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How to create a service blueprinting facilitation guide

A toolkit for creating a dynamic service blueprint that can be modified or expanded upon to fit an organization's needs.

Nava Public Benefit Corporation
Toolkit

Study to Identify Methods to Assess Equity: Report to the President

Study by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget assessing methods for determining whether agency policies and actions create or exacerbate barriers to full and equal participation by eligible individuals. This study followed the Executive Order on racial equity.

Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget
Government Documents

Who Did Not Get the Economic Impact Payments by Mid-to-Late May, and Why?

A study by the Urban Institute assessing why around 12 million individuals were at risk of not getting stimulus check payments as provided by the CARES Act.

Urban Institute
Case Study

Listening to SNAP Participants to Improve Access to the Expanded Child Tax Credit

Well-designed, user-focused tools that allow for simple application are key to ensuring that families most in need receive the Child Tax Credit. Reaching these households will require a robust effort from the IRS to create user-friendly tools in partnership with organizations with a direct connection to eligible recipients.

Propel, University of Michigan Poverty Solutions
Academic Article

Aggressive State Outreach Can Help Reach the 12 Million Non-Filers Eligible for Stimulus Payments

Aggressive outreach by states is necessary to ensure that 12 million Americans do not risk missing out on the stimulus payments provided by the CARES Act.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

Administrative Burden: Learning, Psychological, and Compliance Costs in Citizen-State Interactions

Administrative burden placed on individual citizens are often a function of deliberate political choice, as to enact significant policy changes without broad political deliberation. This is evident in the evolution of Medicaid policies in Wisconsin.

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
Academic Article

Reducing Poverty and Advancing Equity: A Retrospective

This retrospective looks at the way the NYCOpportunity initiative worked across City government, partnering with agencies to initiate new approaches and enhance city practices. It also highlights key areas of focus for the NYC Opportunity team between 2014 and 2021.

NYC Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity
Report

Language and Disability Access in NYC

Description of NYC language and disability access requirements, along with best practices to improve communication between NYC government and its diverse constituents.

NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
Organization Website

Federal plain language guidelines

Guidelines to help organizations write in compliance with the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

Plainlanguage.gov
Organization Website

Administrative Burden: Policymaking By Other Means

This book is an in-depth exploration of federal programs and controversial legislation demonstrating that administrative burden has long existed in policy design, preventing citizens from accessing fundamental rights. Further discussion of how policymakers can minimize administrative burden to reduce inequality, boost civic engagement, and build an efficient state.

Russell Sage Foundation
Book

Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts

People want clear and concise information devoid of unnecessary jargon or complex terms. Plain language benefits both consumers and organizations.

Nielsen Norman Group
Toolkit

Better Language Translation Through Machine Learning: Everything I Wish I Knew 6 Months Ago

A discussion of lessons learned in the City of San José’s efforts to provide inclusive digital services for all residents through the San José 311 app.

The Startup
Non-Academic Article

Lessons Churned: Measuring the Impact of Churn in Health and Human Services Programs on Participants and State and Local Agencies

Paper presenting preliminary lessons learned about SNAP churn derived from states participating in the Work Support Strategies project. It defines churn and outlines its consequences, explores approaches to measuring churns and looks at possible approaches to reduce churn.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

Designing Inclusive Digital Services in San Jose

Applying UX research methods, the City of San Jose worked to improve how low-income and non-English speaking residents engaged with My San Jose, a website and mobile app for residents to report neighborhood issues to cities. They used a Spanish and Vietnamese translator to conduct interviews with target users, then detailed major findings and corresponding recommendations in this report.

Code for America
Report

Nudging Benefits Access in the Right Direction

Article describing partnership between NYC Department of Social Services, Benefits Data Trust, and the Robin Hood foundation to send targeted text messages to SNAP recipients to encourage them to successfully compete the annual recertification process required to stay in the program.

Benefits Data Trust
Case Study

Targeted Text Message Outreach Can Increase WIC Enrollment, Pilots Show

WIC enrollment has declined over the last decade, preventing millions of eligible low-income individuals from accessing its benefits. This report examines state WIC outreach pilots and discusses the effectiveness of text message outreach and key considerations when developing and launching targeted text outreach campaigns.

Benefits Data Trust, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Toolkit

18F Agile-based project approach

18F describes its Agile-based project approach combining iterative software development, product management, user-centered design, and DevOps.

18F
Toolkit

Using Data Matching and Targeted Outreach to Enroll Families With Young Children in WIC

WIC enrollment has declined over the past decade, but evidence from randomized control trials indicates that using data from other programs to identify WIC-eligible families and following up with text-based outreach can boost program participation.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Case Study

18F Methods: Usability Testing

18F describes how to implement usability tests to understand how intuitive a given design is, as well as how adaptable it is to meeting user needs.

18F
Toolkit

De-risking Guide: Budgeting and overseeing tech projects

Guide by 18F explaining how to minimize the risk of policy failure when selecting technology vendors.

18F
Toolkit

Technology, Data, and Design-Enabled Approaches for a More Responsive, Effective Social Safety Net

This landscape analysis examines data, design, technology, and innovation-enabled approaches that make it easier for eligible people to enroll in, and receive, federally-funded social safety net benefits, with a focus on the earliest adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Integrated Benefits Initiative: Best Practices in Texting

Code for America offers government agencies a general overview of getting started with implementing text messaging services for clear, responsive communication during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Code for America
Toolkit

Four Lessons from Our Journey to Deliver Human-Centered Integrated Benefits

Code for America partnered with the CBPP, Civilla, and Nava to launch the Integrated Benefits Initiative, testing and piloting human-centered approaches to improve outcomes and learn what an optimal safety net could look like. This article describes key takeaways from short-term pilots implemented as part of this project.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

Moving Child Care Assistance Applications Online Means More Families Get the Help They Deserve

Hennepin County, Minnesota, partnered with Code for America to develop a six-month long experiment where participants were given the option to submit the normal paper-based application or opt into an online application.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology

Book presenting a blueprint for how governments and nonprofits can utilize digital technology to solve pressing twenty-first century issues.

Tara Dawson McGuinness, Hana Schank
Book

Launching New Digital Tools for WIC Participants

Toolkit to help agencies administering WIC become more informed purchasers of digital tools for WIC participants.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Toolkit

Opportunities to Streamline Enrollment Across Public Benefit Programs

Data-sharing across public benefits programs can help enroll low-income people into other benefits for which they qualify. This guide helps local policymakers and program officials identify opportunities under federal law to streamline the application and enrollment process.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

How Louisiana Rapidly Scaled Pilot Solutions to Combat COVID-19

In response to exploding demand for social services during COVID-19, the Louisiana Department of children and Family services implemented text-message alerts and reminders for the state’s entire SNAP caseload, launched a text-based public campaign to help people understand and apply for SNAP benefits, and hired SNAP recipients to provide client feedback on communications and policy decisions.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

18F Methods: Journey Mapping

18F describes journey mapping: a visualization of the major interactions shaping a user’s experience of a product or service. This allows design teams to view a service through the perspective of the user and incorporate their learnings throughout the development process.

18F
Toolkit

The Missed Opportunity in Online Benefits Applications: Mobile First

The ubiquity of mobile devices makes it imperative to build “mobile first” services, i.e. services built with the expectation that they will primarily be accessed on mobile devices. This article also outlines important considerations and suggestions for implementing mobile-first user interfaces.

Code for America
News

Using SNAP Data for Medicaid Renewals Can Keep Eligible Beneficiaries Enrolled

Medicaid enrollees must renew their eligibility every 12 months, resulting in extensive “churn,” whereby eligible people continuously cycle on and off of Medicaid instead of remaining continuously enrolled. States can use detailed SNAP income data to reduce churn and thus reduce the burden on beneficiaries and agencies.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

Eligible Low-Income Children Missing Out on Crucial WIC Benefits During Pandemic

The share of WIC-eligible families participating in the program has declined, though the number of individuals eligible for WIC has likely grown substantially. By working together, state WIC, Medicaid, and SNAP leaders can use data to assess the extent to which WIC is reaching eligible families and enroll more of them.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

How Data Sharing Can Improve Equitable Access to Public Programs

Accessing safety net benefits can involve complicated and duplicative processes that create barriers to access. Using cross-enrollment strategies can minimize the difficulties community members face in getting access to life-saving resources.

Alluma
Toolkit

Advocate’s Guide to MAGI

The National Health Law Program released an updated Guide to Modified Adjusted Gross Income, including sections on ACA tax filing and reporting, clarification on commonly asked questions about Social Security Income, and updated IRS tax filing thresholds.

National Health Law Program
Policy Brief

Maximizing Linkages: A Policymaker’s Guide to Data Sharing

Maximizing Linkages: A Policymaker’s Guide to Data Sharing

Alluma
Toolkit

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
Academic Article

Fast Track: A quicker road to Medicaid enrollment

Fast Track is an efficient, inexpensive enrollment option to enroll eligible individuals in Medicaid using data the state already has on hand from other applications. Through Fast Track, states can use TANF, SNAP, and LIHEAP data to determine eligibility and quickly enroll large numbers of individuals.

Benefits Data Trust
Policy Brief

SNAP Online: A Review of State Government SNAP Websites

There is significant variation amongst states’ SNAP websites and their online services. This report summarizes the types of services available and which states offer them.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Non-Academic Article

The Unfinished Business of the ACA

“Interoperability” refers to systems’ ability to interact with each other to share data so that a customer is connected with as many benefits as possible in an efficient way. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was originally intended to be interoperable, but this has not occurred yet. Promoting interoperability in the ACA is imperative, as it would help alleviate food insecurity through automatic benefits enrollment.

Alluma
Non-Academic Article

Blueprint for a Human-Centered Safety Net

Describes the Principles of a Human-Centered Safety Net: Many Welcoming Doors, Easy to Understand, Clients Can Make Informed Decisions, Responsive to Changing Needs, Simple Actions

Code for America
Toolkit

The Time Tax: Why is so much American bureaucracy left to average citizens?

Article describing the “time tax,” the costs to people applying or benefits in terms of spending substantial amounts of time navigating user-unfriendly interfaces. The article describes the necessity of simplifying safety-net programs and cross-coordinating across various social service programs.

The Atlantic
Non-Academic Article

What is Better Rules?

Better Rules utilizes multidisciplinary teams that include people skilled in policy, legal, business rules, programming, and service design working together in an iterative fashion to develop rules. Several outputs are produced using this approach, each offering an opportunity that can be fed back into that iterative process and re-used to solve other issues.

New Zealand Government
Non-Academic Article

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
Report

Matching Data Across Benefits Programs Can Increase WIC Enrollment

Although Medicaid and SNAP participants are automatically income-eligible for WIC, many don’t enroll. Pilot projects in four states have shown that matching data across programs to identify these families and conducting outreach to them can increase WIC enrollment.

Benefits Data Trust, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Case Study

Eligibility APIs Initiative

Documentation of 18F's and 10x's Eligibility APIs Initiative

18F
Apps and API

Exploring a new way to make eligibility rules easier to implement

Programs like Medicaid and SNAP are managed at the federal level, administered at the state level, and often executed at the local level. Because there are so many in-betweens, there is significant duplicated effort, demonstrating the need to simplify eligibility rules to facilitate easier implementation.

18F
Non-Academic Article

Mapping the Applicant Experience of Benefit Enrollment

Applicants to federal aid programs face numerous barriers in accessing benefits they are eligible for. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare conducted an extensive qualitative user research study to better understand applicant experience in enrolling in public assistance programs. Based on the results, the study emphasizes the need for simplified, streamlined and less burdensome application processes.

U.S. Digital Service, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Report

Rapid Implementation of Policy as Code

Policy changes are often dynamic and occur quickly, but they can only create impact once implemented. The Eligibility APIs Initiative at 18F shares an example from their work that shows the potential for rapid, accurate policy implementation as code.

18F
Non-Academic Article

Implementing rules without a rules engine

It is frequently assumed that when rules are implemented as code, a rules engine is necessary. However, it is possible for policy people and engineers to effectively work together to code logic that drives technological system without needing a mediating rules engine at all.

18F
Non-Academic Article

Designing for Connection: 5 Key Principles for IES Solutions That Put People First

Alluma outlines five key principles for a people-first approach to eligibility and enrollment systems.

Alluma
Non-Academic Article

Promoting Public Benefits Access Through Web-Based Tools and Outreach: A National Scan of Efforts. Volume I: Background, Efforts in Brief, and Related Initiatives

Demand for public benefits is rising in response to continued economic pressure on vulnerable people, in addition to changes in eligibility rules for some safety net programs. This report summarizes existing benefits access efforts, studies the successes and challenges of benefits expansion efforts through a subset of in-depth case studies, and analyzes the potential for sustaining, expanding, and replicating successful efforts.

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Report

Federal Field Guide

Few large government software projects are successful, as current ecosystems in place at agencies do not support agile development practices. This guide provides instructions to federal agencies on how to effectively budget for, procure, and oversee software development projects.

18F
Toolkit

Prerequisites for modular contracting

18F describes modular contracting, the process of breaking up large, custom software procurements into a small constellation of smaller contracts. Modular procurement requires agile, product thinking, user-centered design, DevSecOps, and loosely-coupled architecture.

18F
Non-Academic Article

An Agile Software Development Solicitation Guide

Government solicitations to procure custom software are often long, complicated, and take months. By using 18F’s agile contract format, agencies can hire an agile software contractor with a quickly-written dozen-page solicitation, allowing for immense savings in time and money.

18F
Toolkit

The State Hub Roadmap: CDSS CalFresh and CalWORKs Streamlining Verifications

As part of its ongoing commitment to streamline access to benefits by Californians in need of assistance, the California Department of Social Services is exploring electronic options to help simplify and modernize the processes for obtaining required verifications for CalFresh and CalWORKs eligibility. This report lays out a set of options and opportunities for consideration, as well as a list of key verification considerations that would benefit both clients and staff.

Alluma
Report

Delivery-Driven Government: Principles and Practices for Government in the Digital Age

Technology enables governments to engage in “pilot” projects to see where they are headed and course-correct along the way, as opposed to evaluating the results over the course of multiple years. Delivery-driven government utilizes technology and “pilot” projects to see institutions and processes through the eyes of users, allowing for more effective service delivery.

Code for America
News

COVID-19’s Impact on the Social Safety Net

California’s SNAP program faced record application volume due to the COVID-19 crisis, and other states must anticipate similar demand. This post summarizes key takeaways from GetCalFresh’s real-time data and client communications, and offers recommendations for how other states can implement effective responses.

Code for America
News

Conducting Research with a Healing Mindset

Code for America highlights the importance of recognizing the effects of intergenerational trauma on communities that have been systemically marginalized when conducting research.

Code for America
News

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
Toolkit

UX research during crisis: understanding rapidly evolving user needs to inform responsive design

Important considerations for understanding user needs to inform responsive design in rapidly changing contexts are discussed, including how context, threat perception, decision-making, and crisis affects disaster management and UX research.

UX Collective
Non-Academic Article

Safety Net Services Built for Outcomes

Code for America helped expand GetCalFresh (a service that guides Californians through the SNAP application process and helps government deliver food assistance to people in need) from a small pilot into a statewide service. They also recently concluded a similar pilot in Michigan along with Civilla and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Code for America
News

Removing Barriers to Access From Remote Identity Proofing

Some states are adding unnecessary complexity to benefits application processes by requiring Remote Identity Proofing (RIDP) before applying or truncating other business. This paper provides background on RIDP, explains when it’s required, and makes recommendations on how states can preserve the security of online interfaces without the barrier of RIDP.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

Why Californians need food assistance: The stories behind the numbers

Californians who receive food assistance come from all backgrounds, but many share a similar story: they were barely getting by financially when they were tipped into crisis by an unexpected expense or loss of income. This site shares their stories.

Code for America
Fact Sheet

States Are Using Much-Needed Temporary Flexibility in SNAP to Respond to COVID-19 Challenges

Since March 2020, states have been using temporary SNAP (food stamps) flexibility to provide emergency benefit supplements, and ease program administration during the pandemic. These options have allowed states to deliver more food assistance to struggling families, help manage intense administrative demands, and ensure that participants maintain much-needed benefits.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Fact Sheet

Cell Phones as a Safety Net Lifeline

Eligible people struggle to maintain their case status for critical safety net services, often due to administrative hurdles and poor communication. Code for America piloted text message reminders to support Louisianans, which helped clients avoid costly churn. Text messages are an underrated, efficient solution for human service agencies to meet client expectations and improve case outcomes.

Code for America
News

States Can Make Applications More Accessible During COVID-19 Crisis

The inability to apply for Medicaid and SNAP in person during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a new way of interacting with social service agencies through online application submission. States can facilitate this by making online applications and systems more accessible and allowing for telephonic signatures on benefits applications.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Non-Academic Article

Left Out: Policy Diffusion and the Exclusion of Black Workers from Unemployment Insurance

This article examines recent historical scholarship, archival evidence, and information on unemployment compensation programs to understand the exclusion of agricultural workers and domestic servants from unemployment insurance as an example of policy diffusion.

Social Science History
Academic Article

After all these years, ‘welfare reform’ is the same racist dog whistle it always was

“Welfare reform” is often racially-coded, as it is used as a dog-whistle to propagate hostility towards poor people of color.

Washington Post
Non-Academic Article

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
Non-Academic Article

Unpacking Inequities in Unemployment Insurance

The New Practice Lab interviewed Black and Latinx workers that lost their job or income due to COVID-19 and their experience navigating UI. They synthesized their findings in this report, discussing how compounding inequities that exist in the unemployment insurance system make it less accessible for workers of color.

New America
Report

Federal Agencies Need to Strengthen Online Identity Verification Processes

Remote identify proofing is the process federal agencies and other entities use to verify that the individuals who apply online for benefits and services are who they claim to be. If the applicant responds correctly to personal questions, their identity is considered to be verified. However, data stolen in recent breaches could be used fraudulently to respond to knowledge-based verification questions. Alternative methods are available that provide stronger security, but these methods may have limitations in cost, convenience, technological maturity, and they may not be viable for all segments of the public.

Government Accountability Office
Report

What More States Allowing SNAP Recipients to Buy Food Online Means for Food Security

In early 2019, the USDA launched an online purchasing pilot for SNAP users, making it possible for recipients to order food online. Expansion of this program is necessary during COVID-19, as to prevent people from venturing out of their homes to pay for groceries and compounding the public health crisis.

CivilEats
Non-Academic Article

Access for All: Innovation for Equitable SNAP Delivery

This brief describes the current state of SNAP benefit delivery through the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card, identifies the features necessary for SNAP benefit delivery to ensure consistency with principles of equity and inclusion, and explores how future SNAP benefit delivery can keep up with rapid changes in commercial payment infrastructure.

Urban Institute
Report

CARES Act Stimulus Payments Have Reached 160 Million Households — But Could Reach Millions More

Though the CARES Act provided much-needed relief to millions of Americans, around 5-10 million of the most vulnerable American households have not yet received their full payment. This report lays out a set of technical fixes regarding the delivery of the first stimulus payments, a set of fixes to address other critical tax credits, and several medium-term reforms to increase earned income tax credit (EITC) access for low-income families.

New America
Report

Accessible Benefits Information: Reducing Administrative Burden and Improving Equitable Access through Clear Communication About Safety Net Benefits

Complex benefits information creates unnecessary barriers for people trying to understand what’s relevant to them so that they can take immediate action to receive the benefits they need. As part of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation’s series on documenting best practices in social safety net benefits access and delivery, this guide to Accessible Benefits Information offers case studies that show how groups in Michigan, New York City, and San José use plain language, multilingual translation, co-creation and testing with residents, and technology tools to provide better information about benefits. 

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Resources to Support State Outreach to Non-Filers Eligible for Stimulus Payments

About 12 million Americans risk missing out on stimulus payments provided through the CARES Act. State outreach efforts are critical to connect people to the $1,200 stimulus payments, and the CBPP lists various resources to assist in state outreach efforts on this webpage.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Link to Other Resources

National Safety Net Scorecard

The existing system for evaluating state safety net programs does not adequately capture the human experience of accessing services. This new National Safety Net Scorecard is a more meaningful set of metrics that can effectively asses the true state of the current program delivery landscape and measure progress over time, creating a more human-centered safety net.

Code for America
Report

Benefit Eligibility Rules as Code: Reducing the Gap Between Policy and Service Delivery for the Safety Net

The complexity of eligibility rules creates a burden for state and local government agencies, delivery organizations, and policymakers who interpret and implement policy to deliver benefits in their jurisdictions. This report explores how the U.S. federal government could improve the efficiency and equity of benefits delivery to Americans in need by applying new approaches to eligibility requirements for core safety net programs, and using a “rules as code” approach to improve digitization of legislation and policy documents.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Eligibility Rules Weekly Recaps

Github page with weekly recaps on the activities taking place during 18F’s Eligibility Rules Service project.

18F
Non-Academic Article

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
Report

Discovery Sprint Guide

This guide explains the U.S. Digital Service’s “discovery sprint,” a process by which teams can quickly build a common understanding of the status of complex organization, system, or service.

U.S. Digital Service
Toolkit

Making the Case for Human-Centered Design in Government

Human-centered design is a problem-solving method that puts people at the center of the problem and aims to design solutions that address the needs of the people. Embracing such design methods in government is imperative to finding solutions that work for the people.

GovLoop
Non-Academic Article

18F and TTS Office of Acquisition award first assisted acquisition

The Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance (OFA) worked with 18F to replace its legacy data reporting system through product management training, user research, and an assisted acquisition.

18F
News

Building and Reusing Open Source Tools for Government

A primer by New America for government entities thinking about embracing open-source solutions. This report is based on interviews with experts in the field, the organization’s work on piloting open source projects with partners around the world, and a review of nearly 50 reports, documents, and resources on the creation and usage of open source software.

New America
Report

Advocacy in the Dark: A Pennsylvania Case Study on Advocating to Improve Technology that Drives Eligibility Decisions

Technology that automates different processes can save time for caseworkers and constituents, but it can also significantly reduce the transparency of government operations. This paper describes how Pennsylvania advocates addressed the low rate of automated Medicaid renewals.

The Center for Law and Social Policy
Report

How the Next Administration Can Use Technology To Prevent Another Unemployment Insurance Meltdown

Clearing applicant backlogs is an important solution to the UI crisis. State governments and federal agencies could facilitate access to public benefits by collaborating to develop interoperable technology platforms that use open source software and modular design. Panelists discuss opportunities to prevent future UI crises by reimagining how governments deliver benefits to their citizens.

New America, Code for America, Benefits Data Trust, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, Day One Project
Video

Why is it so hard to build government technology?

The pandemic has shown how difficult it can be for the US to succeed with major technology projects. Various leading design thinkers discuss strategies for building more efficient and effective government technology.

MIT Technology Review
Non-Academic Article

Wisconsin Partners Up for Unemployment System Overhaul

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development announces a partnership with 18F, an office within the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, to begin a full-scale modernization of its unemployment insurance (UI) system.

Government Technology
Non-Academic Article

Can States Finally Fix Their Unemployment Systems?

Though the economy is rebounding, it is still necessary for states to reform their unemployment systems to provide relief to millions of Americans, as many sectors are still slow to recover.

Governing
Non-Academic Article

Race and Inequity in Identity Proofing Methods

The vast fraud committed through the use of stolen and synthetic identities in UI programs has spotlighted the need for updated identity fraud detection mechanisms. As states are implementing new technologies and systems, they need to consider the ways in which they are impacting racial inequities in UI benefits.

U.S. Digital Response
Toolkit

How Well Insured are Job Losers? Efficacy of the Public Safety Net

An extensive literature in economics documents large and persistent declines in earnings following involuntary job loss. Though Unemployment Insurance provides the largest buffer against lost income, due to the structure of the program, the neediest are less-well insured (in terms of dollars transferred and percentage of lost earnings replaced) compared to middle and higher income job losers. This has important implications in light of the historic number of job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Bureau of Economic Research
Academic Article

Story-driven experience research on pandemic unemployment

Dana Chisnell describes work leading a team of researchers to interview people from across the US on their experiences applying for unemployment and other benefits during the pandemic.

Dana Chisnell
Presentation

A Better Way to Connect People with the Benefits They Need

Outdated, cumbersome and inefficient government processes have long stymied innovation and prevented people from accessing social services for which they are eligible. BenePhilly has helped more than 110,000 Philadelphians, both in and out the workforce, enroll in assistance programs and has unlocked over $350 million in benefits.

Governing
Case Study

18F User Experience Design Guide

18F’s UX Guide documenting their practices and helpful resources. UX in government involves doing design research, creating wireframes and prototypes to guide development, and explicit attention to organizational relationships and dynamics.

18F
Toolkit

A state-by-state breakdown of failures in unemployment systems across the US during the pandemic

Business Insider rounded up 35 states that struggled with giving out unemployment benefits during the pandemic. Issues included backlogs, delayed payments, payments sent to fraudsters, and poor communication between the agency and laid-off workers. In alphabetical order by state, they provide a roundup of many states' struggles to give unemployment benefits to jobless Americans. 

Business Insider
News

The TechFAR Handbook

The TechFAR Handbook highlights the flexibilities in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that can help agencies implement “plays” from the Digital Services Playbook, with a particular focus on how to use contractors to support an iterative, customer-driven software development process.

U.S. Digital Service
Toolkit

8 Tips for Governments to Mitigate Call Center Volume

Overwhelming unemployment rates during the pandemic created significant demand for state-based unemployment benefits. As a result of the increased applications, states are also experiencing an overwhelming volume of calls to their call centers. U.S. Digital Response has been working with states to mitigate problems arising from heavy demand on call centers. This article describes tangible steps state governments can take to manage call volume.

U.S. Digital Response
Non-Academic Article

After the toolkit: anticipatory logics and the future of government

Building on the concept of anticipatory governance, this article aims to show how approaches associated with foresight and design can enact an anticipatory logic which is necessary for public administrations to achieve their goals in the face of uncertainty and dynamic environments.

Policy Design and Practice
Academic Article

A Bold Policy Agenda for Work-Family Justice and Gender Equity During COVID-19 and Beyond

New America spoke to to the people at the frontlines of the pandemic—professional caregivers, family caregivers, parents, and essential workers—to understand the policy interventions people need most. This report discusses ideas for policymakers, private sector leaders, and community innovators to use in pursuit of work-family justice and equity across race, gender, and class.

New America
Report

Using human-centered design and low-code tech to inform unemployment insurance policy implementation

As the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and prioritizes economic recovery efforts, governments must deliver critical benefits to the American people at scale. By applying human-centered design principles, policy makers can create systems that help people complete application forms more efficiently while delivering benefits more quickly to those who need it the most. Through a partnership with the Department of Labor, U.S. Digital Response deployed a team of staff, volunteers, and fellows from the Google.org Fellowship Program to produce a set of research-based recommendations for how to retroactively determine if claimants were eligible for unemployment benefits. Watch a live demo and hear about how developing an almost fully automated, low-code solution aimed to reduce both claimant and administrative burden. This virtual breakout session was presented at Code for America Summit 2022 in the Policy + Administration track.

U.S. Digital Response
Video
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Text Messaging
Data Sharing
Outreach + Awareness
Eligibility
Applying + Enrolling
Buying Design + Technology Services
Maintaining Benefits
Human-Centered Design
Digitizing Policy
Digital Services
Diversity, Equity + Inclusion
Policy Analysis
Digital Identity
Basic Income
CCDF: Child Care and Development Fund
COVID-19 Assistance
CTC: Child Tax Credit
EITC: Earned Income Tax Credit
Housing
LIHEAP
Medicaid/CHIP
Other Supplemental Nutrition Programs
P-EBT
Paid Leave
SSDI: Social Security Disability Insurance
SSI: Supplemental Security Income
TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Tax Assistance
UI: Unemployment Insurance
Veterans Benefits
WIC: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children
SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Executive Branch
Academic
Community Members
Community-based Organization
Legislative Branch
Non-profit
Private
Government Agency
National
State/Province
Federal/National
State/Provincial
County
Local/Municipal
Territorial
Tribal/Indigenous