More than 172,520 Navajo CARES Act Hardship Assistance Program checks cashed, Support Center switches to call-back option

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation Office of the Controller reports 293,000 Navajo Nation members have been included in the Navajo CARES Act Hardship Assistance Program thus far and 231,281 checks have now been issued accounting for 80% of the total applications.

Checks continue to be cashed and 172,520 checks have been presented for payment. 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, they received 144,346 telephone calls from Navajo Nation members checking on the status of their applications or calling into to help fix application errors.

The telephone lines continue to be inundated with calls in the last two weeks which has maxed the capacity of the Support Center and the telephone lines’ ability to take calls. This is because of calls from individuals who call in and choose to sit 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 call demands.

As a remedy to address the overwhelming demand, 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 Office of the Controller directly or any other Navajo Nation offices because they will not be able to assist you.

Applicants are also discouraged from showing up in-person at the Office of the Controller in Window Rock, the office cannot risk over-crowding. 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.

These offices are handling normal Navajo Nation business operations and cannot answer questions relative to the Hardship Assistance Program. For various reasons, the Office of the Controller established the Support Center to field questions about the Hardship Assistance Program and the Support Center is your best source for questions and updates.

Since these are federal funds, these types of telephone calls from the Support Center to clear exceptions or errors must be documented and this is done through the use of a recorded telephone line or via email. As such, applicants can either send their inquiry to NNCaresHelp@nnooc.org or call the Support Center at 1-833-282-7248 to request a call back.