Organization: Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 6: Policy Rules Database | Seth Hartig
At Rules as Code Demo Day Seth Hartig from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) and Bank Street College demoed the Policy Rules Database (PRD), a collaborative effort between the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the NCCP. The primary purpose of the PRD is to simplify the interpretation of all programs by creating a common structure and a common terminology. The repository allows for research on public assistance programs and tax policies, and helps users model benefits cliffs on career pathways. The PRD is supported by a technical manual with pseudocode that helps guide integration and usage in other platforms.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Potential and Progress for Benefits Eligibility: A Recap of Rules as Code Demo Day
Building on our February 2022 report Benefit Eligibility Rules as Code: Reducing the Gap Between Policy and Service Delivery for the Safety Net, the Beeck Center’s Digital Benefits Network (DBN) recently held a convening to share progress and potential in digitizing benefits eligibility and to begin addressing how a national approach could be started. At Rules as Code Demo Day, on June 28th, 2022, there were eight demonstrations of projects and code followed by a collaborative problem-solving session on how to continue advancing rules as code for the U.S. social safety net.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 4: Benefits Data Trust Benefits Launch | Daniel Singer & Preston Cabe
We continued Rules as Code Demo Day with Daniel Singer and Preston Cabe from Benefits Data Trust. Benefits Data Trust provides benefit outreach and application assistance services in seven states. Using Benefits Launch, their in-house interview and rules engine, they support two hundred contact center employees as they screen and apply thousands of clients each year. They also offer a self-service screener, Benefits Launch Express. Additionally, they offer an eligibility API to integrate with other services.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Rules as Code Demo Day | Demo 3: Mes Aides | Thomas Guillet
The first half of Rules as Code Demo Day was wrapped up with Thomas Guillet who has contributed to Open Fisca France and beta.gouv. He demoed the code for Mes Aides—or My Benefits—which is France’s social benefit simulator that leverages open source rule models for over 600 benefits while keeping the displayed complexity to its minimum.
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Communications Text to Connect: Data Collection Considerations for Using Text Message Outreach to Reduce SNAP Churn
This guide is the fifth part of a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide is intended to help data engineers and analysts build the data pipeline and manage, analyze, and synthesize data needed for a text messaging program.
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Human-Centered Design Incremental Steps to Integrated Benefits
By taking on one or more steps to integrate benefits incrementally, on a small, more localized scale, benefits administrators can make progress towards improving resident and staff experiences. This guide outlines ideas for launching an integrated benefits application in stages, and strategies to pilot new tools.
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Human-Centered Design Starting Small with Human-Centered Redesign: Approachable Ideas for State and Local Public Benefits Agencies to Improve Applications, Renewals, and Correspondence
This guide highlights approachable ideas for state and local public benefits agencies to improve applications, renewals, and correspondence. As outlined in this resource, even small improvements can be transformative for residents and caseworkers alike.
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Tools to Manage and Share Content
The right tech frameworks can help organize and distribute accessible benefits information, both within your organization and beyond. This primer introduces two foundational software types that can support organizations that are committed to accessible benefits information: content management systems (CMS) and application program interfaces (APIs). It also provides examples of how one local government leveraged these tools to improve services and workstreams.
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Cross Training Government Staff and Community Assisters on Multiple Benefits
While some approaches to benefits integration use technology to improve processes and user experience, other approaches rely less on technology or datasets and more on improving frontline staff’s knowledge and capacity. The examples in this guide describe how peer-to-peer training and updated interview scripts can help connect residents to the benefits they are eligible for.
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Communications Making Integrated Benefits Easy to Access Online and on Mobile Phones
This resource describes how different agencies have updated their systems to increase online and mobile access to benefits information and applications, including using text messages to share benefits information with residents. These approaches enable residents to more effectively access benefits information, and can meet resident needs across a range of accessibility requirements.
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Communications Text to Connect: Evaluation of your Text Messaging Program to Reduce SNAP Churn
This guide is the second in a series designed to help SNAP administrators implement a text messaging program to reduce SNAP churn. This guide focuses on designing an evaluation plan to assess the impact of a text messaging program.
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Procurement Building Modular, Reusable, and Flexible Components, Tools, and Formats
This resource contains specific examples that highlight the advantages of designing reusable code components, software tools, or design formats. This guide also illustrates the possibilities for connecting new components to existing system infrastructure.