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Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 1: 18F Eligibility APIs Initiative | Alex Soble and Mike Gintz

We kicked off Rules as Code Demo Day with Alex Soble of 18F and Mike Gintz of 10x presenting their Eligibility APIs Initiative that explores whether APIs and rules as code might improve the efficiency and effectiveness with which federal public benefits programs communicate their policy to states. They demonstrated their original prototype, and how the open source code has now been extended into several initiatives.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
Video

Enterprise Single Sign-On Playbook

The Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) Playbook is a practical guide to help federal agencies implement or modernize an SSO service for federal employee access to government applications.

Identity, Credential, and Access Management Subcommittee of the Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Council, General Services Administration Office of Government-wide Policy, Identity Assurance and Trusted Access Division
Toolkit

Digital Authentication and Identity Proofing in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Applications

On May 19, 2023, the Digital Benefits Network published a new, open dataset documenting authentication and identity proofing requirements across online SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid, child care (CCAP)applications, and unemployment insurance applications. This page includes data and observations about authentication and identity proofing steps specifically for online applications that include WIC.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Dataset

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
Policy Brief

Medicaid Churn Toolkit

Benefits Data Trust (BDT)  has developed this “Medicaid Churn Toolkit” to guide Medicaid agencies and their partners in the design and implementation of efforts to reduce churn as they plan for the resumption of normal eligibility and enrollment actions after the after the initial COVID shock.

Benefits Data Trust
Toolkit

Digital Identity: Emerging Trends, Debates and Controversies

This academic review covers the broad range of arguments, trends, and patterns from the emerging field of digital identity scholarship.

Women in Identity
Other

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

Exiting Technology Projects

This booklet is designed to help procurement officers and other stakeholders ensure continuity of service, enable seamless future technology upgrades, and plan for contingencies. You can use it to evaluate a prospective vendor contract or bid, or to document how a project went.

SmallScale, National Center for State Courts
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

The difference between digital identity, identification, and ID

This style guide from Caribou Digital outlines how to talk about identity in a digital age.

Caribou Digital
Non-Academic Article

Evaluating CX with Survey Design

In the Fall of 2022, the USDOL Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) consulted with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) to provide hands-on support with IT modernization and customer experience strategy. Primary discussions focused on making informed product, service, and business decisions based on qualitative and quantitative data— how might IDES leverage existing data streams to identify the most pressing technology issues in their unemployment insurance system, and how might IDES act upon this information in a timely and impactful manner?

U.S. Department of Labor
Government Documents

Guardrails: Automated SNAP Recertification Assistance

GuardRails is an experimental new approach to streamline the annual SNAP recertification process by leveraging targeted text messaging and automated voice messages in multiple languages to “nudge” people at the right time with the right information to help them through the recertification process.

Benefits Data Trust
Case Study

Understanding Law as Code

This course from the European Commission aims to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of Law as Code and its relationship to digital-ready policymaking.

The European Commission
Workshop

Seniors and SNAP

Cross-sector research indicates that access to SNAP reduces healthcare spending, improves health, and allows low-income seniors to age in place with dignity. However, though they qualify, a substantial portion of seniors are not enrolled in SNAP, preventing them from saving on healthcare expenses.

Benefits Data Trust
Non-Academic Article

Benefits Access for Student Success: A Toolkit For Leveraging Data to Find Eligible Students

Each year, millions of college students struggle to pay for their education and basic needs, including food, childcare, housing, healthcare, and internet service. Among those students are a disproportionate number of first-generation students and students of color. This toolkit aims to build institutional capacity to enable all students to put food on the table, improve health outcomes, focus on school, and graduate.

Benefits Data Trust
Toolkit

Creating Open Source Legislation as Code

In this presentation, Pia Andrews explores how open source legislation as code can be a public utility to increase transparency, and enable better implementation and testing of government systems.

Pia Andrews, Everything Open 2023 Conference
Video

Rules as Code – Test, Learn, Repeat

The New South Wales government describes its efforts to connect with other Australian jurisdictions and international colleagues in its move towards making machine-consumable legislation and policy.

New South Wales Government
Toolkit

Policy Engine Demo at the Cross-Sector Rules as Code Roundtable

In this video, Policy Engine CEO Max Ghenis provides a demonstration of their product and API and discusses use cases in Rules as Code. The Cross-Sector Rules as Code Roundtable on February 22, 2024 was hosted by Rules as Code Community of Practice at the Digital Benefits Network.

Policy Engine
Video

CSNS Hawaii: Building a Data-Driven Foundation to Help Hunger in Hawai'i

The Hawai‘i Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with the Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) and the Children’s Healthy Living Center of Excellence (CHL Center) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is building foundational capacity to share and analyze administrative data across the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). This groundwork will enable Hawai‘i to increase access to nutrition support programs, in alignment with Hawai‘i’s ‘Ohana Nui framework, which aims to dismantle intergenerational poverty.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and No Kid Hungry, Share Our Strength
Case Study

How to create an inclusive user research environment

This article describes the necessity of building an inclusive research environment that empowers participants, as well as techniques for creating such environments in both in-person and remote capacities.

Ad Hoc
Toolkit

Why human-centered testing is crucial to building government software

This article reviews two examples of how Nava has used open-source technologies to bring human-centered testing practices to government services software.

Nava Public Benefit Corporation
Non-Academic Article

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

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

OECD Framework for the Classification of AI systems

To help policy makers, regulators, legislators and others characterize AI systems deployed in specific contexts, the OECD has developed a user-friendly tool to evaluate AI systems from a policy perspective.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Report

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
Academic Article

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

Building Resilience: A Plan for Transforming Unemployment Insurance

In recognition of the UI system’s challenges both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in June 2022 placed the UI system on its High Risk List, recommending that the DOL develop and implement a plan to transform the UI system. This transformation plan details the activities and strategies already completed and those underway and being pursued by the Department of Labor. It also contains recommendations for needed legislative action that directly address the critical challenges identified by GAO. This plan is structured according to the DOL’s key action areas that together will build a resilient UI system, capable of responding effectively to future economic challenges.

U.S. Department of Labor
Government Documents

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

Digital Identities and Verifiable Credentials

This article discusses the challenges of today’s centralized identity management and investigates current developments regarding verifiable credentials and digital wallets.

Business & Information Systems Engineering
Academic Article

Making Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Enrollment Easier for Gig Workers

This article explores some of the challenges gig workers face in enrolling in SNAP, as well as present and future policy solutions to ease access to SNAP.

American Journal of Public Health
Academic Article

U.S. Digital Service (USDS) Medicaid Renewals Playbook

This playbook was created by the U.S. Digital Service as a rapid-response guide for civic technologists providing direct technical assistance to states during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) Unwinding. The content in this playbook focuses on strategies to rapidly decrease the burden of Medicaid renewals on members of the public and state staff.

U.S. Digital Service
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What Are Generative AI, Large Language Models, and Foundation Models?

What exactly are the differences between generative AI, large language models, and foundation models? This post aims to clarify what each of these three terms mean, how they overlap, and how they differ.

Center for Security and Emerging Technology
Non-Academic Article

Teams that Produce Accessible Content

Creating content that is easily accessible for social safety net benefit applicants and recipients can require a range of expertise and input from policy experts, communications leads, designers, and software developers. However, this task need not be as daunting as it seems. This guide discusses general characteristics shared by organizations that have successfully created accessible content, and includes case studies that showcase characteristics of successful accessible content teams.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Ex Parte Options and Recommendations for the non-MAGI Medicaid Population to Reduce Churn

As a part of Benefit Data Trust (BDT)’s Medicaid Churn Learning Collaborative, BDT has created a memo describing policy options and state examples for Medicaid administrators to reduce churn for non-MAGI Medicaid enrollees when the federal public health emergency ends.

Benefits Data Trust
Policy Brief

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

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

Delivering a Multilingual User Experience for Retroactive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

A state partner needed to reopen applications to claimants who were previously denied benefits and determine if they are eligible to receive retroactive PUA payments. To help combat these issues, the state agency wanted to create a self-guided experience that was clear for claimants as well as reduce load on their call center. The team focused on providing enough contextual information in order to build trust and provide clarity with claimants, and worked to test content and form design before launching the new service in order to preempt and mitigate support issues.

U.S. Digital Response
Case Study

The Qualitative Research Practice Guide

This guide touches on everything from Code for America’s core research philosophy, to our approach to ethics and trauma-informed research, to specific research methods. It also includes plenty of practical tips on planning and executing research, as well as how to synthesize your findings into action.

Code for America
Toolkit

Social Listening: Covid-19, Social Media, and The Path to a Better Safety Net

The Aspen Financial Security Program identified five reoccurring trends of social media platform usage by people in relation to safety net programs and four techniques for capturing people’s experiences in order to reform the safety net. This report describes how the government can use widespread social media feedback and begin to build long-term measures to center people’s experience as an important component of policy design

Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Report

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
Toolkit

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

A Snapshot of Artificial Intelligence Procurement Challenges

Artificial intelligence promises exciting new opportunities for the government to make policy, deliver services and engage with residents. But government procurement practices need to adapt if we are to ensure that rapidly-evolving AI tools meet intended purposes, avoid bias, and minimize risks to people, organizations, and communities. This report lays out five distinct challenges related to procuring AI in government.

The GovLab
Report

To reimagine unemployment insurance services, start small

Building modular, open-source, human-centered software is necessary to create equitable government services fit for the digital age. Nava emphasizes addressing large scale digital service challenges by building and releasing small, modular software components that are loosely-coupled by well-defined APIs. This enables agencies to quickly and conistently deliver services that help people immediately, whilst also building a flexible foundation for long-term technical evolution.

Nava Public Benefit Corporation
Non-Academic Article

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
Report

Text to Connect: Planning a Text Message Program to Reduce SNAP Churn

This guide is the first part of a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide outlines how to scope and plan a text messaging program.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, Benefits Data Trust
Toolkit

Promising Practices for Digital Identity in Public Benefits

This piece highlights promising design patterns for account creation and identity proofing in public benefits applications. The publication also identifies areas where additional evidence, resources, and coordinated federal guidance may help support equitable implementations of authentication and identity proofing, enabling agencies to balance access and security.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
Non-Academic Article

Bias-Free Language

The guidelines for bias-free language contain both general guidelines for writing about people without bias across a range of topics and specific guidelines that address the individual characteristics of age, disability, gender, participation in research, racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality.

American Psychological Association (APA)
Toolkit

Benefits Data Trust Demo at the Cross-Sector Rules as Code Roundtable

In this video, Benefits Data Trust Senior Product Manager Daniel Singer and Software Engineering Manager Preston Cabe present their eligibility screening platform including their rules engine, API, and DMN rules notation. The Cross-Sector Rules as Code Roundtable on February 22, 2024 was hosted by Rules as Code Community of Practice at the Digital Benefits Network.

Benefits Data Trust
Video

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

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

The Equitable Tech Horizon in Digital Benefits Panel

Hear perspectives on topics including centering beneficiaries and workers in new ways, digital service delivery, digital identity, and automation.This video was recorded at the Digital Benefits Conference (BenCon) on June 14, 2023.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Video

Jurisdiction Data Maps: Mobile Driver License Implementation Data Map

This map illustrates which jurisdictions throughout the United States and Canada have implemented one of six stages of mobile driver licenses.

American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA)
Graphic

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

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Innovation project and the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) Pilot were established to expand the routine use, integration, and analysis of TANF and employment data by agency staff to improve program services and outcomes for families with low incomes. This nine-minute video, produced after the completion of the 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.

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation
Video

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

Application Modernization is an Imperative for State Governments

NASCIO and VMware conducted a study during 2022 on the topic of state government application modernization. This study included an online survey and detailed individual interviews of state and territorial CIOs. The report presents findings from this research, key recommendations and a playbook for moving forward with application modernization.

NASCIO, VMware
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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

Fixing Our Systems of Digital Identity

This brief video outlines how government can address issues in digital identity processes.

Better Identity Coalition
Video

Using Client-Centered Communications to Improve the Benefits Renewal Process

Understanding the impact of churn and how agencies can better use communication channels to help clients keep their benefits.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

CSNS New Mexico: Improving Online Infrastructure to Expand WIC's Reach

This report outlines how the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) and Department of Health (NMDOH) are working to maximize WIC participation among SNAP families through automated referrals and streamlined application and enrollment across agencies.

Share Our Strength, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Case Study

Strategies for Improving Public Benefits Access and Retention

This report presents a menu of strategies that have the potential to increase access to individual public benefit programs or a package of benefits. It focuses on Illinois, but the strategies identified are relevant throughout the country.

Urban Institute
Report

An Early Look at the Impacts of the Response to COVID-19 on Medicaid Churn

Given that the effects of the COVID-19 crisis will likely last for a while, it is crucial that states continue to prioritize coverage continuity to further improve the overall health outcomes of their enrollees and reduce administrative burden.

Benefits Data Trust
News

Helping Policy Makers Put People First: A Step-by-Step Tool for User-Centered Policy Making

Policymakers, lawmakers, and government leaders are increasingly exploring new ways to ensure that laws and policies are centered around people’s needs while improving how services are delivered to the public. To help policymakers interested in following these successful models, the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation launched the User-Centered Policy Organization Assessment. Teams crafting policy inside and outside government can use the assessment to center their policy-making activities around those most impacted by their proposed programs and policy ideas.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Toolkit

Helping People with Low Incomes Navigate Benefit Cliffs: Lessons Learned Deploying a Marginal Tax Rate Calculator

This report details findings and lessons from a project to develop a calculator to help people anticipate how a change in earnings from employment would affect their net income and information on their estimated effective marginal tax rate.

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

Logging In and Providing Proof: A Guide to U.S. Government Actions on Digital Identity

This guide provides a detailed overview summarizing the many initiatives and activities from Congress, the White House, federal agencies, and coalitions which may impact the digital identity landscape in the United States, including at state, local, Tribal, and territorial levels.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

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
Academic Article

Accessible Technology Procurement Toolkit

A guide on how to procure for accessible technology.

Disability:IN
Toolkit

The Federal government is redesigning how it delivers services

Article announcing five new projects by the Office of Management and Budget that will improve experiences the public has with the government during significant movements in their lives. These “life experience” projects are at the center of a new model for how the Federal Government should better design and deliver benefits, services, and programs to the American people during the moments in their lives that matter most.

Performance.gov
Non-Academic Article

Summer EBT Outreach Toolkit

This toolkit helps implementing agencies (as well as other stakeholders and partners) promote the Summer EBT program, also known as SUN Bucks. These resources can help ensure families know about the new program and understand how to use their benefits.

USDA
Toolkit

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

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)
Report

FCC Training on Public Benefits Texting

Federal Communications Commission present on how state and local agencies can legally use SMS messaging to engage with public benefits applicants and recipients, including compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Performance.gov and Federal Communications Commission
Video

Design in the Public Sector: Toward a Human Centered Model of Public Governance

This paper analyses 15 cases of design in the public sector to arrive at a theoretical characterization of design in the public sector that aligns with descriptions in non-public settings. It also considers public design practices might signal the emergence of human-centered models of public governance that counterbalance more bureaucratic and analytical traditions.

Public Management Review
Academic Article

Design Kit: The Human-Centered Design Toolkit

IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Toolkit lays out how and why human-centered design can impact the social sector.

IDEO
Toolkit

Challenging the Use of Algorithm-driven Decision-making in Benefits Determinations Affecting People with Disabilities

This report analyzes lawsuits that have been filed within the past 10 years arising from the use of algorithm-driven systems to assess people’s eligibility for, or the distribution of, public benefits. It identifies key insights from the various cases into what went wrong and analyzes the legal arguments that plaintiffs have used to challenge those systems in court.

Center for Democracy and Technology
Report

Plain Language: Foundations 101 Webcast

This is a video recording of a NASWA Feb 2024 webinar on plain language presented for UI state leaders. Slides are also available.

U.S. Department of Labor
Video

Toolkit: Increasing WIC Coverage Through Cross-Program Data Matching and Targeted Outreach

This toolkit is designed to help state and local WIC agencies leverage data from Medicaid and SNAP to measure enrollment gaps and increase enrollment using tools to plan, launch, and/or strengthen data matching and targeted outreach to eligible families who are not receiving WIC benefits.

Benefits Data Trust, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Toolkit

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

Framing the Risk Management Framework: Actionable Instructions by NIST in their “Govern” Section

This post introduces EPIC's exploration of actionable recommendations and points of agreement from leading A.I. frameworks, beginning with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's AI Risk Management Framework.

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Non-Academic Article

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
Graphic

Digital Benefits Network Quarterly Call: What’s Next for Digital Identity in Public Benefits?

Identity proofing, authentication, and online access to benefits applications have been increasingly important issues for benefits agencies since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the call, we heard from two speakers: April Dunlap, Policy Administrator for Arizona’s Department of Economic Security and Professor Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Video

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
Toolkit

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

Helping More Than 1.3 Million Schoolchildren Access Pandemic EBT—in Just One Week

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the federal government authorized a new emergency program, Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), to replace school meals with money for groceries while schools are closed. Code for America describes its efforts to launch an accessible, online P-EBT application under an accelerated timeline due to to immense demand caused by the pandemic.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

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

Leveraging Technology For Human-Centered One-Stop Workforce Service Delivery

A case study of the Hawai‘i Career Acceleration Navigator — an accessible, data-driven and full-service government platform for unemployed people and other jobseekers to search for jobs and access supportive service benefits.

National Governors Association
Case Study

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
Toolkit

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
Report

A Guide to Responsible and Efficient Use of Generative Tools

This video shows you how to get started with using Generative AI tools, including Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT, in your work as public sector professionals.

Innovate US
Video

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

Executive Summary: 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, Health and Social Policy, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
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

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
Report

Tips on Engaging Diverse Groups of External Partners

Initially created to inform federal staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this tip sheet provides key considerations for how organizations can identify potential diverse external partners, conduct outreach to them, and build and sustain productive relationships with them.

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

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

“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
Report

WIC Certification and Eligibility Resource and Best Practices Guide

The WIC Certification and Eligibility Resource and Best Practices Guide is a compilation of existing regulations and best practices that WIC state and local agencies may choose to use when determining eligibility for the program. The guide walks through the certification process.

Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
Government Documents

Democratizing AI: Principles for Meaningful Public Participation

In this policy brief and video, Michele Gilman summarizes evidence-based recommendations for better structuring public participation processes for AI, and underscores the urgency of enacting them.

Data & Society
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Better Data Sharing for Benefits Delivery

This policy brief outlines how improved data sharing between federal agencies, state and local governments, and institutions can leverage existing data from other benefits programs to streamline eligibility processes and benefits uptake for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and other programs.

New America
Policy Brief

OECD AI Policy Observatory

The OECD AI Policy Observatory offers detailed information about AI policy and research globally.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
No items found.

CSNS Michigan: Data-Driven Strategies to Help End Hunger in Michigan

This report outlines how the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), in partnership with the Food Bank Council of Michigan (FBCM) and Michigan Department of Education (MDE), is deploying a three-pronged strategy to leverage data insights to systematically identify and eliminate gaps in access to nutrition supports among priority populations using food security map and closed-loop referrals.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and No Kid Hungry, Share Our Strength
Case Study
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