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article investigates the widespread failures of state unemployment websites during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting outdated technology, accessibility issues, and the human impact of these systemic breakdowns.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 report from the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program outlines efforts to use identity verification to reduce improper payments in government programs, while mitigating bias and disparate impacts.
The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP)
This guide explores intersectionality and why it is essential for advancing equity. It explores strategies for planning and conducting research with an intersectional lens, describes quantitative measures and methods to examine differences across groups of people with intersecting identities, and provides key considerations for using qualitative data to better understand intersectionality.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
This resource outlines strategies for cross-enrollment outreach, which can break down silos between programs and reach applicants who may be eligible for under-enrolled benefits programs.
This document, submitted in response to Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities, summarizes key aspects of DOL’s principles and approach to advancing equity. One of the five areas outlined includes administering and improving the federal-state Unemployment Insurance systems.
This brief shares findings from a November 2021 survey of state SNAP agencies about their use of the SNAP ARPA funds in fiscal year 2021, and their initial planned activities for fiscal year 2022 and 2023.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
In this panel conversation, presenters at the Better Identity Coalition’s 2022 policy forum “Identity, Authentication, and the Road Ahead” discuss the challenges of identity verification and access in pandemic unemployment benefits.
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.
The COVID Response Project was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to document the real-time impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on state human services agencies and capture state perspectives on lessons learned to guide future federal policymaking and state implementation. The project was completed by the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Regional Operations. Insights from the report reflect information obtained through APHSA’s on-going support of state human services agencies’ COVID-19 response efforts as well as a series of in-depth interviews with executive leadership of the 14 state health and human services agencies in ACF’s Region 1 (New England) and Region 4 (Southeast) areas.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
This study evaluates the use of RPA technology by three states to automate SNAP administration, focusing on repetitive tasks previously performed manually.
