This Urban Institute report explores the impact of benefit cliffs, plateaus, and trade-offs on families receiving public assistance, examining how changes in earnings affect access to essential benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, and housing subsidies.
Code for America’s Integrated Benefits Initiative has been working in partnership with the State of Colorado to demonstrate how user-centered approaches lead to measurably better delivery of safety net programs. This article describes their work with the state of Colorado in simplifying how clients report common life changes that can affect their eligibility.
In June 2020, the state implemented an innovative and entirely virtual vendor selection process to evaluate these solutions under the direction of the Colorado Digital Service (CDS).
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.
This FormFest profile highlights how the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration redesigned its complaint submission form using empathy, human-centered design, and trauma-informed research methods to make the process more accessible, compassionate, and secure for all users.
WIC enrollment has declined over the last decade, preventing millions of eligible low-income individuals from accessing its benefits. This report examines state WIC outreach pilots and discusses the effectiveness of text message outreach and key considerations when developing and launching targeted text outreach campaigns.
This report examines the phenomenon of "churn" in public benefit programs, where eligible participants temporarily lose benefits due to administrative processes, analyzing its impact on both recipients and state agencies, and suggesting strategies to reduce its occurrence.
This report describes C-Stat 2.0, an updated version of the the Colorado Department of Human Services’ performance-based analysis strategy that allows them to better focus on and improve performance outcomes that enhance people’s lives.
