A report summarizing effective state practices, promising initiatives, and federal resources to improve payment accuracy in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
This piece highlights promising design patterns for account creation and identity proofing in public benefits applications. The publication also identifies areas where additional evidence, resources, and coordinated federal guidance may help support equitable implementations of authentication and identity proofing, enabling agencies to balance access and security.
An outline of the opportunities for modernizing SNAP to better meet participant needs by streamlining enrollment, improving digital access, and enhancing coordination with other safety net services.
SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020 is a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy (IHSP) based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). This research seeks to understand perspectives from state SNAP administrators on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from waivers and flexibilities used to preserve equitable access to SNAP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on state agency survey responses, this report summarizes key findings from the first calendar year of pandemic response and provides policy considerations for the future of SNAP. This research was supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy
APHSA explains how certain tools and recommendations about when people apply for help, engage in services, and maintain benefits can have a powerful effect to either counter or exacerbate structural barriers to accessing assistance.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
A 2025 policy agenda outlining comprehensive federal and state recommendations to eliminate benefits cliffs and strengthen economic mobility for families transitioning off public assistance.
This document is a template for creating a community-based organization (CBO)-facing flyer that explains HR1 work requirements changes and how CBOs can help spread the work and screen SNAP participants and applicants.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
The team conducted experiments to determine whether clients would be responsive to proactive support offered by a chatbot, and identify the ideal timing of the intervention.
This case study details the development of a document extraction prototype to streamline benefits application processing through automated data capture and classification.
Led by the Digital Benefits Network in partnership with Public Policy Lab, the Digital Doorways research project amplifies the lived experiences of beneficiaries to provide new insights into people’s experiences with digital identity processes and technology in public benefits. This report details the project’s findings, directly highlighting the voices of beneficiaries through videos and photos.
The team examined how AI, specifically LLMs, could streamline the case review process for SNAP applications to alleviate the burden on case workers while potentially improving accuracy.
