeast Iowa counties: Davis, Keokuk, Jefferson, Mahaska, Wapello, and Van Buren. 

For their capstone project, a team of public affairs students worked with Pathfinders to:

• Develop the Southeast Iowa Resource Finder (SIRF): an electronic tool designed to streamline access to local social service providers and reduce the learning costs for individuals seeking assistance. While SIRF doesn’t eliminate compliance steps, it can minimize them by helping users more quickly find the correct programs, thus avoiding wasted time applying for services they don’t qualify for or missing necessary documentation.
• Create a standardized phone script for service providers to help frontline staff communicate more effectively with clients, identify their specific needs, and provide accurate, efficient referrals to the appropriate resources. It primarily addresses the psychological costs of administrative burden and secondarily helps reduce learning costs. 
• Utilize survey data from clients and service providers to identify the most pressing obstacles, gaining insight directly from those experiencing them.

The MPA Team hosted a webinar on April 2, 2025 to share information about opportunities moving forward. The webinar video can be viewed here.