County workers typically spend most of their time trying to get income information right during eligibility interviews. This article provides several recommendations for asking about income, accounting for cognitive biases, under-reporting, and complexities in reporting income.
Code for America’s simplified tax filing tool that allows users to claim their Child Tax Credit and any missing amount of their third stimulus payment.
Minnesota is a good example of an organization that started small in its drive to integrate benefits programs. For instance, its recent statewide rollout of its online integrated benefit application website, MNbenefits.mn.gov, started as a pilot in 2020 with Code for America. The pilot encompassed two counties including Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is located. The pilot later expanded to four counties, then 16 and a tribal nation. The final roll out, which took 12 months to implement, included the state’s 87 counties and three tribal nations.
This session from FormFest 2024 featured the work in Austin, Texas on criminal justice forms, and the South Bend, Indiana Animal Resource Center’s efforts to redevelop their animal adoption forms.
This 8.5x11 service blueprint visually maps how Medicaid work requirements will function once implemented in 2027, detailing each policy step, system interaction, and client experience to help states identify administrative challenges and opportunities for human-centered redesign.
Applying UX research methods, the City of San Jose worked to improve how low-income and non-English speaking residents engaged with My San Jose, a website and mobile app for residents to report neighborhood issues to cities. They used a Spanish and Vietnamese translator to conduct interviews with target users, then detailed major findings and corresponding recommendations in this report.
California’s SNAP program faced record application volume due to the COVID-19 crisis, and other states must anticipate similar demand. This post summarizes key takeaways from GetCalFresh’s real-time data and client communications, and offers recommendations for how other states can implement effective responses.
This session from FormFest 2024 features the South Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council’s work developing a single portal to integrate applications for publicly funded programs and services, and the office of Federal Student Aid’s work on the FAFSA form.
Code for America CEO introduces the Safety Net Innovation Lab in a TED Talk, their initiative to work with state governments to reimagine and rebuild delivery of accessible and equitable benefits. This article also includes the video of Renteria’s talk and a transcript.
This blog post outlines how address validation tools can improve delivery of critical benefits by ensuring mailing addresses are accurate and up-to-date.
