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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

Simple Changes Can Make a Big Difference for Clients Accessing Government Benefits

Our work with Pennsylvania to implement user experience and user interface changes shows that innovation can be easier to implement than it might seem.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

Exploring a new way to make eligibility rules easier to implement

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

18F
Non-Academic Article

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.

Urban Institute
Report

Playbook For Ethical Tech Governance

Governments and leaders are required to regulate change while mitigating risk, so IFTF's Governance Futures Lab developed this decision-making guide for them. In a world where technologies are transforming faster than we can keep up, anticipatory governance is crucial in order to safeguard against both the intended and unintended effects of technological advances.

Institute For The Future
Toolkit

De-risking Guide: Budgeting and overseeing tech projects

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

18F
Toolkit

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

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.

Singapore Management University
Report

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

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

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

CSNS Mecklenburg: Strengthening Community Relationship to End Child Hunger

This report outlines how the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services (DSS) is leading an initiative to coordinate nutrition supports across government and community partners to streamline access to resources that improve food security for families in Mecklenburg County. Through this project, households experiencing food insecurity will not only have a better understanding of the resources and services available to them, but also will find it easier to apply for public benefit programs.

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

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

Digital Authentication and Identity Proofing in Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) 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 child care applications.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Dataset

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

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

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

Webinar: Unwinding – Where Do We Go From Here?

CBPP and CCF held a webinar to discuss where Medicaid stakeholders go from here. CCF highlighted where states are now, next steps for state compliance with federal requirements, best practices that should be continued beyond the unwinding, and potential new developments including the final eligibility and enrollment rule. Additionally, we discussed outreach strategies to reconnect eligible children and families who lost Medicaid back to coverage.

The Center for Children & Families (CCF) at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
Video

8 Tips for Governments to Mitigate Call Center Volume

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

U.S. Digital Response
Non-Academic Article

Harnessing Data and Technology to Construct a Human Services System that Supports Thriving and Equitable Communities

Recent innovations in technology have opened a path for H/HS agencies to dramatically strengthen their data and technology infrastructure while providing fairer and more equal access to crucial benefits and services. By taking the concrete policy steps outlined in this brief, we believe that Congress and the administration can help human services agencies accelerate the construction of next generation systems that support the move toward a data-driven, equitable, multidisciplinary service delivery model.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Policy Brief

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

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

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.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

Making Public Benefits More Accessible in Minnesota

This report highlights work with Minnesota and includes nine suggestions for states seeking to launch their own integrated benefits applications

Code for America
Report

Digital Identity Guidelines: Authentication and Lifecycle Management

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. These guidelines focus on the authentication of subjects interacting with government systems over open networks, establishing that a given claimant is a subscriber who has been previously authenticated.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
Report

ITEM 10: How a Small Legal Aid Team Took on Algorithmic Black Boxing at Their State’s Employment Agency (And Won)

In June 2022, Legal Aid of Arkansas won a significant victory in their ongoing work to compel Arkansas’ employment agency to disclose crucial details about how it uses automated decision-making systems to detect and adjudicate fraud.

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Non-Academic Article

Core Principles for TANF Modernization: A Legislative Framework for TANF Refo

Working with TANF administrators and human services leaders across the country, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) embraces the call to reimagine how TANF can work in support of the families it serves and has established a set of TANF Modernization Core Principles to guide our vision for the future of TANF. Grounded in these Core Principles, APHSA’s members have laid out a legislative framework to unlock the potential of TANF. We call upon Congress to use this framework as a starting point to build common ground to achieve a TANF reauthorization that promotes a more equitable and prosperous future for all Americans.

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
Policy Brief

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

A Tsunami of Volatility: The Impact of the Design and Implementation of CARES Act Supplemental Unemployment Benefits on Lower-Income Households

While CARES Act benefits themselves have been critical to households, their design and implementation have led to more uncertainty and volatility for lower-income households. This report discusses the financial resilience strategies families used to manage gaps before benefits arrived, in addition to providing recommendations for how benefits can be better designed in the future to fit the financial lives of lower-income households.

Commonwealth
Report

Opportunities to Streamline Enrollment Across Public Benefit Programs

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

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Report

Analysis: Digital Authentication and Identity Proofing Requirements in Unemployment Insurance Applications

In February 2023, the Digital Benefits Network at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation released a dataset documenting authentication and identity verification requirements that unemployment insurance (UI) applicants encounter across the United States. This resource outlines high-level observations from the data and more information about the research process.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Rapid Implementation of Policy as Code

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

18F
Non-Academic Article

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
No items found.

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.

Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Video

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

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

Tips on Equitable Communication Practices in a Policy Context

Initially created to inform federal staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this tip sheet highlights the importance of using equitable communication and includes tips, guiding questions, and additional resources.

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

How Human-Centered Is our Social Safety Net?

This article discusses Code for America’s research into the user experience of applying or Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, WIC, and LIHEAP in the United States. They found that user experience applying for benefits programs varies greatly by (and often within) each state.

Code for 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

The Government Is Helping People Pay Rent, But Something’s Gone Wrong

Rent relief distribution in 2020 was slow and inequitable, because local programs instituted strict eligibility criteria beyond what was required by the CARES Act. As a result of these hurdles, incomplete applications were a major barrier to distributing funds. This report describes the rent relief challenges during the pandemic, as well as a few possible fixes to help the next round of aid distribution.

New America
Non-Academic Article

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.

U.S. General Services Administration, U.S. Federal CIO Council
Government Documents

Medicaid And SNAP Advance Equity But Sometimes Have Hidden Racial And Ethnic Barriers

This article explores how although SNAP and Medicaid programs have succeeded in narrowing health and nutrition disparities, certain policies hinder goals of racial and ethnic equity, even though they do not explicitly mention race or ethnicity.

Health Affairs
Academic Article

18F Methods: Journey Mapping

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

18F
Toolkit

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

Implementing Paid Family and Medical Leave: Lessons for State Administrators from Research in New Jersey

Passing a major new social program like paid family and medical leave (PFML) is only the first step in creating change. To achieve real impact, PFML programs must be well implemented — and as more and more states pass PFML programs, the urgency of such good implementation has never been higher. In 2019, New America staffed a discovery sprint team to explore New Jersey’s pioneering PFML program, using a mixture of beneficiary interviews, data analysis, and business processing mapping. Based on that research, this report outlines key implementation learnings for administrators in other states, focusing on: (a) communicating about PFML, (b) outreach strategies, (c) applications and processing, and (d) IT infrastructure.

New America
Case Study

Story-driven experience research on pandemic unemployment

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

Dana Chisnell
Presentation

Incremental Steps to Integrated Benefits

By taking on one or more steps to integrate benefits incrementally, on a small, more localized scale, benefits administrators can make progress towards improving resident and staff experiences. This guide outlines ideas for launching an integrated benefits application in stages, and strategies to pilot new tools.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Improving State Unemployment Insurance Technology: A Guide for Advocates

This guide is intended to provide everything else, with a focus on the basics of UI technology projects, guidance on standards for equitable uses of technology, and strategies for how to have a positive impact on these projects.

The Century Foundation
Toolkit

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

Report: Modernizing Access to the Safety Net

Innovators inside and outside of government are working to improve access to the social safety net using data, technology, and design. This report highlights innovations carried out by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Data and Technology grantees from 2018 to 2021, including extraordinary efforts to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Those grantees are: Benefits Data Trust, Code for America, Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, U.S. Digital Response, and the Digital Innovation and Governance Initiative at New America. In 2020, these projects secured more than $200 million in benefits for close to 100,000 people across at least 36 states, and helped millions more through policy change, training, and guidance.

The Rockefeller Foundation
Report

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

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.

Use Cases for Robotic Process Automation in UI Claims Processing

For the past year, modernization teams at the Department of Labor (DOL) have been helping states identify opportunities to automate rote, non-discretionary, manual tasks, with the goal of helping them speed up the time that it takes to process claims. This post provides more context on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and potential use cases in unemployment insurance.

U.S. Department of Labor
Government Documents

Parking signs and possible futures for LLMs in government

Government agencies adopting generative AI tools seems inevitable at this point. But there is more than one possible future for how agencies use generative AI to simplify complex government information.

Ad Hoc
No items found.

Human-Centered, Machine-Assisted: Ethically Deploying AI to Improve the Client Experience

In this interview, Code for America staff members share how client success, data science, and qualitative research teams work together to consider the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in responding to clients who seek assistance with three products.

Code for America
Non-Academic Article

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

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.

Urban Institute
Report

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

Digital Authentication and Identity Proofing in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 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 TANF.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Dataset

POVERTY LAWGORITHMS: A Poverty Lawyer’s Guide to Fighting Automated Decision-Making Harms on Low-Income Communities

This guide, directed at poverty lawyers, explains automated decision-making systems so lawyers and advocates can better identify the source of their clients' problems and advocate on their behalf. Relevant for practitioners, this report covers key questions around automated decision-making systems.

Data & Society
Report

Applying Rules as Code to the Social Safety Net

This short report outlines the promise and potential of digitizing benefits eligibility policy.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Accessible Numbers

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

Accessible Numbers
Toolkit

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.

Center for Security and Emerging Technology
No items found.

Potential and Progress for Benefits Eligibility: A Recap of Rules as Code Demo Day

Building on our February 2022 report Benefit Eligibility Rules as Code: Reducing the Gap Between Policy and Service Delivery for the Safety Net, the Beeck Center’s Digital Benefits Network (DBN) recently held a convening to share progress and potential in digitizing benefits eligibility and to begin addressing how a national approach could be started. At Rules as Code Demo Day, on June 28th, 2022, there were eight demonstrations of projects and code followed by a collaborative problem-solving session on how to continue advancing rules as code for the U.S. social safety net.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
News

Access for All: Innovation for Equitable SNAP Delivery

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

Urban Institute
Report

ideas42 Methodology

This article introduces ideas42, a non-profit behavioral research and design firm applying insights from behavioral sciences, including behavioral economics (BE), social psychology, and other disciplines, for social good. Their behavioral design methodology is human-centered, but it incorporates scientific insights and iterative testing, applying observations about how people choose and act from experimental academic research to inform qualitative research.

The Communication Initiative Network
Toolkit

Making Our Systems See People

Code for America CEO introduces the Safety Net Innovation Lab in a TED Talk, their initiative to work with state governments to reimagine and rebuild delivery of accessible and equitable benefits. This article also includes the video of Renteria’s talk and a transcript.

Code for America
Video

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

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

Unemployment Insurance Email Template Kit v1.0

This kit contains a collection of styles, components, and building blocks to quickly create action-forward emails for Unemployment Insurance programs within the U.S. An email library of 50+ examples are also provided for you to get started. Customize with your state logo and colors that are already in the file. Report of project is included.

Semicolon Design Group, New Jersey Office of Innovation, New Jersey Department of Labor
Toolkit

Rules as Code - Delivering a personalised citizen experience for GovCMS

Demo and explainer video of the Australian government's implementation of rules as code as part of their enterprise content management platform.

Salsa Digital and Department of Finance
Video

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.

Brookings Institution
Presentation

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.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Video

What the Digital Benefits Network is Reading on Automation

In this piece, the Digital Benefits Network shares several sources—from journalistic pieces, to reports and academic articles—we’ve found useful and interesting in our reading on automation and artificial intelligence.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
No items found.

NIST: AI Risk Management Framework

In collaboration with the private and public sectors, NIST has developed a framework to better manage risks to individuals, organizations, and society associated with artificial intelligence (AI). The framework is intended for voluntary use and to improve the ability to incorporate trustworthiness considerations into the design, development, use, and evaluation of AI products, services, and systems.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
Toolkit

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

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

Helping people access government services through Login.gov

This case study describes how Nava is working with the General Services Administration, Fearless, and the U.S. Postal Service to design, build, and deliver a new in-person identity verification service to nearly 20,000 USPS locations

Nava Public Benefit Corporation
Case Study

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

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

States Can Use Text Messaging to Communicate Effectively With Medicaid and SNAP Enrollees

In the vast majority of states where Medicaid, SNAP, and other economic security and health programs are administered at the state level, agencies can and should send text messages to their clients to help eligible people connect to and stay enrolled in these programs.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Non-Academic Article

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

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

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.

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

State Software Budgeting Handbook

Handbook by 18F designed for executives, budget specialists, legislators, and other “non-technical” decision-makers who fund or oversee state government technology projects that receive federal funding and implement the necessary technology to support federal programs. It aids in setting projects up for success by asking the right questions, identifying the right outcomes, and equally important, empowering decision-makers with a basic knowledge of the fundamental principles of modern software design.

18F
Toolkit

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

Introducing a new digital application for health care at VA

Less than 10% of applications for VA health care are submitted digitally. This article describes how the U.S. Digital Service partnered with the Health Eligibility Center to change that, making it possible for anyone with an internet connection to apply anytime, anywhere, from any device.

United States Digital Service (USDS)
News

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.

Identity, Credential, and Access Management Subcommittee (ICAMSC) of the Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Council
Toolkit

Michigan's Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports Impact Report

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, together with the Food Bank Council of Michigan and the Michigan Department of Education developed a comprehensive Food Insecurity Map and a closed-loop referral system for nutrition and economic supports. The goal of these initiatives was to leverage cross-sector data to inform policy decisions, streamline access to food assistance, and reduce administrative burden. This report documents lessons learned and outcomes of their project.

American Public Human Services Association
Report

Advocate’s Guide to MAGI

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

National Health Law Program
Policy Brief

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

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.

Code for America
News

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

Regulating Biometrics: Taking Stock of a Rapidly Changing Landscape

This post reflects on and excerpts from AI Now's 2020 report on biometrics regulation.

AI Now Institute
Non-Academic Article

Conducting Outreach for Benefits Cross Enrollment

This resource outlines strategies for cross-enrollment outreach, which can break down silos between programs and reach applicants who may be eligible for under-enrolled benefits programs.

Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Report

Safety Net Services Built for Outcomes

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

Code for America
News

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

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

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