Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 016 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Division 20 - Division of County Operations
Rule 016.20.07-002 - FSC 07-03 and FSC 07-04: Racial/Ethnic Data Collection - DCO-215 - Revised Forms Request for Assistance; DCO-268 - Application for Recertification/Medicaid Review

740 Racial/Ethnic Data Collection

Racial/Ethnic data is reported to FNS via the report, FNS-101, which is based upon participation in the food stamp program during July of each year. The FNS-101 is prepared automatically.

The ethnic categories are:

Flispanic or Latino Not Flispanic or Latino

The racial categories are:

American Indian or Alaska Native Asian

Black or African American Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian . White

Applicants will be asked to voluntarily indicate their race or ethnic background on the Request for Assistance (DCO-215) or the Application for Recertification/Medicaid Review (DCO-268). The application clearly states that providing such information is voluntary, that it will not affect eligibility or benefit amount, and that the information is requested to assure that benefits are distributed without regard to race or ethnic background. If the applicant declines to indicate his race or ethnic background, the county office worker will determine the proper category during the face-to-face interview if possible. If a telephone interview is utilized and the applicant has declined to indicate his race or ethnic background, the county office worker will not attempt to determine the proper category by questioning the individual. However, the worker may check the case history for previous ethnic/racial indicators when attempting to assign a valid category during a telephone recertification. If a case history search does not yield satisfactory results, then the worker will select the category "Unknown" for the ethnicity question and "Other" for the race question.