Benefits Journey: Outreach + Awareness
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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.
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Communications Want to design policies that really work? Test them on the users who need them first
A step-by-step guide to how New Jersey used plain language and user-testing to improve the state’s paid family and medical leave program
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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.
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Data Toolkit: Increasing WIC Coverage Through Cross-Program Data Matching and Targeted Outreach
This toolkit is designed to help state and local WIC agencies leverage data from Medicaid and SNAP to measure enrollment gaps and increase enrollment using tools to plan, launch, and/or strengthen data matching and targeted outreach to eligible families who are not receiving WIC benefits.
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Human-Centered Design Toolkit for Helping States Implement People-Centered Pandemic EBT
With the extension and expansion of P-EBT during COVID and the Food and Nutrition Service releasing new guidance, states have an opportunity to effectively deliver essential resources to children and families. Code for America built this toolkit of resources to share recommendations and promising practices around the implementation of P-EBT and to support state agencies and partners tasked with the development of P-EBT programs.
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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.
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A Playbook for Improving Unemployment Insurance Delivery
A playbook by New America describing lessons learned from past recessions, recent pandemic-inspired innovations, and complementary benefit spaces like SNAP and WIC.
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GetYourRefund.Org: Free tax filing, made simple
GetYourRefund.org is an online portal by Code for America that helps low-income individuals claim thousands of dollars in tax credits, even after the traditional tax deadline has passed.
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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).
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Human-Centered Design GetCalFresh Demo Website
Demo website for GetCalFresh—Code for America and the state of California’s efforts to simplify the SNAP application process.
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Human-Centered Design What Happens When People Feel Ownership Over Their Benefits
An interview with Wendy De La Rosa, assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. De La Rosa discusses how the concept of “psychological ownership” can encourage people to take up benefits they are eligible for.
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Human-Centered Design Pandemic EBT Policy + Delivery Memo
Policy memo by Code for America regarding how to deliver P-EBT benefits during the COVID-19 crisis.