Resource Library

How to use AI to write content for a government service

Against Predictive Optimization: On the Legitimacy of Decision-Making Algorithms that Optimize Predictive Accuracy

This academic paper examines predictive optimization, a category of decision-making algorithms that use machine learning (ML) to predict future outcomes of interest about individuals. Through this examination, the authors explore how predictive optimization can raise concerns that make its use illegitimate and challenge claims about predictive optimization's accuracy, efficiency, and fairness.

Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 2: NYC Benefits Platform Screening API | Song Hia and Ethan Lo

At Rules as Code Demo Day we heard from Song Hia of the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity and Ethan Lo of the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation who demoed the NYC Benefits Platform Screening API which provides machine-readable calculations and criteria for benefits screening that power the ACCESS NYC screening questionnaire. This makes it easier for NYC residents to discover multiple benefits they may be eligible for. The City is now extending the API to support the new MyCity platform, a one-stop shop for all services and benefits.

Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 3: Mes Aides | Thomas Guillet

The first half of Rules as Code Demo Day was wrapped up with Thomas Guillet who has contributed to Open Fisca France and beta.gouv. He demoed the code for Mes Aides—or My Benefits—which is France’s social benefit simulator that leverages open source rule models for over 600 benefits while keeping the displayed complexity to its minimum.

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.

Closing the AI accountability gap: defining an end-to-end framework for internal algorithmic auditing

This paper introduces a framework for algorithmic auditing that supports artificial intelligence system development end-to-end, to be applied throughout the internal organization development lifecycle.

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.

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.

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.

Poverty Results from Structural Barriers, Not Personal Choices. Safety Net Programs Should Reflect That Fact

The structure of many social safety net programs ignore systemic barriers rooted in structural racism that disproportionately affect people of color. Instead, these programs are meager and punitive, designed to blame individual shortcomings. The current economic crisis and its disproportionate impacts highlight the need to redesign safety net programs to rectify these inequities and ensure everyone can access the resources they need to provide for their families.

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.

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.

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.

Providing Unemployment Insurance to Immigrants and Other Excluded Workers

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its induced recession underscored the crucial importance of unemployment insurance (UI) to workers, and to the stability of the American economy. Temporary federal expansions of unemployment systems during the pandemic showed how they can quickly be scaled to increase benefit levels and to include categories of workers who were not previously eligible, such as the self-employed, caregivers, and low-wage workers. And, states showed that separate programs can be set up to provide similar benefits to workers who are explicitly excluded from unemployment insurance—in particular immigrants who do not have a documented immigration status.

Text to Connect: Legal + Policy Considerations for Using Text Message Outreach to Reduce SNAP Churn

This guide is the third part of a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide is intended to provide a general overview of the national statutory and regulatory landscape governing the legality of sending large volumes of text messages and sharing client information.

Sprint 2 Report | Michigan Unemployment | Improving the delivery of unemployment insurance benefits

This project documents the work of Civilla and New America to improve the delivery of unemployment benefits for claimants in Michigan. This project is one phase of a larger body of work led by New America to improve the claimant and staff experience with unemployment insurance across the country.

De-risking Guide: Budgeting and overseeing tech projects

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

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.

Community Insights at the Cross-Sector Rules as Code Roundtable

In this video, Digital Benefits Network Senior Director Ariel Kennan presents highlights from the Cross-Sector Insights From the Rules as Code Community of Practice report released in February 2024. 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.

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.

Technology, Accessibility, and the Child Tax Credit

Code for America describes its work building GetCTC, an e-filer that allows people to file simplified tax returns as specified in the revenue procedure required for the Child Tax Credit.

Digital Identity Risk Assessment Playbook

This playbook is a method to apply the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-63-3 Digital Identity Guidelines. Federal agencies can perform a Digital Identity Risk Assessment (DIRA) to determine the appropriate identity, authenticator, or federation level outlined to access an application. While this playbook was written for U.S. Federal Agencies, it can be tailored to fit any organization.

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.

Government By Algorithm: Artificial Intelligence In Federal Administrative Agencies

Little is known about how agencies are currently using AI systems, and little attention has been devoted to how agencies acquire such tools or oversee their use.

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.

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.

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.

Improving Users’ Experience With Online SNAP and Medicaid Systems

State and county agencies have made remarkable progress digitizing their forms and processes. But to take full advantage of online systems, agencies must also ensure that people can easily set up and sign into online accounts. This would not only benefit clients, but also significantly reduce the workload for caseworkers and administrators, allowing them to focus on clients that need more intensive in-person assistance.

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.

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.

New Mexico's Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Support Impact Report

The New Mexico Human Services Department and Department of Health, as part of the Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports program, leveraged data sharing to align SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, and WIC. Their new online interface automates the referral process, making it easier for families to access the nutrition and economic supports they are eligible for.

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.

Coordinating SNAP and Nutrition Supports

Coordinating SNAP and Nutrition Supports (CSNS) is a cohort program funded by Share Our Strength, No Kid Hungry and administered by the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) with the goal of aligning the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) with other federal, state, and local nutrition supports to combat childhood hunger.

Re-Envisioning Medicaid & CHIP as Anti-Racist Programs

This report puts forth an anti-racist reimagining of Medicaid and CHIP that actively reckons with the racist history of the Medicaid program and offers principles and recommendations that capitalize on the transformative potential of the programs. The principles center the voices and agency of program participants and prioritize direct community involvement at all stages of the policy process.

Large Language Models (LLMs): An Explainer

In this blog post, CSET’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engineer, James Dunham, helps explain LLMs in plain English.

Text to Connect: Evaluation of your Text Messaging Program to Reduce SNAP Churn

This guide is the second in a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide focuses on designing an evaluation plan to assess the impact of a text messaging program.

Toolkit: Moving through the Value Curve Stage

Human services is experiencing many of the same challenges that all modern systems face, including rapidly changing economic forces, social structure, demographics, communications and technology. Leaders from all sectors of our field must be able to adapt to this changing environment, and lead a culture change within their organization that supports a more collaborative, creative and innovative way to deliver services in communities across the nation. Indeed, it is impossible to deliver a truly holistic platform of solutions and supports to people, families and communities in need of them, without a highly collaborative partnership approach. This approach results in more efficient and effective intake and eligibility platforms, more effective casework and engagement practices that respond well to any and all root causes for the challenges faced by the people we serve, and more powerful, far-reaching advocacy and capacity-building efforts that are much larger than the needs of any individual or family case.

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.

Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence

Issued on October 30, 2023, this Executive Order provides guidance to support the responsible development of Artificial Intelligence.

Use of Advanced Automation in SNAP

This memo provides state agencies with guidance on allowable use of advanced automation technologies. FNS encourages and supports state agencies’ use of advanced automation technologies to enhance the administration of SNAP and foster public trust, both in SNAP and in the state agencies’ systems, within the framework of statutory and regulatory requirements.

Facial Recognition Technologies: A Primer

This primer is written for a non-technical audience to increase understanding of the terminology, applications, and difficulties of evaluating facial recognition technologies.

A Pivotal Moment

Technologists are crucial to help governments, social service providers, and advocacy groups use technology to confront and address the challenges and inequities that inevitably arise from technological change. However, there are not enough technologists working or interested in joining public interest fields to meet growing demand. This report identifies opportunities to build the field of public interest technology, and ways that philanthropy and other stakeholders can invest to best support such efforts.

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.

Digital Authentication and Identity Proofing in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) 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 SNAP.

People Lead the Way: How GetCalFresh has adapted qualitative research during a public health crisis

This article describes how Code for America conducted qualitative research within its GetCalFresh application by asking families to tell them about their familial, housing, and financial situations. From client messages, they gathered information regarding how to make changes to their product to keep their work people-centered.

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.

Communicating About the Social Implications of AI: A FrameWorks Strategic Brief

Research identified five key obstacles that researchers, activists, and advocates face in efforts to open critical public conversations about AI’s relationship with inequity and advance needed policies.

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.

Who Audits the Auditors? Recommendations from a Field Scan of the Algorithmic Auditing Ecosystem

Through a field scan, this paper identifies emerging best practices as well as methods and tools that are becoming commonplace, and enumerates common barriers to leveraging algorithmic audits as effective accountability mechanisms.

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.

Maximizing Linkages: A Policymaker’s Guide to Data Sharing

Maximizing Linkages: A Policymaker’s Guide to Data Sharing

The Cash Assistance Implementation Playbook

The purpose of this document is to outline possible technical approaches to supporting a cash assistance program. The report aims to both capture individual approaches as well as overarching insights taken from across the approaches taken by different organizations.

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.

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

Key Practices to Reduce Improper Payments through Identity Verification

This report from the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program outlines efforts to use identity verification to reduce improper payments in government programs, while mitigating bias and disparate impacts.

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.

Designing for Multilingual Translation

Complex benefits information creates unnecessary barriers for residents and navigators who must understand what’s relevant to them so they can receive benefits. For non-native English speakers, these barriers are exacerbated. This resource guide outlines approaches for translating content to improve equitable access to benefits.

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.

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.

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.

Rules as code: Seven levels of digitisation

This report, written for practitioners, classifies “digital transformation” of legal rules into a hierarchy of levels to help establish common terms.

Better Identity in America: A Blueprint for State Policymakers

In December 2022, the Better Identity Coalition released a set of policy recommendations for State government officials, focused on ways governments can improve the privacy and security of digital identity solutions.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

BenePhilly SNAP Demonstration Project

The BenePhilly SNAP Demonstration Project (henceforth “BenePhilly”) represents an innovative and successful approach to streamlining access to public benefits. It sought to increase participation in SNAP among eligible senior households in Philadelphia by utilizing existing state and federal data to reach seniors who are likely eligible for, but not participating in, SNAP, as well as simplify the SNAP application and enrollment process. This report summarizes preliminary findings from BenePhilly’s 18 months of operation (June 2010–December 2011).

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

Balancing at the Edge of the Cliff: Experiences and Calculations of Benefit Cliffs, Plateaus, and Trade-Offs

As family’s earnings rise, those earnings increases are often offset by declines in public assistance benefits (commonly called “benefit cliffs” when the declines are sharp) and increases in taxes owed. At the same time, refundable tax credits—which offset taxes owed and are delivered as a tax refund—can boost income. These interactions can be confusing and make it difficult for parents to anticipate how increasing their work hours, hourly wage rate, or both will affect their benefits, taxes, and income to support their families. This study estimates what happens to benefits and taxes when earnings increase and also explores how people perceive public benefit interactions, trade-offs, and benefit cliffs as they increase their work hours or earn higher wages.

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.

The CUTGroup Book: Civic User Testing Group as a New Model for UX Testing, Digital Skills Development, and Community Engagement in Civic Tech

The CUTGroup book explains how civic user testing (paying residents to test civic apps) can allow for more community engagement in civic tech. This book covers how to do UX testing, community engagement, and digital skills in one civic tech system.

“It’s Like Night and Day”: How Bureaucratic Encounters Vary across WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid

Using 83 interviews with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Medicaid beneficiaries, and 35 interviews with staff from those programs, this paper examines how people differentiate their experiences across programs.

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.

Spanish plain language glossary of common Unemployment Insurance terms

This is a working list of plain language Spanish translations and recommended usage for common unemployment insurance terms. All content contained in this glossary has been tested and validated for readability and comprehension with Spanish speakers who have limited English proficiency.

Civic Service Design Tools & Tactics

Website with various articles regarding civic service design tools and tactics, case studies, and other articles.

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.

Integrating Renewals and Correspondence

This resource highlights strategies for integrating benefits renewals and correspondence, potentially reducing administrative burdens for both clients and caseworkers.

Text to Connect: Engineering + Technology Requirements for Using Text Message Outreach to Reduce SNAP Churn

This guide is the sixth and final part of a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide addresses technical and engineering requirements for a text messaging program, including texting platform options, and procurement and vendor management, among other technical implementation topics.

Using Asset Verification Systems to Streamline Medicaid Determinations

This paper explores the background of the asset verification system requirement, the vendors that administer the systems; and the typical AVS process. It discusses AVSs’ current limitations and highlights best practices for advocates to promote and state agencies to implement to improve the AVS process and streamline eligibility determinations. Finally, it recommends federal action to help AVS states streamline processing.

Dismantling the Invisible Wall: Breaking down barriers to pandemic relief

The CARES Act and Families First Coronavirus Response Act failed to reach millions of non-tax-filing Americans with low incomes and deliberately excluded undocumented immigrants, leaving entire communities without recourse. Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants (DRAI) was a crucial program by the state of California for undocumented immigrants, and the California Department of Social Services partnered with Code for America to build a digital portal that would support community-based organizations in taking applications, tracking the various steps in the process, and activating clients’ $500 bank cards.

Digital Identity Verification: Best Practices for Public Agencies

Digital identity verification offers several potential advantages over traditional verification, but these benefits can only be achieved if issues related to privacy and ethical data use are also addressed. This guidance surveys the challenges facing government agencies who want to digitally verify identities as part of improving service delivery, and provides recommendations about how to address those challenges.

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.

Technology in the public sector and the future of government work

This report explores technologies that have the potential to significantly affect employment and job quality in the public sector, the factors that drive choices about which technologies are adopted and how they are implemented, how technology will change the experience of public sector work, and what kinds of interventions can protect against potential downsides of technology use in the public sector. The report categories technologies into five overlapping categories including manual task automation, process automation, automated decision-making systems, integrated data systems, and electronic monitoring.

Envisioning a Federal Rules as Code Approach to Public Benefits Eligibility

Digitizing public benefits policy will make the biggest impact for administrators and Americans, but only if it happens at the highest level of government.

The Privacy-Bias Tradeoff: Data Minimization and Racial Disparity Assessments in U.S. Government

An emerging concern in algorithmic fairness is the tension with privacy interests. Data minimization can restrict access to protected attributes, such as race and ethnicity, for bias assessment and mitigation. This paper examines how this “privacy-bias tradeoff” has become an important battleground for fairness assessments in the U.S. government and provides rich lessons for resolving these tradeoffs.

Digital Identity Risk Assessment Playbook

Agencies can perform a Digital Identity Risk Assessment (DIRA) to determine the appropriate identity, authenticator, or federation level outlined to access an application. This Digital Identity Risk Assessment playbook is designed to help federal agencies update and maintain consistent processes; determine whether an agency application requires a DIRA; integrate DIRA into agency Risk Management Framework (RMF) processes; and learn practices to implement DIRA processes.

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.

Disability, Bias, and AI

This report explores key questions that a focus on disability raises for the project of understanding the social implications of AI, and for ensuring that AI technologies don’t reproduce and extend histories of marginalization.

Keeping Students Fed in an Uncertain Back to School Season: What We Learned from P-EBT, and What Comes Next

Code for America describes its work building the P-EBT online application and the consulting it provided to 10 states regarding implementing the program in a quick, effective, and human-centered way. Despite herculean efforts among human services and education agencies to get P-EBT off the ground, there were a few key technological, operational, and logistical barriers that consistently got in the way and hampered a smooth rollout of the program across the country.

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.

Better Identity in America: A Blueprint for Policymakers

This policy report offers recommendations for improving digital identity practices in the United States, emphasizing the role of government in creating secure, accessible digital identity resources.

Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Renewals: A Communications Toolkit

This toolkit has important information to help inform people with Medicaid or CHIP about steps to take to renew their coverage or find other health care options.

Sprint 1 Report | Michigan Cross-Enrollment | Increasing cross-enrollment between unemployment insurance and supporting benefits in Michigan

This project documents the work of Civilla and New America to increase cross-enrollment between unemployment insurance and supporting benefits in Michigan. This project is one phase of a larger body of work led by New America to improve the claimant and staff experience with unemployment insurance across the country.

Child Care and Development Fund Equity Assessment Toolkit

This toolkit provides resources for training and technical assistance (T/TA) providers in the Child Care Technical Assistance Network (CCTAN) to help State, Territory, and Tribal CCDF Lead Agencies be prepared to conduct equity assessments.

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.

Unpacking the White House blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights

On December 5, 2022, an expert panel, including representatives from the White House, unpacked what’s included in the AI Bill of Rights, and explored how to operationalize such guidance among consumers, developers, and other users designing and implementing automated decisions.

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.

Using Human-Centered Design to Increase Engagement in SNAP E&T

Putting the individual at the core of service delivery is key to successful SNAP E&T programs. This webinar provides insight on behavioral science concepts and how states can put such ideas into practice to tailor engagement, messaging, and independence planning, as well as promote participation in SNAP E&T programs.

Customer Experience Principles for Unemployment Insurance

The blog post sets up a foundational perspective on CX principles for the state UI agencies.

Why Framing Matters: Ways to Move Forward

Prior issues of Policy & Practice have introduced framing and what effective framing can do to make our shared narrative more productive and impactful. In this column, APHSA's President and CEO shares two framing strategies that can help us avoid the most common mistakes and produce more effective frames: Widening the lens and using numbers more effectively.