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Overcoming Barriers: Helping Self-Employed Applicants Access Their Full CalFresh Benefit

Overcoming Barriers: Helping Self-Employed Applicants Access Their Full CalFresh Benefit
2019
Code for America
Author(s): 
Eric Giannella, Julie Sutherland, Cesar Paredes
Overcoming Barriers: Helping Self-Employed Applicants Access Their Full CalFresh Benefit
Source Sector(s)
Non-profit
Benefits Program
SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Level of Government
State/Provincial
County
Location
California
Format
Non-Academic Article
News

People who are self-employed can receive a higher CalFresh benefit amount because of a 40% automatic deduction for expenses. Yet, many who would be considered self-employed for the purpose of CalFresh don’t think of themselves as self-employed. Code for America researched how to help CalFresh applicants correctly identify themselves as self-employed. This article describes their various experiments and efforts to help people understand their status as self-employed.