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.
In response to COVID-19, the Workers Lab and Steady developed the "Income Passport" to streamline gig workers' unemployment benefit applications by pulling income data directly from gig platforms and financial accounts. This tool reduced manual verification time, helped prevent fraud, and improved workers' access to full benefits, with successful tests in Alabama and Louisiana demonstrating significant time savings and improved service delivery.
In our research announcement on theories of change (ToC) for digital government, the Digital Service Network shared our belief that all Digital Service (DS) teams should work to develop a ToC.
The Digital Service Network (DSN) spoke with Daniel Soto, principal management analyst at the City of Santa Ana, to learn more about how digital service innovation can occur in government organizations without formally codified or centralized digital service teams.
The Digital Service Network (DSN) spoke with Boston’s new Chief People Officer, Alex Lawrence, to understand how the City is transforming its approach to people management.
This Urban Institute report examines how public investments in children's health, education, and welfare yield significant short- and long-term benefits for both individuals and society.
This Urban Institute report highlights how immigrant and mixed-status families continued to avoid safety net programs in 2023 due to lingering fears around the public charge rule.
This report calculates the cumulative impact of major benefit programs on two types of families and how their benefits change as they move into the labor market and climb the ladder of upward mobility.
The Policy2Code Prototyping Challenge explored utilizing generative AI technology to translate U.S. government policies for public benefits into plain language and code, culminating in a Demo Day where twelve teams showcased their projects for feedback and evaluation.
This workshop guide offers teams an opportunity to jointly work toward understanding core problems impacting digital delivery in their organization. The guide is structured in two parts: (1) a Miro template and (2) a Facilitation Guide.
Legislative Theatre brings residents, policymakers and activists together into creative, constructive dialogue, to co-create more equitable and effective policies and laws.
