The Mississippi Insurance Department

Overview: Protecting Homes on the Gulf Coast

In Mississippi’s coastal counties, strengthening homes against severe weather isn’t just important - it’s essential. As storms grow more frequent and intense, programs that help residents fortify their homes can mean the difference between long-term damage and lasting protection.

The Strengthen Mississippi Homes (SMH) grant program was created to meet this need - supporting homeowners in six southern Mississippi counties with funding to upgrade their roofs to the FORTIFIED™ standard. Grants are awarded to support retrofits with key improvements such as stronger roof edges, sealed roof decks, and enhanced roof-to-structure attachments.

Program director Andy Case and administrator John Thornton manage every aspect of SMH - from contractor selection and staff training to documentation, compliance, and homeowner support. As interest in the program surged, so did operational complexity. To keep pace with demand without compromising quality, SMH partnered with Forerunner to streamline workflows, increase transparency, and scale with confidence.

The Challenge: Fragmented Operations, Manual Workflows

Before partnering with Forerunner, the SMH team was running on spreadsheets, word documents, emails, and phone calls.

• Tracking key documents like interest forms, applications, flood declarations and homestead exemptions manually
• Navigating fragmented communication across evaluators, contractors, and homeowners
• Lacking real-time visibility into application progress, documentation, or compliance

Without a centralized platform, the SMH team did almost everything by hand – an intensive effort that consumed hours of time per grant. For a small team, this manual approach simply wasn’t sustainable. It became clear: if the program was going to scale, it needed smarter systems.

The Solution: A Digital Workflow Built for Scale

When SMH partnered with Forerunner, they had four key objectives:

• Track and manage all data required by SMH grant regulations
• Streamline documentation and communication across all stakeholders
• Implement a randomized, lottery-based grant selection process
• Create a seamless digital experience for applicants, staff, contractors, and evaluators

Forerunner’s platform was purpose-built to meet each of these needs. It quickly became a key tool for their operational success, centralizing data, automating workflows, and enabling real-time communication across roles.

How Forerunner Transformed Grant Operations

By centralizing all grant materials into one secure system with Forerunner, SMH staff gain real-time visibility into program progress and can resolve issues without delay. Dashboards and workload tracking streamline operations, making it easy to assign caseloads, review applications, and monitor compliance across the board. As the team has expanded, new staff have integrated effortlessly into existing workflows, supported by Forerunner’s intuitive design and responsive onboarding - keeping everything moving without added friction. What once required hours of chasing documents or manually updating statuses now happens in the background, giving the team time back to focus on serving residents more effectively.

The platform does not just support SMH internally; it has transformed how evaluators and contractors work, too. Applicants select providers directly within Forerunner, which triggers a structured workflow where contractors submit bids, manage milestones, and upload documentation in one place. As program needs have shifted, Forerunner’s customizable configurations allow SMH to adapt without disruption, evolving forms and processes in real time.

Perhaps most importantly, Forerunner makes the experience simpler and more transparent for residents. Applicants can track their status, upload materials, and complete steps independently - reducing confusion and cutting down dramatically on phone calls and emails. To guarantee fair and auditable grant selection, SMH has also implemented a randomized lottery system powered by Forerunner. The result is a grant program that is not only efficient and scalable, but also equitable and trustworthy from every angle.

Tangible Results Across the Program  

With Forerunner in place, the SMH team didn’t just digitize their workflow - they unlocked a new level of efficiency, capacity, and stakeholder satisfaction.

35% Time Savings Per Grant

Prior to implementation, each grant required 12–18 hours of coordination - much of it spent tracking down documents, managing email chains, and manually checking compliance. Today, that effort has dropped to just 8–12 hours per grant, thanks to centralized data, automated workflows, and streamlined communication.

“Once the Forerunner team walked us through it, it didn’t take long to get comfortable. Everything got noticeably faster and we became more efficient,” John noted.

This efficiency gain has allowed the team to scale without adding headcount - supporting more grants while spending more time on work that truly moves the program forward.

Stronger Staff Capacity

With administrative overhead reduced, the SMH team has greater flexibility to focus on high-value work:

• Field Oversight: More time can now be spent in the field checking construction progress, meeting with contractors, and addressing issues on-site.
• Team Development: The Program Specialist has greater bandwidth to coach and mentor team members - improving consistency across the team.

“We used to have to spend time calling and emailing different people to ask ‘Can you find this?’ ‘Did you send that?’ We don't need to do that anymore– everything is in Forerunner,” said John.

A Better Experience for Everyone

Forerunner didn’t just streamline internal workflows, it also transformed the experience for external stakeholders:

• Contractors and evaluators manage submissions, documentation, and track progress directly in-platform - reducing communication breakdowns and ensuring alignment.
• Applicants experience a guided, self-serve digital process - and benefit from faster, more informed support when they need help.

“They like being able to access each step on their own, without needing us to email them and go back and forth. And if they do call in, we can quickly access their grant and walk them through what they need to do” John shared.

A Platform and a Partnership Built for Long-Term Success

Forerunner didn’t just deliver a digital solution - it delivered a partnership. From rollout to refinement, the customer success team played a hands-on role in ensuring a smooth transition for SMH. Whether resolving evaluator issues within minutes or adapting workflows to the program’s evolving needs, Forerunner’s responsiveness helped keep operations running smoothly and efficiently.

As the Strengthen Mississippi Homes program continues to grow, Forerunner remains a critical part of that evolution. With a flexible platform, a deep understanding of regulatory and mitigation challenges, and a commitment to service, Forerunner has become more than a tool - it’s a foundation for scaling impact. Together, SMH and Forerunner are not only increasing efficiency and transparency, but also helping more Mississippi homeowners strengthen their homes and their peace of mind.