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Policy Analysis

It is essential to understand the policies that shape current programs and their impacts.

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Understanding and evaluating policies to inform service delivery.

Economic and well-being supports in the United States are a patchwork of programs and policies that operate at the federal, state, and local levels. Policymakers and practitioners need evidence to understand what works, including how different policies produce outcomes for program participants or promote economic security.

Policy analysis is also imperative for understanding how some policy decisions may make it more difficult for residents to access benefits or create unanticipated costs. Here, you will find materials that evaluate programmatic efficacy and reach, and offer recommendations for improving and reimagining policies.

Featured Content

On the Myths of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

On the Myths of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Though the rhetoric of “waste, fraud, and abuse” is ubiquitous when it comes to welfare programs, low-income households receive little relief from benefits programs. Most efforts to make public benefits systems more “efficient” actually just waste time and money in practice. They instead serve to stigmatize low-income families and chip away at the little assistance that remains available to them.

New America
Resource
What Are Human Services, and How Do State Governments Structure Them?

What Are Human Services, and How Do State Governments Structure Them?

This report describes the human services landscape within state governments and uses case studies to show the range of approaches state governments take in structuring their human services systems. It also explores some implications of these structures for alignment and coordination within human services and with the health care sector.

Urban Institute
Resource
A Safety Net with 100 Percent Participation: How Much Would Benefits Increase and Poverty Decline?

A Safety Net with 100 Percent Participation: How Much Would Benefits Increase and Poverty Decline?

Research examining how much poverty would decrease—overall, by age, and by race and ethnicity—and how much benefits would increase if all people eligible for safety net programs received the full benefits they qualify for in each of the 50 states and DC.

Urban Institute
Resource

Case studies

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Providers App: Timely, Localized Updates to Benefits Information

Providers App: Timely, Localized Updates to Benefits Information

Low-income Americans struggle to monitor their benefits and learn about new benefit programs because each state maintains its own systems for accessing this information. These websites are often convoluted and hard to find.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
2021
Project Re:new — Redesigning Michigan's Benefits Renewal Forms

Project Re:new — Redesigning Michigan's Benefits Renewal Forms

Michigan residents must renew their benefits annually to continue receiving public assistance. Unfortunately, each assistance program had its own renewal form, and the process was plagued by complicated language and undelivered forms. As a result, many residents lost their benefits and the state spent about $25 million annually correcting errors.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
2020
Redesigning Michigan's Benefits Correspondence

Redesigning Michigan's Benefits Correspondence

The correspondence sent by Michigan to its residents containing benefits programs updates and action items continues to be too long, too vague, and too reliant on legal jargon. This prevents residents from getting the help they need and forces agency staff to spend time explaining the letters.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
2021

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California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal

The California Health and Human Services Data Portal provides data on various facilities and social services administered by the state.

California Health and Human Services Agency
Artifact

Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard

The Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard is designed to visualize data from 30+ guaranteed income pilots across the United States. This data and testimonies from participants shed light on ways in which unconditional cash is providing people the opportunity, freedom, and resilience to build financial security.

Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR), the Stanford Basic Income Lab (BIL), and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI)
Artifact

National Unemployment Data Dashboard

This dashboard highlights key performance indicators for UI systems nationwide, including how they perform during the current economic crisis, the impact of the CARES Act benefits expiring, the timeline for which benefits are delivered, demographics of benefits recipients, and total benefits payments.

The Century Foundation
Artifact

Near Real Time COVID-19 Income and Poverty Dashboard

A real-time dashboard displaying COVID-19 income and poverty levels.

Poverty Measurement
Artifact

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot: Longitudinal Data for Understanding Participant Actions in New York

The project aims to understand factors influencing participants in New York's Temporary Assistance (TA) program, including their departure or return, subgroup tendencies, and long-term benefit receipt. The goal is to develop a predictive tool to assist staff in identifying potential long-term participants and improving decision-making on service provision and interventions. 

MDRC
Case Study

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot: Housing Transitions in New Jersey

New Jersey's pilot project investigated housing transitions for TANF participants experiencing homelessness, specifically those moving from emergency placements to Temporary Rental Assistance (TRA). The analysis aimed to understand the characteristics of families and their movement within the program, informing strategies for effective housing assistance and support. 

MDRC
Case Study

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot: Family Characteristics in Utah

The project explores characteristics of families who exit and return to Utah's TANF cash assistance program. It seeks to understand the reasons for their return and identify services that could reduce their future reliance on assistance. Data quality is also examined for its impact on understanding factors influencing benefit return.

MDRC
Case Study

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot: Analyzing Application Denial Rates in Michigan

The project aimed to analyze reasons behind Michigan's higher TANF application denial rate compared to other states, seeking to refine the application process, enhance program accessibility for eligible individuals, and alleviate staff workload by minimizing redundant applications. Research focused on identifying factors relating to eligibility rules and application processing steps. 

MDRC
Case Study

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot: Wage Outcomes by ZIP Code in California

The pilot team aimed to quantify wage outcomes for CalWORKs participants in specific ZIP Code areas. It focuses on developing a model to understand the factors associated with achieving stable wages that can support raising a family in California. This helps assess the effectiveness of the TANF program. 

MDRC
Case Study

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot: Analytical Tools for Education and Employment Services in Virginia

The project seeks to create unbiased analytical tools for Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) to customize education and employment services for TANF participants, improving their labor market success upon program exit. Demographic characteristics, household compositions, public benefit receipt, and past education/employment activities are analyzed for predictive purposes. 

MDRC
Case Study
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Federal Standards Needed to Provide Equitable Access to Unemployment Insurance

This report explains how revised federal performance standards can be a powerful tool for increasing equitable access to UI benefits.

National Employment Law Project (NELP)
Resource

Building a Stronger Foundation for American Families: Options for Child Tax Credit Reform

Our existing maze of family tax benefits — including the CTC, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), and head of household (HoH) filing status — has several structural deficiencies that make overhauling the system a prerequisite for any effort to boost support for families with children. The report offers several options for expanding and streamlining family tax benefits to address these issues.

Niskanen Center
Resource

Proposed Performance Standards for Equitable Access to Unemployment Insurance

This proposal recommends a set of new federal performance standards that would measure and improve UI access. The proposal is intended to supplement existing federal UI standards, but all UI standards and metrics should be periodically reevaluated and updated as the conditions facing unemployed workers and benefit delivery change.

National Employment Law Project (NELP)
Resource

Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 8: PolicyEngine | Max Gehnis and Nikhil Woodruff

We wrapped up Rules as Code Demo Day with Max Ghenis and Nikhil Woodruff, the founders of PolicyEngine. The PolicyEngine web app computes the impact of tax and benefit policy in the US and the UK. With PolicyEngine, anyone can freely calculate their taxes and benefits under current law and customizable policy reforms, and also estimate the society-wide impacts of those reforms. Policymakers and think tanks from across the political spectrum can analyze actual policy. PolicyEngine is built atop the open source OpenFisca US and UK microsimulation models and they are building an open unified data set utilizing data from the Policy Rules Database, Current Population Survey, Survey of Consumer Finances, Consumer Expenditures, tax records, and IRS Public Use File.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Resource

An Updated Measure of Poverty: ReDrawing the Line

This report recommends updating the methodology used by the Census Bureau to calculate the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to reflect household basic needs and replace the current Official Poverty Measure as the primary statistical measure of poverty. The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the SPM and provides recommendations for updating its methodology and expanding its use in recognition of the needs of most American families such as medical care, childcare, and housing costs.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Resource

Five Things You May Not Know about the US Social Safety Net

A snapshot of the safety net’s reach, who might be most affected by changes to safety net programs, and what it will look like going forward.

Urban Institute
Resource

Optimizing Federal COVID Relief Funds: State Perspectives On Bolstering Child Care And Early Childhood Systems

This report examines how states strategically approached managing and administering the historic influx of COVID-19 relief funds for child care and early childhood systems, focusing on governance structures, funding management systems, and data systems

National Governors Association
Resource

Responding to the COVID-19 Unemployment Crisis and Meeting the Future of Work Challenge

Due to technology’s disruptive force in society and on the labor force, it is necessary to revisit the relationship between employees, governments, and citizens. This report asserts that the next president should immediately sign two Executive Orders (EOs) to address the current work crisis and the urgent economic emergency that has left Americans evicted, unable to pay bills, make rent, or put food on the table.

Day One Project
Resource

Core Principles for TANF Modernization: A Legislative Framework for TANF Refo

Working with TANF administrators and human services leaders across the country, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) embraces the call to reimagine how TANF can work in support of the families it serves and has established a set of TANF Modernization Core Principles to guide our vision for the future of TANF. Grounded in these Core Principles, APHSA’s members have laid out a legislative framework to unlock the potential of TANF. We call upon Congress to use this framework as a starting point to build common ground to achieve a TANF reauthorization that promotes a more equitable and prosperous future for all Americans.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

The Consequences of Decentralization: Inequality in Safety Net Provision in the Post–Welfare Reform Era

Study examining cross-state inequality in social safety net programs due to decentralized social provision. The authors find substantial cross-state inequality in provision, with increased inequality due to the devolution of authority under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA).

The University of Chicago Press Journals
Resource

Early Insights on SNAP Modernization through American Rescue Plan Investments

This brief shares findings from a November 2021 survey of state SNAP agencies about their use of the SNAP ARPA funds in fiscal year 2021, and their initial planned activities for fiscal year 2022 and 2023. This brief also draws from learnings from work groups conducted with states in early 2022. The brief looks to explore the following questions: 1. How did state SNAP agencies use 2021 SNAP ARPA administrative funding? 2. What factors influenced how states used 2021 SNAP ARPA administrative funding? 3. What are states aiming to prioritize in 2022 and 2023? 4. What do early insights on implementation convey about national SNAP priorities?

Share Our Strength, No Kid Hungry, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

Fewer Burdens but Greater Inequality? Reevaluating the Safety Net through the Lens of Administrative Burden

This paper examines changes in administrative burden in U.S. social safety net programs, or the negative encounters with the state that people experience when trying to access and use the benefits for which they are eligible. While overall burdens have declined in most targeted programs, there is evidence of increasing inequality regarding who faces these burdens.

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Resource

Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 7: MITRE Corporation (CCASH) | Joe Ditre and Frank Ruscil

MITRE’s Joe Ditre and Frank Ruscil demoed the code for the Comprehensive Careers and Supports for Households (C-CASH) at Rules as Code Demo Day. The MITRE team expanded the accessibility of the Policy Rules Database and the Cost-of-Living Database (the prior demo) by creating a web service API and a front-end Window’s application called C-CASH Analytic Tool (CAT). CAT provides a more scalable, flexible, and portable functionality which allows end-users to generate various households to run eligibility scenarios across different U.S. counties and states. They are currently working to create a national data hub and analytics tool, starting with utilizing U.S. Census data and populating the data warehouse by pushing large amounts of data through the PRD.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Resource

Modernizing Public Benefits Delivery: How Innovation Can Deliver Results for Eligible Households and Taxpayers

A modernized public benefits system would better serve program participants, administrators, policy makers, and taxpayers. This paper proposes a set of principles both define the desired future state and outline the values that shape decision making along the way. Practices describe the processes needed to achieve modernization.

National Academy of Public Administration
Resource

Tackling the Time Tax: How the Federal Government Is Reducing Burdens to Accessing Critical Benefits and Services

This report summarizes progress made with agencies and members of the public to identify and reduce burdens that individuals, families, and small businesses face every day when interacting with government programs.

Executive Office of the President
Resource

System Alignment for Young Families: Shifting Human Services to Improve Well-Being for Parents Under 24 and Their Children

Building on previous work to develop a roadmap for system-level change to better support young families, the System Alignment for Young Families Learning Academy (SAYF) set out to support cross-systems teams from state and local human services agencies in establishing a System Alignment Plan (SAP) to support young families.

APHSA
Resource

Maximizing the impact of direct cash transfers to young people: A policy toolkit

Chapin Hall collaborated with national policy experts, practitioners, and young adults with lived experience of homelessness to create a policy toolkit where tax, public benefits, and educational aid implications for young people participating in Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) programs are laid out in one place.

Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Resource

Delivery-Driven Policy: Policy designed for the digital age

There is a key disconnect between policymakers’ intent and implementation of policies. A user-centric, iterative, and data-driven approach can result result in digital technology that provides much needed data and insights at a substantially lower cost.

Code for America
Resource

A Public Transformed? Welfare Reform as Policy Feedback

This article analyzes the strategic use of public policy as a tool for reshaping public opinion. Though progressive revisionists in the 1990s argued that reforming welfare could produce a public more willing to invest in anti-poverty efforts, welfare reform in the 1990s did little to shift public opinion. This study investigates the general conditions under which mass feedback effects should be viewed as more or less likely.

American Political Science Review
Resource

What Works Cities Assessment Guide

What Works Cities helps local governments improve residents’ lives by using data and evidence effectively to tackle pressing challenges. The Certification Assessment helps cities benchmark their progress and develop a roadmap for improvement.

What Works Cities
Resource

Strengthening Analytics in Government Agencies: A Toolkit for Sustainable Data Use

This toolkit offers strategies and tools to help agencies build the culture and infrastructure needed to apply data analysis routinely, effectively, and accurately – referred to in this publication as “sustainable data use.” It covers a variety of subjects – from staffing and technology to collaboration and funding – that can impact the longevity of analytics work in the public sector.

MDRC, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Coleridge Initiative, Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
Resource

A Safety Net with 100 Percent Participation: How Much Would Benefits Increase and Poverty Decline?

Research examining how much poverty would decrease—overall, by age, and by race and ethnicity—and how much benefits would increase if all people eligible for safety net programs received the full benefits they qualify for in each of the 50 states and DC.

Urban Institute
Resource

What Are Human Services, and How Do State Governments Structure Them?

This report describes the human services landscape within state governments and uses case studies to show the range of approaches state governments take in structuring their human services systems. It also explores some implications of these structures for alignment and coordination within human services and with the health care sector.

Urban Institute
Resource

Increasing Older Adult Access to SNAP

This brief highlights the complex journey that older adults experience when applying for and enrolling in SNAP, including the major barriers and solutions that improve access along the way.

AARP Foundation
Resource

Funding Programs for Young Parents & Families

This brief provides a summary of potential federal funding sources and programs that can be used to support programs specifically targeted towards young families. While this list is not exhaustive, it highlights major sources that can serve as a starting point for braiding and blending of funding to create comprehensive programming to serve young families.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

How to Improve Unemployment Insurance for People with Disabilities

The report beings by briefly describing the challenge that disabled workers face in accessing UI and the benefits of reforming the system to better serve these workers. The report then presents a list of considerations for UI reform in the areas of administrative process and technology improvements as well as considerations for policy change.

The Century Foundation
Resource

“It has meant everything”: How P-EBT Helped Families in Michigan

This report explores Michigan’s implementation of the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program. Drawing on interviews from individuals within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and input from SNAP participants via surveys distributed using the Fresh EBT app, this report provides insights into the strategies that enabled Michigan to roll out an entirely new program quickly and effectively.

New America
Resource

Improving Outcomes for Families Through Better Use of Data: The TANF Data Collaborative

This nine-minute video, produced after the completion of the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) Pilot, features staff members from the California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Virginia TANF agencies reflecting on their challenges, accomplishments, and general experiences during the pilot. In particular, they describe their research questions and discuss building data capacity, integrating datasets, networking with other states, increasing collaboration between state and county agencies, learning new technical skills, and the benefits of being able to draw from diverse skillsets, all within the context of the TDC Pilot.

MDRC
Resource

Documenting Pandemic EBT for the 2020-21 School Year

The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program was launched as an effort to address the loss of access to free and reduced-price school meals due to widespread school closures at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools reopened in a shifting mix of fully virtual, hybrid, and inperson formats and families lacked consistent access to school meals, these benefits were extended through the 2020–21 school year and were highly valuable to families in buffering the full extent of food insecurity they may have faced during this uncertain time. However, the complexity of administering this program was a fundamental barrier in providing timely support to families, who ultimately went without benefits for at least half of the school year. In this report, we dive into the challenges state administrators faced in launching this new program during the 2020–21 school year and reflect on considerations for the future.

Urban Institute, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

The Pandemic Proved That Cash Payments Work

The $600 cash payments provided by the CARES act prevented joblessness from turning into actual income loss for millions of families. It also gave Americans breathing room to wait for better jobs, rather than settling for bad ones out of desperation.

The Atlantic
Resource

SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020

SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020 is a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy (IHSP) based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). This research seeks to understand perspectives from state SNAP administrators on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from waivers and flexibilities used to preserve equitable access to SNAP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on state agency survey responses, this report summarizes key findings from the first calendar year of pandemic response and provides policy considerations for the future of SNAP. This research was supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

Building the Tech-Enabled Safety Net: Public Benefits and Innovation Amid COVID-19

COVID-19 has highlighted the central role that technology plays in delivering essential services such as food, housing assistance, and unemployment insurance. How that technology is designed can make the difference between receiving or being denied the public benefits people are eligible for. The social safety net has been remade on the fly in response to COVID-19, but temporary patches to our systems aren’t sustainable. A growing field of tech-enabled safety net organizations have begun building tools that apply modern digital technology to the safety net. Getting people the services they’re eligible for requires the government to create policy and build technology that are inclusive, portable, interoperable, and people-centric. Read our new field scan, “Building the Tech-Enabled Safety Net” to understand a dozen fintech and civic tech organizations working across fourteen safety net programs and showing what’s possible when modern technology is married to a consumer insights perspective.

Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Resource

In-Depth Equity Assessment Guide

Initially created to inform federal staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this tool describes how to conduct intensive equity assessments of existing programs, policies, and processes. It may be useful for state and local governments, tribal governments, and other private or non-profit organizations focused on programs and policies relating to health and human services.

Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Resource

Evaluation of the USDA Summer EBT Demonstrations: Lessons Learned From More Than a Decade of Research

FNS conducted evaluations of multiple pilot programs to strengthen access to food during the summer when school is out of session. Evaluations found that Summer EBT reduces childhood food insecurity by a significant amount, including the most severe form of food insecurity; some eligible households do not redeem some or any of their benefits; and parents and caregivers have positive opinions of Summer EBT.

USDA FNS
Resource

Medicaid And SNAP Advance Equity But Sometimes Have Hidden Racial And Ethnic Barriers

This article explores how although SNAP and Medicaid programs have succeeded in narrowing health and nutrition disparities, certain policies hinder goals of racial and ethnic equity, even though they do not explicitly mention race or ethnicity.

Health Affairs
Resource

Does Administrative Burden Influence Public Support for Government Programs? Evidence from a Survey Experiment

It is hypothesized that if information about the existing screening mechanisms is highlighted and made salient, this will lead to greater approval of eligibility-based programs. The results of this study demonstrate the ways in which in which information regarding administrative burden can shape citizens’ support for eligibility-based programs.

Public Administration Review
Resource

Re-Envisioning TANF: Toward an Anti-Racist Program That Meaningfully Serves Families

An America where no one experiences poverty is possible. Already, the U.S. has programs with the potential to make this vision a reality, including programs that provide cash assistance, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The current TANF program provides very little cash assistance and is marked by stark racial disparities, but it has the potential to reduce child poverty, increase economic security, and advance racial equity. This report offers a vision for an anti-racist approach to the TANF program, with new statutory goals and policy recommendations to advance racial justice.

Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality: Economic Security & Opportunity Initiative
Resource

On the Myths of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Though the rhetoric of “waste, fraud, and abuse” is ubiquitous when it comes to welfare programs, low-income households receive little relief from benefits programs. Most efforts to make public benefits systems more “efficient” actually just waste time and money in practice. They instead serve to stigmatize low-income families and chip away at the little assistance that remains available to them.

New America
Resource

Increasing Data Analytics Capacity in State TANF Agencies: The TANF Data Collaborative Approach

Government agencies at all levels collect administrative data in the course of their day-to-day operations. While such information has been used to determine effectiveness through program evaluations for many years, program administrators view it increasingly as a valuable resource that can also be used to improve program performance. For example, administrative data from employment and public benefits programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) can offer insights into families’ unmet needs and ways to improve services.

MDRC, Coleridge Initiative
Resource

COVID Response Project: Lessons Learned from State Adaptation and Federal Flexibilities

The COVID Response Project was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to document the real-time impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on state human services agencies and capture state perspectives on lessons learned to guide future federal policymaking and state implementation. The project was completed by the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Regional Operations. Insights from the report reflect information obtained through APHSA’s on-going support of state human services agencies’ COVID-19 response efforts as well as a series of in-depth interviews with executive leadership of the 14 state health and human services agencies in ACF’s Region 1 (New England) and Region 4 (Southeast) areas.

Administration for Children & Families, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

Benefits of Interoperability in the Health & Human Services System

The A-87 Exception presents a unique opportunity to transform the health and human services delivery system. It delivers an integrated funding mechanism which allows good business design to apply across a broad range of programs and services. It also provides benefits to states, customers, and federal partners, ranging from cost containment, to improved customer service, enhanced security and privacy, program integrity, and better outcomes for children and families.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

Unpacking Data Use in State TANF Agencies: Insights from the TANF Data Innovation Needs Assessment

Policymakers, program administrators, federal leaders, researchers, and advocates are increasingly focused on using administrative data to build evidence for improving government programs. Achieving this goal requires accessible data sources and the capacity to use them, yet stakeholders have little information about the baseline level of state capacity in these areas. How does one measure concepts such as “effective data use” and “analytic capacity?” This brief reports findings from a pioneering and comprehensive needs assessment that examined the capacity of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs in 54 U.S. states and territories to analyze data used for program improvement, monitoring, and evidence-building. The needs assessment provides a foundation for technical assistance and continued improvement for the TANF program and may also provide valuable insights and frameworks for other state-administered human services programs.

MDRC, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Resource

The Benefits Cliff Dilemma: Navigating Wage Increases and Public Benefits

The goal of the brief is to encourage policy makers and employers to consider benefits cliffs as they look to create mandatory wage increases, with a look at a legislative action in NYC.

Financial Health Network
Resource

Unlocking the "Prevention Services" in the Family First Prevention Services A

In recent years, there has been a deliberate shift to move our public systems that support child and family well-being upstream. These efforts reflect the growing consensus that true and lasting progress toward a nation where everyone can thrive requires we get to the root of the barriers that keep people and communities from achieving their potential. A foundational building block of this effort is the work happening to advance prevention strategies within child welfare agencies. In this brief, we focus on the challenges and opportunities that the Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First) offers to accelerate the shift toward a prevention-oriented child well-being system.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

What Government Programs Should Measure: How Well They Help People

It is necessary give the public servants who manage safety-net systems the technology tools and incentives to track critical outcomes and meet people where they are.

Governing
Resource

Guide on Advancing Equity by Incorporating Intersectionality in Research and Analysis

This guide explores intersectionality and why it is essential for advancing equity. It explores strategies for planning and conducting research with an intersectional lens, describes quantitative measures and methods to examine differences across groups of people with intersecting identities, and provides key considerations for using qualitative data to better understand intersectionality.

Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Resource

Expanding TANF Program Insights: A Toolkit for State and Local Agencies on How to Access, Link, and Analyze Unemployment Insurance Wage Data

This toolkit is designed to assist state and local TANF agencies in accessing, linking, and analyzing employment data from unemployment insurance (UI) systems. The toolkit provides practical guidance on using UI wage data for program monitoring, reporting, and evaluation, and it may be valuable for other human services agencies and policymakers interested in improving workforce outcomes. The report highlights four key sections, covering the purpose of the toolkit, challenges in accessing UI wage data, methods for linking data sources, and instructions for preparing data for analysis. Additionally, an accompanying GitHub repository offers open-source code and resources for data processing and analysis. This toolkit serves as a starting point for TANF leaders who want to access and analyze UI wage data and offers the essential building blocks you will need to get started on your data analysis journey.

MDRC, Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
Resource

2021 Poverty Projections: Assessing Four American Rescue Plan Policies

This report describes key elements of the American Rescue Plan Act and how it would reduce the projected poverty rate for 2021. Various projections regarding the effects of the policy are described in this report.

Urban Institute
Resource

2022 Benefits Scorecard

Framework by the Aspen Institute to assess how both public and private benefits are performing to support workers’ financial security needs, identify where innovations are needed to fill current benefit gaps, and explore opportunities to improve and modernize design and delivery. This resource allows policymakers, employers, benefits providers, and researchers assess benefits performance for constituents and identify opportunities in market and policy innovation to ensure equitable benefits distribution.

Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Resource

What We Measure Matters: Enhanced Performance Metrics for SNAP and Medicaid Would Promote a More Human-Centered Delivery System

This post from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities argues that the traditional measures of program performance say little about the human experience of accessing benefits, and argues for enhanced performance metrics to support more human-centered delivery.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Resource

Does the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Affect Hospital Utilization Among Older Adults? The Case of Maryland

Accounting for the strong effects of health care access, this study finds that SNAP is associated with reduced hospitalization in dually eligible older adults. Policies to increase SNAP participation and benefit amounts in eligible older adults may reduce hospitalizations and health care costs for older dual eligible adults living in the community.

Benefits Data Trust
Resource

Working Together - A Roadmap to Human Services System Alignment for Young Families

In April 2021 the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) established The System Alignment Working Group for Children & Families with a group of dedicated human services leaders and stakeholders across sectors, including parent representatives. The Working Group was tasked with identifying strengths and barriers in our current human services systems, opportunities for better system alignment, and to lay the foundations for a framework to effective human services alignment resulting in improved outcomes for young parents and their children. Members engaged in an iterative process with monthly development sessions, interactive workshops and convenings, and providing one-on-one feedback to APHSA staff. The results of these efforts lead to the production of this roadmap designed to support human services leaders at every level to facilitate meaningful systems-level changes to better serve the children and families in their communities.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

Reimagining a U.S. Benefits System That Supports All Workers: Five Key Takeaways from Public and Private Benefit Leaders

This rapporteur’s report features 5 key takeaways from the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program's 2022 Benefits Forum with 55 experts in public and private benefits, including corporate leaders, policymakers, worker advocates, entrepreneurs, and researchers, who came together to brainstorm solutions for closing gaps in our public and private benefits and strengthening their design and delivery to support all workers and their families. The goals were to identify areas of agreement across stakeholders and imagine and invent the benefits solutions that workers need today, and in the future, to promote household financial security. Participants concluded on five key takeaways from the discussions: 1. Households Need a Core Bundle of Benefits 2. Technology is Important, but it’s not a Panacea 3. Narrative change around Benefits is critical 4. Government and Employers have Important, Shared Roles 5. Financial Security Outcomes of Benefits must be Measured

Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Resource

Response to RFI: Center for WIC Modernization and Delivery

In this RFI response, APHSA draws on its work with members to align programs and agencies in human services to inform WIC modernization and delivery.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Resource

Data Sharing to Build Effective and Efficient Benefits Systems: A Playbook for State and Local Agencies

This playbook is designed to help government and other key sectors use data sharing to illuminate who is not accessing benefits, connect under-enrolled populations to vital assistance, and make the benefits system more efficient for agencies and participants alike. It is a step-by-step guide to conducting smooth and efficient data sharing projects that are permissible and secure.

Benefits Data Trust
Resource

Moving Because of Unaffordable Housing and Disrupted Social Safety Net Access Among Children

This article shows how moves because of unaffordable housing can disrupt social safety net access for children.

Pediatrics
Resource

Benefits Protection Toolkit

This benefits protection toolkit is a step-by-step guide to develop and integrate a benefits protection strategy into your Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) program design. This toolkit includes a set of customizable templates, letters, and other tools which should be downloaded and modified for your pilot and local context.

Impact Charitable and Home Grown
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Changes in State TANF Policies in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the US economy shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state administrators for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)—the nation’s primary program for helping families with low incomes meet basic needs while supporting their transition to economic mobility through work opportunities—faced new challenges operating the program and meeting their clients’ needs. For families previously or newly receiving TANF, the pandemic made it harder to meet the work and activity requirements necessary to continue receiving benefits. Many state TANF administrators and agencies responded to the pandemic and stay-at-home orders by adjusting their policies to meet their states’ and families’ unique situations, needs, and challenges. In this brief, we describe how some of these agencies adapted their policies during the early months of the pandemic.

Urban Institute, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
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Equity Assessment Tip Sheet

Originally created for use by federal staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this tool describes the six steps for conducting equity assessments and provides tips for completing each step. This resource may be relevant for state and local governments, tribal governments, and other private or non-profit organizations focused on programs and policies relating to health and human services

Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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A Modernized System of Benefits is the Foundation for an Inclusive Economy

Report by the Aspen Institute discussing Benefits21, a multi-stakeholder, multi-faceted initiative to integrate and modernize benefits systems. This paper provides an overview of Benefits21, along with a discussion of the shortcomings of current public and private benefit systems.

Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
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The IRS as a Benefits Administrator

The IRS is arguably the single most critical benefits administrator in the country, given its responsibility for tax credit-based relief programs, and COVID-19 relief payments. Despite these programs’ incredible progress in reducing poverty, and despite great strides by the IRS to implement them successfully, accessing IRS benefits remains too difficult for many low-income families. This report presents a comprehensive agenda to increase benefit coverage rates, simplify Americans’ interactions with the IRS, and decrease the portion of IRS benefits diverted to third parties.

New America
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Exemplary Data Use by State TANF Agencies: Beyond Routine Reports and Analyses

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) leaders, policymakers, and researchers all recognize the need for TANF agencies to use the data they collect to better understand how well their programs are working and how to improve them, given the impact on the families they serve. It is often difficult, however, for agencies already stretched to capacity to prioritize and execute data use and analytics. State TANF leaders are seeking roadmaps for how to transform their organizations and become data-driven.

MDRC, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
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C-STAT: Achieving Results for Colorado - Summary Report

This report describes C-Stat 2.0, an updated version of the the Colorado Department of Human Services’ performance-based analysis strategy that allows them to better focus on and improve performance outcomes that enhance people’s lives.

Colorado Department of Human Services
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Guide on Advancing Equity through Quantitative Analysis

Initially created to inform federal staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this guide explores opportunities to advance equity in quantitative analysis, including by recognizing common biases (e.g., research and measurement bias). The guide also discusses specific quantitative methods and tools to help quantitative analyses address equity.

Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 6: Policy Rules Database | Seth Hartig

At Rules as Code Demo Day Seth Hartig from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) and Bank Street College demoed the Policy Rules Database (PRD), a collaborative effort between the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the NCCP. The primary purpose of the PRD is to simplify the interpretation of all programs by creating a common structure and a common terminology. The repository allows for research on public assistance programs and tax policies, and helps users model benefits cliffs on career pathways. The PRD is supported by a technical manual with pseudocode that helps guide integration and usage in other platforms.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
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The Complete Financial Lives of Workers

If work is to provide a real pathway to financial security, public and workplace benefits need to reflect the realities of 21st century employment, which includes a workforce increasingly required to engage in nonstandard and sometimes multiple jobs and where job stability is not guaranteed. Download “The Complete Financial Lives of Workers: A Holistic Exploration of Work and Public and Workplace Benefit Arrangements” today to learn: - Four conditions of work and benefits that allow LMI workers to thrive – informed by front-line insights from Aspen’s Consumer Insights Collaborative - A new matrix to unpack and highlight the major connections between work and benefit arrangements and workers’ prospects for financial security - Five key recommendations to build a benefits system that meets the needs of all workers and addresses the inequities observed in the current labor market and benefits systems

Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
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Automation + AI
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Basic Income
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Housing
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SSDI: Social Security Disability Insurance
SSI: Supplemental Security Income
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