There are frameworks available that could inform the standardization of communicating rules as code for U.S. public benefits programs. The Airtable communicates the differences between the frameworks and tools. Each entry is tagged with different categories that identify the type of framework or tool it is.
In this report, the Digital Benefits Network shares learnings from the Rules as Code Community of Practice. Insights are grouped along core themes expressed by cross-sector practitioners, including complexity in policies, interest in sharing knowledge, tools, and code, the need for more training and technical assistance, and willingness to collaborate on an open standard for writing rules and developing a shared code library.
This issue brief illustrates the challenges that many older adults with low income face in gaining access to benefits online. It addresses digital literacy, access to broadband internet, and the increasing prevalence of connecting online to SNAP.
This brief highlights the complex journey that older adults experience when applying for and enrolling in SNAP, including the major barriers and solutions that improve access along the way.
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. We host recurring roundtable conversations and an email group for asynchronous updates, insights, and assistance.
This award documentation from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) explains how agencies in Ohio used automation to support administration of public benefits programs.
National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)
This paper examines changes in administrative burden in U.S. social safety net programs, or the negative encounters with the state that people experience when trying to access and use the benefits for which they are eligible. While overall burdens have declined in most targeted programs, there is evidence of increasing inequality regarding who faces these burdens.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
This resource contains principles and examples of high-impact improvements to consider making in different parts of the online application. CX principles for online applications describes broadly applicable best practices that when implemented across the various sections of an online application can increase claimant self-service and reduce the need for interventions from state agency staff. The employer and occupation sections highlight promising improvements within these sections to collect employment history, reason for filing for unemployment (separation information), and a claimant’s occupation. Gathering the information for these sections is particularly complex for claimants and state agencies alike.
This memo provides state agencies with guidance on allowable use of advanced automation technologies. FNS encourages and supports state agencies’ use of advanced automation technologies to enhance the administration of SNAP and foster public trust, both in SNAP and in the state agencies’ systems, within the framework of statutory and regulatory requirements.
This report examines how states strategically approached managing and administering the historic influx of COVID-19 relief funds for child care and early childhood systems, focusing on governance structures, funding management systems, and data systems
This article explores some of the challenges gig workers face in enrolling in SNAP, as well as present and future policy solutions to ease access to SNAP.
