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Policy 2021 Poverty Projections: Assessing Four American Rescue Plan Policies
This report describes key elements of the American Rescue Plan Act and how it would reduce the projected poverty rate for 2021. Various projections regarding the effects of the policy are described in this report.
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Procurement Sharing Government Software: How Agencies are Cooperatively Building Mission-Critical Software
This report reviews the features of intergovernmental software cooperatives, examines several different examples, looks at different categories of cooperatives and their governance structures, and inventories known cooperatives both within and outside of the United States. Agencies rethinking how they obtain technical functionality, budget officials looking to control costs and outcomes, or private funders that want to improve public services may find this report particularly useful.
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Procurement Software Update Required: COVID-19 Exposes Need for Federal Investments in Technology (Virtual Hearing)
House Committee on the Budget virtual hearing regarding the importance of federal investments in technology and software updates during COVID-19.
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Human-Centered Design SNAP Eligibility Calculator
Unofficial calculator allowing users to find out whether they are eligible for food stamps and estimates the amount of benefits they can receive.
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ACCESS NYC Patterns
ACCESS NYC aims to increase the accessibility and convenience of discovering and enrolling in government benefits. These patterns support this work by defining the UI and behavior that New Yorkers experience as they use the site.
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CARES Act Stimulus Payments Have Reached 160 Million Households — But Could Reach Millions More
Though the CARES Act provided much-needed relief to millions of Americans, around 5-10 million of the most vulnerable American households have not yet received their full payment. This report lays out a set of technical fixes regarding the delivery of the first stimulus payments, a set of fixes to address other critical tax credits, and several medium-term reforms to increase earned income tax credit (EITC) access for low-income families.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Rapid Implementation of Policy as Code
Policy changes are often dynamic and occur quickly, but they can only create impact once implemented. The Eligibility APIs Initiative at 18F shares an example from their work that shows the potential for rapid, accurate policy implementation as code.
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Communications Promoting Public Benefits Access Through Web-Based Tools and Outreach: A National Scan of Efforts. Volume I: Background, Efforts in Brief, and Related Initiatives
Demand for public benefits is rising in response to continued economic pressure on vulnerable people, in addition to changes in eligibility rules for some safety net programs. This report summarizes existing benefits access efforts, studies the successes and challenges of benefits expansion efforts through a subset of in-depth case studies, and analyzes the potential for sustaining, expanding, and replicating successful efforts.
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States Are Using Much-Needed Temporary Flexibility in SNAP to Respond to COVID-19 Challenges
Since March 2020, states have been using temporary SNAP (food stamps) flexibility to provide emergency benefit supplements, and ease program administration during the pandemic. These options have allowed states to deliver more food assistance to struggling families, help manage intense administrative demands, and ensure that participants maintain much-needed benefits.
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Data Eligible Low-Income Children Missing Out on Crucial WIC Benefits During Pandemic
The share of WIC-eligible families participating in the program has declined, though the number of individuals eligible for WIC has likely grown substantially. By working together, state WIC, Medicaid, and SNAP leaders can use data to assess the extent to which WIC is reaching eligible families and enroll more of them.
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Human-Centered Design Cell Phones as a Safety Net Lifeline
Eligible people struggle to maintain their case status for critical safety net services, often due to administrative hurdles and poor communication. Code for America piloted text message reminders to support Louisianans, which helped clients avoid costly churn. Text messages are an underrated, efficient solution for human service agencies to meet client expectations and improve case outcomes.
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Human-Centered Design 18F Methods: Journey Mapping
18F describes journey mapping: a visualization of the major interactions shaping a user’s experience of a product or service. This allows design teams to view a service through the perspective of the user and incorporate their learnings throughout the development process.