This report describes how the government can use widespread social media feedback and begin to build long-term measures to center people’s experience as an important component of policy design
The US Digital response partnered with dozens of states, counties, and cities to support them in using and tracking CARES Act grants. This article presents six lessons learned from their work to help governments better assist residents, particularly small businesses and low-income communities.
This report reviews the features of intergovernmental software cooperatives, examines several different examples, looks at different categories of cooperatives and their governance structures, and inventories known cooperatives both within and outside of the United States.
This bill provides support for the establishment of digital services in state, county, local, and tribal governments. Specifically, the bill directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to establish (1) a Digital Service Grant Program to provide grants to such governments to establish or support a digital service team, and (2) a Digital Service Planning Grant Program to provide grants to create a plan to establish a digital service team. The GSA must (1) report periodically to Congress and make publicly available on its website information regarding the grants, and (2) issue guidance to streamline the procurement of federal services and technology by states, local governments, and Indian tribes.
Innovators inside and outside of government are working to improve access to the social safety net using data, technology, and design. This report highlights innovations carried out by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Data and Technology grantees from 2018 to 2021, including extraordinary efforts to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Those grantees are: Benefits Data Trust, Code for America, Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, U.S. Digital Response, and the Digital Innovation and Governance Initiative at New America. In 2020, these projects secured more than $200 million in benefits for close to 100,000 people across at least 36 states, and helped millions more through policy change, training, and guidance.
Reddit's unemployment forums have become vital support networks during the pandemic, offering advice, emotional support, and a sense of community to those navigating job loss and financial hardship.
The vast fraud committed through the use of stolen and synthetic identities in UI programs has spotlighted the need for updated identity fraud detection mechanisms. As states are implementing new technologies and systems, they need to consider the ways in which they are impacting racial inequities in UI benefits.
This Urban Institute article argues that poverty is driven by structural barriers rather than individual choices and advocates for safety net programs that address systemic inequities.
Human-centered design is a problem-solving method that puts people at the center of the problem and aims to design solutions that address the needs of the people. Embracing such design methods in government is imperative to finding solutions that work for the people.
The US General Services Administration announces that it is seeking a limited number of state and local government partners to take advantage of login.gov to administer their federally funded programs.
This article describes the General Services Administration’s efforts to get a limited number of state and local governments to try login.gov with their federally funded programs.
This article explores ongoing efforts to modernize state unemployment insurance (UI) systems, addressing long-standing inefficiencies and challenges exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
