Nava PBC developed a prototype API and digital screener in Montana to streamline eligibility and enhance program access, illustrating how API standards could improve interoperability and modernize WIC systems nationwide.
The Digital Service Network (DSN) spoke with staff from ODX — Megan Evans Seeds, chief digital officer, and Lisa Yang, digital accessibility coordinator — to discuss their efforts to help center digital accessibility across Hennepin County government.
A panel of experts discuss the application of civil rights protections to emerging AI technologies, highlighting potential harms, the need for inclusive teams, and the importance of avoiding technology-centric solutions to social problems.
The team introduced an AI assistant for benefits navigators to streamline the process and improve outcomes by quickly assessing client eligibility for benefits programs.
This session from FormFest 2024 focused on how governments are scaling their SNAP benefits programs, with Maryland’s improved integrated benefits application and the Office of Evaluation Sciences’ changes to questions on the SNAP application.
MITRE’s Joe Ditre and Frank Ruscil demoed the code for the Comprehensive Careers and Supports for Households (C-CASH) at Rules as Code Demo Day. The MITRE team expanded the accessibility of the Policy Rules Database and the Cost-of-Living Database (the prior demo) by creating a web service API and a front-end Window’s application called C-CASH Analytic Tool (CAT). CAT provides a more scalable, flexible, and portable functionality which allows end-users to generate various households to run eligibility scenarios across different U.S. counties and states. They are currently working to create a national data hub and analytics tool, starting with utilizing U.S. Census data and populating the data warehouse by pushing large amounts of data through the PRD.
In this piece, the Digital Benefits Network shares several sources—from journalistic pieces, to reports and academic articles—we’ve found useful and interesting in our reading on automation and artificial intelligence.
Clearing applicant backlogs is an important solution to the UI crisis. State governments and federal agencies could facilitate access to public benefits by collaborating to develop interoperable technology platforms that use open source software and modular design. Panelists discuss opportunities to prevent future UI crises by reimagining how governments deliver benefits to their citizens.
