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.
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.
Members of Nava's team describe how their work with WIC Montana cemented their belief that an API standard can fuel modernization to improve experiences for WIC staff, participants, and applicants.
This case study describes Nava's with the state of Montana’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) agency to build an eligibility screener tool.
This case study describes Nava's work with the state of Montana’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) agency to build an API prototype, which is part of Nava's larger work inform a national API standard.
The WIC program is highly effective at improving nutrition for recipients, but barriers like in-person appointments and closed management systems limit enrollment. Nava PBC developed a prototype API and digital screener in Montana to streamline eligibility and enhance program access, illustrating how API standards could improve interoperability and modernize WIC systems nationwide.
This report presents a menu of strategies that have the potential to increase access to individual public benefit programs or a package of benefits. It focuses on Illinois, but the strategies identified are relevant throughout the country.
This video, produced after the completion of the TDC Pilot, features staff members from the California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Virginia TANF agencies reflecting on their challenges, accomplishments, and general experiences during the pilot.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Benefits Data Trust (BDT), in collaboration with the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), conducted a nationwide analysis of how states coordinate across Medicaid and SNAP programs to streamline access to benefits. Between June and August of 2022, BDT and CHCS collected 114 survey responses from Medicaid and SNAP programs in 46 states and the District of Columbia.
The NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity) developed the NYC Benefits Platform, including ACCESS NYC, to help residents easily discover and check eligibility for over 80 social programs.
This guide consolidates learning and spotlights principles, insights, and emerging practices to guide municipal leaders and public-private partnerships interested in designing basic income programs that are ethical, equitable, rigorous, informative, and consequential for local, state and national policymaking.
As a part of Benefit Data Trust (BDT)’s Medicaid Churn Learning Collaborative, BDT has created a memo describing policy options and state examples for Medicaid administrators to reduce churn for non-MAGI Medicaid enrollees when the federal public health emergency ends.
