This report explores the Maine Department of Labor’s (MDOL) remarkable response to this layoff through collaboration with the Peer Workforce Navigator project—a coalition of community-based organizations in partnership with the MDOL—which made a huge difference in the lives of these laid off workers. The report also examines aspects of the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) system that might be improved to account for similar situations in the future.
The Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit is a toolkit created by City of Philadelphia engagement practitioners and community members to help improve equitable collaboration with the community the City serves.
City of Philadelphia Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service
Blog post authored by U.S. Digital Response discussing best practices for creating inclusive, accessible, and affirming government services for LGBTQ+ populations gleaned from their recent work in the City of Boston.
Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) modernized their service delivery by reducing their real estate footprint, designing trauma-informed and user-friendly spaces, and expanding an embedded worker program to improve accessibility and client experience. Through their "Service First" strategy, OKDHS aims to create more equitable and compassionate interactions, reaching vulnerable populations while addressing high occupancy costs.
This kit contains a collection of styles, components, and building blocks to quickly create action-forward emails for Unemployment Insurance programs within the U.S.
The Better Government Lab at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University has developed a new scale for measuring the experience of burden when accessing public benefits. They offer both a three-item scale and a single-item scale, which can be utilized for any public benefit program. The shorter scales provide a less burdensome way to measure by requiring less information from users.
In the Fall of 2022, the USDOL Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) consulted with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) to provide hands-on support with IT modernization and customer experience strategy. Primary discussions focused on making informed product, service, and business decisions based on qualitative and quantitative data— how might IDES leverage existing data streams to identify the most pressing technology issues in their unemployment insurance system, and how might IDES act upon this information in a timely and impactful manner?
In 2022, Nava formed its first-ever PAC as part of their initiative to help Montana’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program design a new recertification portal. Leveraging what Nava learned from this experience, this toolkit outlines the necessary steps to form a PAC, including planning a structure for the council, recruiting participants, and other logistics.
