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.
This HuffPost article investigates the widespread failures of state unemployment websites during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting outdated technology, accessibility issues, and the human impact of these systemic breakdowns.
This MOA outlines Hawai'i's legal data sharing agreement between the Women, Infants and Children Services Branch of the Department of Health (DOH/WIC), and the Benefit, Employment and Support Services Division of the Department of Human Services (DHS/BESSD) to exchange SNAP and WIC data.
ACCESS NYC is an online public screening tool that residents can use to determine the City, State, and Federal health and human service benefit programs for which they are eligible.
The Community-Driven Policies and Practices project engaged people experiencing poverty in power-building sessions to develop advocacy plans for economic justice. This report offers recommendations for nonprofits to engage people with lived experience of poverty in advocacy.
The report examines how current remote identity proofing methods can create barriers to Medicaid enrollment and suggests improvements to ensure equitable access for all applicants.
When people hit the moment in the HealthCare.gov sign-up process where they need in-person help, they’re likely frustrated and at risk of abandoning the process altogether. To help, Ad Hoc designers on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Find Local Help team extensively researched user pain points and used human-centered design to create a tool that respects the stress users may experience and delivers the information they need as quickly and simply as possible.
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.
The team introduced "Policy Pulse," a tool to help policy analysts understand laws and regulations better by comparing current policies with their original goals to identify implementation issues.
The team introduced an AI assistant for benefits navigators to streamline the process and improve outcomes by quickly assessing client eligibility for benefits programs.
The team developed an AI-powered explanation feature that effectively translates complex, multi-program policy calculations into clear and accessible explanations, enabling users to explore "what-if" scenarios and understand key factors influencing benefit amounts and eligibility thresholds.
