Benefits Program: WIC: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children
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“It’s Like Night and Day”: How Bureaucratic Encounters Vary across WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid
Using 83 interviews with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Medicaid beneficiaries, and 35 interviews with staff from those programs, this paper examines how people differentiate their experiences across programs.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Project Snapshot: ACCESS NYC & Benefits Screening API
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 mobile-first, open-source tool uses a simple eligibility screener, reducing access barriers while allowing integration with other city services like MyCity, ensuring efficient access to benefits.
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Data Data Sharing to Build Effective and Efficient Benefits Systems: A Playbook for State and Local Agencies
This playbook is designed to help government and other key sectors use data sharing to illuminate who is not accessing benefits, connect under-enrolled populations to vital assistance, and make the benefits system more efficient for agencies and participants alike. It is a step-by-step guide to conducting smooth and efficient data sharing projects that are permissible and secure.
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Diversity, Equity + Inclusion USDA Equity Action Plan in Support of Executive Order (EO) 13985 Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government
On January 20, 2021, the President issued EO 13985, which established that the Federal Government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all. USDA's Equity Action Plain details a subset of USDA actions to achieve this gaol.
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Digital Identity Digital Identity and Public Benefits: Announcing a New Research Agenda
An announcement about the Digital Benefits Network's new research agenda on digital identity in public benefits.
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Communications Texting Playbook: Recommendations and Tips for Texting Clients of Safety Net Services
The Texting Playbook provides guidance and well-researched strategies to help state agencies implement texting in support of Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, and other benefits programs. It provides an overview of how to start texting clients; the types of messages to send, including real examples; Federal Communications Commision (FCC) policy guidance; how to encourage opt-ins and collect consent; how to avoid coming across as spam; and a cost analysis of texting.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Project Snapshot: PolicyEngine
PolicyEngine is a nonprofit that provides a free, open-source web app enabling users in the US and UK to estimate taxes and benefits at the household level, while also simulating the effects of policy changes. By combining tax and benefits data, PolicyEngine helps individuals and policymakers better understand the impacts of existing policies and proposed reforms, using microsimulation models built from legislation and enhanced survey data.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Policy Rules Database Github
Github repository for Policy Rules Database, which encodes up-to-date rules and provisions for all major federal and state public assistance programs, taxes, and tax credits.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Benefits Launch Express
Created by Benefits Data Trust, Benefits Launch Express is a high-level eligibility screening and assistance finder available to Philadelphia residents. The tool screens eligibility for 29 programs and is estimated to take up to 10 minutes to complete.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code PolicyEngine US GitHub repository
PolicyEngine US is a Python-based microsimulation model of the US tax and benefit system. It models federal individual income taxes (including credits), major benefit programs, and state income taxes (currently in six states). The PolicyEngine US package can be used as a Python package, via the PolicyEngine API, or via the policyengine.org web app.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Project Snapshot: Benefits Launch
Benefits Data Trust (BDT) is a nonprofit that connects people to public benefits through a streamlined, phone-based application system called Benefits Launch, which reduces redundant questions and speeds up the process for multiple programs. BDT's approach, supported by a custom-built rules engine, has facilitated over 800,000 benefit enrollments, helping secure over $9 billion for eligible households across seven states.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Project Snapshot: Policy Rules Database
The Policy Rules Database (PRD), developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the National Center for Children in Poverty, consolidates complex rules for major U.S. federal and state benefit programs and tax policies into a standardized, easy-to-use format. This database allows researchers to model public assistance impacts, simulate policy changes, and analyze benefits cliffs across various household scenarios using common rules and language across different programming platforms.