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Opportunities to Improve Online Access to SNAP for Older Adults

This issue brief illustrates the challenges that many older adults with low income face in gaining access to benefits online. It addresses digital literacy, access to broadband internet, and the increasing prevalence of connecting online to SNAP.

AARP Foundation
Fact Sheet

Six Recommendations for Implementing the Next Stimulus Package

The US Digital response partnered with dozens of states, counties, and cities to support them in using and tracking CARES Act grants. This article presents six lessons learned from their work to help governments better assist residents, particularly small businesses and low-income communities.

U.S. Digital Response
Non-Academic Article

Digital Identity Guidelines: Federation and Assertions

These guidelines provide technical requirements for federal agencies implementing digital identity services and are not intended to constrain the development or use of standards outside of this purpose. This guideline focuses on the use of federated identity and the use of assertions to implement identity federations. Federation allows a given credential service provider to provide authentication and (optionally) subscriber attributes to a number of separately-administered relying parties.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
Report

Lightning Talks at BenCon 2023

Lightning talks on innovative ideas, approaches, and pilots to understand and improve benefits delivery. This video was recorded at the Digital Benefits Conference (BenCon) at Georgetown University on June 14, 2023.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Video

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.

Code for America
Case Study

Early Insights on SNAP Modernization through American Rescue Plan Investments

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

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

Equitable Name Test

An open source list of names and considerations for names to make systems more equitable.

New America and community contributors
Non-Academic Article

Me, Myself, and My Digital Double: Extending Sara Greene’s Stealing (Identity) From the Poor to the Challenges of Identity Verification

This essay explores the challenges of identity verification and suggests several paths forward for more equitable systems.

Minnesota Law Review
Academic Article

Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration

While most data sharing and integration occurs within a legal and governance framework, an emphasis on racial equity, transparency, and community engagement is often peripheral. This report focuses on the importance of a racial equity lens in data integration.

Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP)
Toolkit

Digital Distortions and Interpretive Choices: A Cartographic Perspective on Encoding Regulation

This article analyses ‘digital distortions’ in Rules as Code, which refer to disconnects between regulation and code that arise from interpretive choices in the encoding process.

Queensland University of Technology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Academic Article

Hawai'i Coordinating SNAP and Nutrition Supports Demonstration Project: Thriving Children Strong Families Project White Paper

This white paper documents Hawai'i's journey and lessons learned from their 18-month Coordinating SNAP and Nutrition Supports project which laid the foundation for interagency data-sharing and built capacity to analyze administrative data across nutrition programs--specifically SNAP and WIC.

Hawai'i Department of Human Services
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

Digital Legal Systems Lab

A vision for place for collaborating on digital law and policy grounded experimentation, case studies ,and moving beyond the theoretical.

Digital Legal Systems Lab
Organization Website

Accessible Numbers

Use the accessible numbers project to design services for people who need help with numbers.

Accessible Numbers
Toolkit

The New Practice Lab’s Racial Equity Framework

New America’s New Practice Lab discusses insights into racial inequities within the Unemployment Insurance System, and provides recommendations its framework for rectifying inequality in policies and programs moving forward.

New America
Toolkit

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.

New America
Toolkit

Platforms: More value, more quickly, more securely

Adopting a platform strategy should be a key component of how government agencies design and deliver digital services.

Ad Hoc
Non-Academic Article

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

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

MDRC
Video

Helping Families Access Public Benefits with AI and Automation

Webinar that shares Nava’s partnership with the Gates Foundation and the Benefits Data Trust that seeks to answer if generative and predictive AI can be used ethically to help reduce administrative burdens for benefits navigators.

Nava PBC
No items found.

Envisioning a Human-AI collaborative system to transform policies into decision models

This paper introduces the problem of semi-automatically building decision models from eligibility policies for social services, and presents an initial emerging approach to shorten the route from policy documents to executable, interpretable and standardised decision models using AI, NLP and Knowledge Graphs. There is enormous potential of AI to assist government agencies and policy experts in scaling the production of both human-readable and machine executable policy rules, while improving transparency, interpretability, traceability and accountability of the decision making.

IBM Research
No items found.

Identity Fraud Victim Redress Process and Systems

This report provides specific actions the federal government could take to reduce identity fraud and establish a whole-of-government victim redress approach.

Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, MITRE
Report

AI and the Future of Government Services: A conversation with Afua Bruce

Trooper Sanders interviews Afua Bruce, a leading public interest technologis to examine the pros and cons of AI and key considerations for when humans rely on technological solutions.

Benefits Data Trust
Video

Government AI Readiness Index 2023

For 2023, Oxford Insights assesses the AI readiness of 193 governments across the world.

Oxford Insights
Other

Exploring Rules Communication: Moving Beyond Static Documents to Standardized Code for U.S. Public Benefits Programs

This brief analyzes the current state of federal and state government communication around benefits eligibility rules and policy and how these documents are being tracked and adapted into code by external organizations. This work includes comparisons between coded examples of policy and potential options for standardizing code based on established and emerging data standards, tools, and frameworks.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, Massive Data Institute
Academic Article

Recoding America at BenCon 2023

Jennifer Pahlka, Deputy CTO in President Obama’s Administration and author, shares her new book, Recoding America on how government must be equipped for digital delivery in order to meet ambitious policy goals. This video was recorded at the Digital Benefits Conference (BenCon) at Georgetown University on June 14, 2023.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
Video

Text to Connect: Data Collection Considerations for Using Text Message Outreach to Reduce SNAP Churn

This guide is the fifth part of a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide is intended to help data engineers and analysts build the data pipeline and manage, analyze, and synthesize data needed for a text messaging program.

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

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

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

Identity Authentication Pilot Projects – Conversion to State Option

This guidance document from the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) allowed states more flexibility in verifying SNAP applicant identity. This guidance followed six years of pilot projects, during which states gave SNAP applicants the option to authenticate their identity using a set of multiple choice authentication questions produced by a third-party vendor based on electronically matched public records, in place of using traditional methods to authenticate identity. In addition, and consistent with federal law, states participating in the project continued to accept and begin processing any application that included at least the applicant’s name, address and signature, even if the application was otherwise incomplete.

Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Government Documents

Digital Welfare States and Human Rights

In this report, the UN Special Rapporteur critically examines uses of digital technologies for administration of welfare programs across international contexts, and makes recommendations for using technology responsibly and ethically.

United Nations
Report

SNAP Community Characteristics Dashboard Congressional District Explorer

This exploratory tool was built to share information about SNAP participation, income, and household demographics within each congressional district. Users may select their own district, along with any other district of interest, and can compare two districts at once within a given state.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Dataset

Building Healthier Lives Through Increased SNAP Participation

This fact sheet describes a study demonstrating that Benefits Data Trust’s Outreach and Application Assistance increased SNAP participation more than seven-fold, reducing Medicaid spending and improving health in North Carolina.

Benefits Data Trust
Fact Sheet

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

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

National Academy of Public Administration
Report

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

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

Improving Public Programs for Low-Income Tax Filers

To inform future efforts to bring more low-income tax filers into the tax system, this report focuses on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and investigates the challenges and opportunities to better serve the American people and improve the experience of tax filing.

New America
Report

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

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

Urban Institute
Report

Encouraging Uptake of Benefits with Psychological Ownership Messaging

A brief report on our quantitative research about messages that increase people's take-up of government benefits by making them feel like those benefits belong to them.

Code for America
Report

Decoded: Digital Identity in Public Benefits (Webinar)

In this webinar, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Digital Benefits Network explored key terms related to digital identity, and provided ecosystem-level context on how authentication and identity proofing may show up in the online benefits experience and impact clients. Presenters also shared a list of resources, including guidance from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), introductory materials, and other research to support participants in continued learning.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Video

Analysis of Robotic Process Automation in SNAP: Three Case Studies

This study examines the use of robotic process automation (RPA) technologies by three state agencies—Georgia, New Mexico, and Connecticut—to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). RPA is software that integrates with other programs to automatically complete repetitive processes that normally are performed by humans.

USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Insight Policy Research, Inc.
Government Documents

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

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

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Report

State WIC Agencies Use Federal Flexibility to Streamline Enrollment

This report outlines how state WIC agencies can adjust their policies to remove enrollment barriers. The report also provides detailed research on the status of WIC eligibility practices and documentation requirements across states.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

Mass Layoff in Maine: Lessons Learned from the Maine Department of Labor and Peer Workforce Navigators

This report explores the Maine Department of Labor’s (MDOL) remarkable response to this layoff through collaboration with the Peer Workforce Navigator project—a coalition of community-based organizations in partnership with the MDOL—which made a huge difference in the lives of these laid off workers. The report also examines aspects of the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) system that might be improved to account for similar situations in the future.

The Century Foundation
Report

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.

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Toolkit

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

Unemployment insurance modernization: Examples from states and territories in their unemployment insurance modernization journeys

The U.S. Department of Labor is working with states, territories, and the public to develop strategies to continuously improve the nation’s unemployment insurance (UI) systems. All of the work shown on this site to date came from the Claimant Experience Pilot engagement between U.S. Department of Labor, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services funded through ARPA.

U.S. Department of Labor
Government Documents

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

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.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Video

DHS Biometric Technology Rallies

The Department of Homeland Security's Biometric and Identity Technology Center (BI-TC) has hosted Biometric Technology Rallies to test new and emerging biometric technologies since 2018. This website hosts information about the 2022 and 2023 rallies.

Department of Homeland Security Biometric and Identity Technology Center (BI-TC)
Organization Website

How to use product operations to scale the impact of government digital services

Ad Hoc has found that product operations can help scale impact by putting objective indicators at the center of product decision-making. The team has seen success in supporting product thinking at agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where they made it easier for Veterans to access employment and education assistance and for caregivers to receive needed support.

Ad Hoc
Non-Academic Article

Exposing Error in Poverty Management Technology: A Method for Auditing Government Benefits Screening Tools

This paper introduces a method for auditing benefits eligibility screening tools in four steps: 1) generate test households, 2) automatically populate screening questions with household information and retrieve determinations, 3) translate eligibility guidelines into computer code to generate ground truth determinations, and 4) identify conflicting determinations to detect errors.

University of Michigan, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Academic Article

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

Unemployment Insurance Claim Status Playbook

A U.S. Department of Labor published claim status playbook and model prototype on how to help make states' unemployment insurance claim process efficient and hassle-free.

U.S. Department of Labor
Toolkit

Modular Procurement: A Primer

This research brief explores the different philosophies and implementation methods of modular procurement, including the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and the cultural and structural changes a procurement office should consider when making the switch to modular procurement.

National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO)
Report

Cracking the code: Rulemaking for humans and machines

Rules as Code proposes that governments create an official version of laws and regulations in a machine-consumable form, allowing the rules to be understood and actioned by computer systems in a consistent way.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Academic Article

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

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

National Governors Association
No items found.

5 Things to Know About SNAP Employment & Training

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is well known for providing nutrition support for individuals and families with low incomes. The lesser-known SNAP Employment and Training Program (SNAP E&T) helps eligible participants develop skills to achieve economic mobility. SNAP E&T provides employability assessments, training, case management, transportation, child care and other services and supports to help participants attain sustainable employment. State legislatures have an opportunity to support economic recovery and decrease food insecurity among individuals and families by investing in the SNAP E&T program, including with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
Policy Brief

Kansas' Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports Impact Report

Kansas' Department for Children and Families and Department of Health and Environment partnered with Delivering Change as part of cohort 1 of the Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports program to enhance SNAP and WIC access in seven key counties through innovative data sharing and targeted outreach to identify and enroll eligible individuals. This report documents best practices and lessons learned from their project.

American Public Human Services Association
Report

Text to Connect: Strategy + Content for Using Text Message Outreach to Reduce SNAP Churn

This guide is the fourth in a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. Focused on strategy and content, this guide offers recommendations and best practices for crafting messages, engaging clients, and obtaining consent.

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

Rapidly Building Unemployment Services During the Pandemic

Nava partnered with the State of California’s Employment Development Department to build and deploy two digital services to assist Californians seeking unemployment benefits, in just three months.

Nava Public Benefit Corporation
Case Study

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

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

DA 23-62: FCC Declaratory Ruling on Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 for Medicaid

Ruling from the FCC granting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to confirm that federal and state governmental agencies working in conjunction with local governments, governmental contractors, and managed care entities acting under contract with state governments may, under certain circumstances, make autodialed and prerecorded or artificial voice calls or send autodialed text messages to raise awareness of the eligibility and enrollment requirements for these governmental health care programs without violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Federal Communications Commission
Government Documents

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.

Report

A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide

This guide outlines the types of projects, partnerships, and people that civic technologists encounter, as well as the methods they can use to make lasting change.

Cyd Harrell
Book

Screened & Scored in the District of Columbia

This report explores how automated decision-making systems are being used in one jurisdiction: Washington, D.C.

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Report

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

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

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).

Benefits Data Trust
Report

Best Practices for SNAP Telephonic Signatures

Guide detailing best practices for states, counties, and municipalities to adopt telephonic signatures.

Food Research and Action Center
Policy Brief

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.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Toolkit

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

A Love Letter to the Parliamentary Counsel of the World

A communication piece illustrating the need for a small addition to how government publishes legislation. Examples given for EU and New Zealand law.

Digital Legal Systems Lab
Case Study

Software Sharing Models

Governments around the world are sharing custom-built software already, and have done so for many years. It’s vital, cost-saving, and meets the needs of users. This article provides examples of a range of different software sharing models.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Non-Academic Article

Researching Inequities in a Public Benefits Program with a Racial Equity Framework, 7 Takeaways

The New Practice Lab partnered with students of the Stanford Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab to understand how the Racial Equity Framework can shape research by actively identifying anti-Blackness, racial biases, and inequities that exist in public policy. This article documents the findings of the Stanford PIT Lab as they researched how the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) design affects communities of color.

New America
Non-Academic Article

Why defining your product is an essential question in government digital services

One of the most important questions in government digital services is "what is our product?". Teams that can identify their products are more likely to prioritize improvements in the best interest of the underlying service. And as a result of their work, Veterans, their family members, seniors, Medicare patients, and others have more successful and efficient interactions with the critical government services they need.

Ad Hoc
Non-Academic Article

Evaluating Facial Recognition Technology: A Protocol for Performance Assessment in New Domains

In May 2020, Stanford's HAI hosted a workshop to discuss the performance of facial recognition technologies that included leading computer scientists, legal scholars, and representatives from industry, government, and civil society. The white paper this workshop produced seeks to answer key questions in improving understandings of this rapidly changing space.

Stanford University, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
Academic Article

Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 4: Benefits Data Trust Benefits Launch | Daniel Singer & Preston Cabe

We continued Rules as Code Demo Day with Daniel Singer and Preston Cabe from Benefits Data Trust. Benefits Data Trust provides benefit outreach and application assistance services in seven states. Using Benefits Launch, their in-house interview and rules engine, they support two hundred contact center employees as they screen and apply thousands of clients each year. They also offer a self-service screener, Benefits Launch Express. Additionally, they offer an eligibility API to integrate with other services.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Video

Spanish Translation Guide for Unemployment Insurance

U.S. Digital Response’s Spanish Translation Guide for Unemployment Insurance provides practical guidelines and resources to help governments improve communication with Spanish speakers seeking access to unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.

U.S. Digital Response
Toolkit

Pandemic EBT Policy + Delivery Memo

Policy memo by Code for America regarding how to deliver P-EBT benefits during the COVID-19 crisis.

Code for America
Policy Brief

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

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

USDA FNS
Non-Academic Article

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

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

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

3 Ways to Get Benefits to the Families that Need Them

In a time of crisis, behavioral science offers insights into how to reduce the paperwork and other administrative burdens that prevent people from taking advantage of crucial support services.

Governing
Non-Academic Article

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

Time to Get It Right: State Actions Now Can Preserve Medicaid Coverage When Public Health Emergency Ends

Millions of people could lose health coverage when the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends, but states can make changes to avoid massive coverage losses.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
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

Lost in the Labyrinth: Helping Parents Navigate Early Care and Education Programs

Overview: Families with the youngest children stand to gain the most from improved access to benefits, yet persistent fragmentation in early care and education (ECE) programs creates challenges in finding, applying for, and enrolling in services. As a result, families miss out on critical opportunities for their children at the time when these ECE programs have the highest impact. The New Practice Lab examined what these missed opportunities look like up close in one state and collected data on the fractured system of programs and funding streams across all fifty states to begin illustrating the complexity that families face. Ultimately, we see wide variation across states with plenty of opportunities to increase access to information, simplify application procedures, and create more equitable access to these services.

New Practice Lab at New America
Policy Brief

Design Justice Network Principles

Design justice rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative, creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face.

Design Justice Network
Toolkit

Code for America and GetYourRefund.org Non-filer Learnings and Recommendations

This report outlines key lessons and recommendations from Code for America's collaboration with the Voluntary Income Tax Assistance program, which served over 800,000 clients via GetYourRefund.org.

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

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

Trustworthy AI (TAI) Playbook

This playbook is an initial step by the Office of the Chief AI Officer (OCAIO) to support trustworthy AI development.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Toolkit

Public Benefits Delivery & Consumer Protection

This Issue Spotlight explores the challenges that recipients of public benefits programs offering cash assistance encounter in accessing funds through financial products or services, with a specific focus on assistance provided on prepaid cards.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Government Documents

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.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Dataset

WIC Eligibility Content Audit and Usability Evaluation Report

We reviewed the online eligibility web presence of all 89 WIC entities to understand what WIC eligibility information each entity gives to potential participants. This report shares the results of our comprehensive content audit and heuristic evaluation of eligibility pre-screeners, including ratings on security, mobile-friendly design, accessibility, and more. The report includes actionable steps entities can take to make their eligibility information easier to understand and use.

Service Design Collective
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

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

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

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

What is Digital Identity?

This short resource introduces the term digital identity and provides an overview of core questions related to the topic.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
Report
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