More than 231,500 Hardship Assistance checks mailed

WINDOW ROCK

The controller’s office today reported that 293,000 tribal members have applied for the Navajo CARES Act Hardship Assistance Program so far and 80% – or 231,281 – had checks that were mailed.

And 172,520 checks have been cashed.

This week, approximately 20,000 more checks will be printed and mailed out.

The Support Center has consistently cleared 1,500 to 2,000 exceptions or applications with errors each day. This pace has led to nearly 50,000 new checks that have or will be issued since the first round of 200,000 checks were issued Jan. 18.

The Support Center has more than 100 employees answering thousands of calls per day. From Feb. 8 to Feb. 12, the center received 144,346 telephone calls from tribal members checking on applications or to fix errors.

The telephone lines continue to be flooded with calls in the last two weeks, which has overloaded the capacity of the Support Center to take calls.

Some individuals choose to wait on hold instead of requesting a call back. With more than 144,000 calls in less than five days, the Support Center cannot keep up with the demand.

As a remedy, the Support Center has switched to a call-back-only option. This option will save the applicants time and it will guarantee them a call back in the same amount of time as if they were to wait on hold.

As a reminder, applicants are discouraged from calling the controller’s office or any other Navajo government office because they will not be able to help.

Applicants are also discouraged from showing up in-person at the controller’s office in Window Rock to avoid overcrowding.

“The Office of the Controller is not a public building but is an administrative building that helps to manage the finances of the Navajo Nation,” the office said in today’s news release.

Applicants can either send their inquiry to NNCaresHelp@nnooc.org or call 1-833-282-7248 to request a call back.

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