This impact report showcases the office's initiatives and achievements in enhancing state government services through innovative, user-centered approaches.
Led by the Digital Benefits Network in partnership with Public Policy Lab, the Digital Doorways research project amplifies the lived experiences of beneficiaries to provides new insights into people’s experiences with digital identity processes and technology in public benefits. This executive summary gives an overview of the project’s findings.
Created for use in the Digital Doorways research project, this design stimuli shows the steps of submitting an application, sharing personal information, and verifying identity for Massachusetts' online application for Unemployment Insurance.
During this event, researchers addressed questions with findings from data collected from state UI agencies across the country and focus groups with women who have experienced unemployment.
This section of the Building Resilience plan outlines strategies to improve reemployment outcomes for unemployment insurance (UI) claimants by expanding access to services, updating work search requirements, and increasing use of Short-Time Compensation programs.
This section of the Building Resilience plan outlines strategies to improve the long-term solvency and sustainability of state unemployment insurance (UI) trust funds through better funding practices and legislative reform.
Michigan's UIA director, Julia Dale, is leading the agency through transition by prioritizing lived experience, hope, grit, and values. Virginia's SNAP Program Manager, Michele Thomas, highlighted the success of Sun Bucks, a summer EBT child nutrition program that fed over 700,000 kids in its first year.
This report investigates how D.C. government agencies use automated decision-making (ADM) systems and highlights their risks to privacy, fairness, and accountability in public services.
This report analyzes lawsuits that have been filed within the past 10 years arising from the use of algorithm-driven systems to assess people’s eligibility for, or the distribution of, public benefits. It identifies key insights from the various cases into what went wrong and analyzes the legal arguments that plaintiffs have used to challenge those systems in court.
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 unemployment insurance applications.
The vast fraud committed through the use of stolen and synthetic identities in UI programs has spotlighted the need for updated identity fraud detection mechanisms. As states are implementing new technologies and systems, they need to consider the ways in which they are impacting racial inequities in UI benefits.