Location: Illinois (IL)
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User Research 
Resident Engagement Resources from the Civic User Testing Group
Articles and resources from the Resident Engagement section of the City Tech's Civic User Testing group (CUTgroup) website. CUTgroup was a 1,600+ member civic engagement program that invited Chicago residents to contribute to emerging technology while providing public, private, and social sector partners with feedback to improve product design and deployment.
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Strategies for Improving Public Benefits Access and Retention
This report presents a menu of strategies that have the potential to increase access to individual public benefit programs or a package of benefits. It focuses on Illinois, but the strategies identified are relevant throughout the country.
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Human-Centered Design 
Struggles and solutions: Insights into the SNAP Application Process from Illinois Outreach Workers and Applicants
mRelief recently completed a research study to investigate whether there are specific parts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; also known as food stamps) benefits application process that make it difficult to complete. We conducted interviews with mRelief users and SNAP outreach workers (individuals whose job responsibilities include providing SNAP application assistance in person or over the phone) in Illinois. We also conducted group interviews with SNAP outreach workers to collaborate with them to uncover findings and develop recommendations.
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Human-Centered Design 
The CUTGroup Book: Civic User Testing Group as a New Model for UX Testing, Digital Skills Development, and Community Engagement in Civic Tech
The CUTGroup book explains how civic user testing (paying residents to test civic apps) can allow for more community engagement in civic tech. This book covers how to do UX testing, community engagement, and digital skills in one civic tech system.
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Lessons Churned: Measuring the Impact of Churn in Health and Human Services Programs on Participants and State and Local Agencies
Paper presenting preliminary lessons learned about SNAP churn derived from states participating in the Work Support Strategies project. It defines churn and outlines its consequences, explores approaches to measuring churns and looks at possible approaches to reduce churn.