Get Involved
Get involved with our networks through by subscribing, joining a community of practice, participating in research, or attending events.
The Digital Benefits Network (DBN) and Digital Service Network (DSN) are inclusive, cross-cutting networks of practitioners to build and sustain the knowledge, skills, and abilities that enable human-centered digital transformation to improve access to government services.
There are several ways to engage with the networks:
All network activities adhere to our Beeck Center Network Community Norms & Code of Conduct.
Monthly Newsletters
Our monthly newsletters include:
Digital Benefits Digest
A monthly newsletter for practitioners working to strengthen public benefits —learn about opportunities to engage with DBN work, events, and research + stay updated on what’s new on the Hub! Visit the archive for past issues.
Digital Benefits in the News
A monthly newsletter sharing the latest stories across public benefits programs and digital service delivery. Visit the archive for past issues.
The Public Good
A monthly newsletter that highlights the people driving digital change. Also includes library updates and research from the DSN, and information about upcoming events and job openings.
Subscribe & Join
By subscribing to either (or both!) of the DBN and DSN, you’ll join our networks and get notified of new events, research, engagement opportunities, and will receive our monthly newsletters.
Communities of Practice
Communities of Practice (CoP) are groups of individuals who come together through shared goals or passions to improve practices and outcomes by interacting and supporting each other. These learning communities collaborate to address challenges in their field and problem solve by sharing best practices and cultivating new knowledge to improve practices and outcomes within their context. We believe that CoPs are powerful tools in driving digital transformation and improvement in government service delivery, as well as supporting the humans leading that change.
Digital Benefits Network: Digital Identity Community of Practice (DI CoP)
Convened by the DBN, the mission of this Community of Practice is to promote the delivery of public benefits to all eligible individuals, including vulnerable populations by informing how digital identity approaches should be used in public benefits delivery. We build towards our mission by bringing together stakeholders with varying levels of familiarity with digital identity from across state, local, tribal and territorial government; federal government; direct service providers; advocacy organizations; academia; and industry to foster shared learning, dialogue, and collaboration.
Digital Benefits Network: Rules as Code Community of Practice (RAC CoP)
The DBN’s Rules as Code Community of Practice (RaC CoP) creates a shared learning and exchange space for people working on public benefits eligibility and enrollment systems — and specifically people tackling the issue of how policy becomes software code. The RaC CoP brings together cross-sector experts who share approaches, examples, and challenges. Participants are from state, local, tribal, territorial, and federal government agencies, nonprofit organizations, academia, and private sector companies.
Digital Service Network: Chief Digital Service Officer Community of Practice (CDSO CoP)
The Chief Digital Service Officer Community of Practice (CDSO CoP) is a closed group designated for leaders of government digital service teams from across North America. This community is not open to people working for private companies or on government contracts.
Digital Service Network: User Experience Research Community of Practice (UX CoP)
The User Experience Research Community of Practice (UX CoP) is an open and safe space for learning and connecting with others in government for support, inspiration, and ideas for bringing and strengthening user research within government. This community is not open to people working for private companies or on government contracts.
State Chief Data Officer (CDO) Network
The DSN also manages the State Chief Data Officer (CDO) network. This is a closed group designated for the top appointed data official in U.S. states. This community is not open to people working for private companies or on government contracts.
Climate Action Community of Practice (CoP)
The Climate Action Community of Practice (CoP) is a new collaborative space for local government employees and climate practitioners to connect, identify common challenges, share solutions, and learn how to use existing technology and data to address climate-related problems. This community fosters peer learning, supports access to climate data and technical expertise, and helps local governments explore new opportunities to co-design equitable solutions, and adapt and scale impactful solutions locally and regionally. The CoP supports practical, implementable, and nonpartisan approaches to climate resilience.
Research & Storytelling
The DBN and DSN regularly publish original research and storytelling publications. Explore all of our publications.
Digital Benefit Network Publications
Ten Ways Customer Experience Can Improve Equitable Access and System Integrity for Unemployment Insurance
This publication shares ten ways states can improve start-to-finish customer experience for unemployment insurance claimants. These approaches can increase overall equitable access and system integrity for UI administration.
2024 Edition: Account Creation and Identity Proofing in Online Public Benefits Applications
In December 2024, the Digital Benefits Network published an updated open dataset documenting account creation and identity proofing requirements across online SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid, child care (CCAP) applications, and unemployment insurance applications, to help the broader ecosystem identify promising practices and areas for improvement in public benefits identity management.
AI-Powered Rules as Code: Experiments with Public Benefits Policy
This report documents four experiments exploring if AI can be used to expedite the translation of SNAP and Medicaid policies into software code for implementation in public benefits eligibility and enrollment systems under a Rules as Code approach.
Digital Service Network Publications
Government Digital Service Team Tracker
The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation’s Digital Service Network (DSN) maintains a Government Digital Service Team Tracker: a living database for those seeking to learn more about the locations, structures, mandates, and more of government digital service teams across the United States.
Grounded in Collaboration: Seattle’s Journey to Building a Human-Centered Honoraria Policy
DSN Spotlights are short-form project profiles that feature exciting work happening across our network of digital government practitioners. Spotlights celebrate our members’ stories, lift up actionable takeaways for other practitioners, and put the examples we host in the Digital Government Hub in context.
State-level Digital Transformation Policy Scan
Delve into the policies that shape government digital transformation across states and territories with our databases and visualization tools.
Events
The DSN and DBN regularly host events and promote events from across the ecosystem. Subscribe to get notified about upcoming events and explore past event recordings and recaps.
BenCon
The DBN hosts the annual Digital Benefits Conference — “BenCon” for short — the premier, invite-only event for government leaders, cross-sector practitioners, researchers, and students who are improving digital delivery of vital programs including SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, TANF, unemployment insurance, child care, basic income, and more. Core themes of the 2024 conference included improving digital service delivery, digital identity, automation and artificial intelligence, and timely topics in public benefits.
FormFest
The DSN hosts the annual “FormFest” virtual event — an international showcase of governments working to promote equity, leverage research to optimize, and make services accessible to everyone through forms.
Contact Us
We’re here to help! If you have questions, needs for support, or ideas, we’d love to connect with you! Email us at digitalgovhub@georgetown.edu to get connected.