This report explores Michigan’s implementation of the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program. Drawing on interviews from individuals within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and input from SNAP participants via surveys distributed using the Fresh EBT app, this report provides insights into the strategies that enabled Michigan to roll out an entirely new program quickly and effectively.
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.
This guide outlines the types of projects, partnerships, and people that civic technologists encounter, as well as the methods they can use to make lasting change.
The pandemic has shown how difficult it can be for the US to succeed with major technology projects. Various leading design thinkers discuss strategies for building more efficient and effective government technology.
It is necessary give the public servants who manage safety-net systems the technology tools and incentives to track critical outcomes and meet people where they are.
This article describes the necessary factors for a public interest technology project to succeed, including leadership support, organizational and team support, proper scoping, time and resources, and a sustainability plan.
Building modular, open-source, human-centered software is necessary to create equitable government services fit for the digital age. Nava emphasizes addressing large scale digital service challenges by building and releasing small, modular software components that are loosely-coupled by well-defined APIs. This enables agencies to quickly and conistently deliver services that help people immediately, whilst also building a flexible foundation for long-term technical evolution.
Code for America discusses the importance of a people-centered, digital-first safety net. Tools of technology, policy, and good implementation can advance a bold vision that will allow the nation to push through the end of the COVID-19 crisis.
The TechFAR Handbook highlights the flexibilities in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that can help agencies implement “plays” from the Digital Services Playbook, with a particular focus on how to use contractors to support an iterative, customer-driven software development process.
A playbook by AdHoc for agencies ready to replace enterprise software patterns with proven techniques from the world of commercial software. These plays can better equip teams with the practices that create resilient, flexible, and customer-friendly digital services.
This issue brief explores how states can leverage existing policy to better support self-employed workers. The Simplified Self-Employment Deduction option available to state SNAP programs is a key example of one such supportive policy. This brief discusses the advantages of this policy option, and highlights the experiences of officials in Alabama, Maryland, Nebraska, and South Carolina, in addition to offering a roadmap for other states.
