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.
Alluma is a nonprofit that provides digital solutions to simplify eligibility screening and enrollment for social benefit programs, supporting cross-benefit access in 45 counties and two states. Their One-x-Connection product suite streamlines Medicaid and SNAP applications using a business rules engine, with a focus on human-centered design and anonymous, simplified eligibility checks, having helped screen over 10 million individuals and submitted over 67 million applications.
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.
This guide outlines how states can use TANF funds to provide direct cash assistance to families, particularly through flexible mechanisms like nonrecurrent short-term benefits (NRSTs).
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Pilot Initiative is a component of the TANF Data Innovation project. The 30-month pilot offered technical assistance and training to support cross-disciplinary teams of staff at eight state and county TANF programs in the routine use of TANF and other administrative data to inform policy and practice.
This report examines the extent to which proposed options included in the Student Food Security Act, Let Students Eat proposal, and the EATS Act impact specific demographics of students, either by increasing access or by streamlining the process for qualifying students to demonstrate eligibility.
This Urban Institute report highlights how immigrant and mixed-status families continued to avoid safety net programs in 2023 due to lingering fears around the public charge rule.
Through its work with USDS, California identified key strategies and quick implementation steps to automate federal unwinding waivers that would net the largest impact for Medi-Cal redeterminations.
California Health and Human Services Agency (Cal HHS)
Governor Kathy Hochul announced a new client feedback initiative in partnership with Code for America to improve New York's WIC program by implementing live online chat to gather input from participants, streamline enrollment, and increase access to healthy food for eligible families.
The Digital Benefit Network's Digital Identity Community of Practice held a session to hear considerations from civil rights technologists and human-centered design practitioners on ways to ensure program security while simultaneously promoting equity, enabling accessibility, and minimizing bias.
This report catalogs the policy choices, demonstration projects, and waivers each state uses to administer SNAP, highlighting how states adapt federal rules to local needs.
