Department of Public Social Services

Jan 28 2013

$8,000 per return

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A former state Department of Public Social Services employee pleaded guilty today in Los Angeles to using stolen identities to file phony tax returns that each claimed thousands of dollars in tax refunds.

Veronica Niko, 36, of Lancaster, entered her plea to a federal identity theft charge before U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who set sentencing for June 10, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Jul 26 2012

Sheryl L. Spiller has 40-plus years with the county

Sheryl L. Spiller, whose 40-plus years with the county of Los Angeles began as a clerk typist, was sworn-in last week to lead the 13,500-employee Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) in its efforts to provide benefits and services to low-income individuals and families in the second largest locally operated social services agency in the nation.

With her official swearing in, Spiller became the first ever African American to lead the department in its nearly 100-year history.

Apr 28 2011

Only half of those eligible apply

The County of Los Angeles has launched a campaign to help urge the hundreds of thousands of residents who are eligible to apply for food stamps to do so, and to simultaneously inform people about the program’s new name.

At the federal level, the Food Stamp program was renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and in California it is now called CalFresh.

Currently, an estimated 1 million households receive the CalFresh benefit, and according to county officials that is only about half of the people eligible.

Dec 22 2010

Preventing hunger

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Social workers are visiting neighborhoods around Los Angeles County to urge people to sign up for food stamps, or CalFresh as the program is now known.

"Now more than ever—to prevent hunger due to the current state of the economy—it's our goal to increase the number of eligible L.A. County residents who receive this assistance,'' said Philip Browning, the director of the county Department of Public Social Services.

The county recently deployed workers in a van to spread the word.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.