The goal of the brief is to encourage policy makers and employers to consider benefits cliffs as they look to create mandatory wage increases, with a look at a legislative action in NYC.
Describes the Principles of a Human-Centered Safety Net: Many Welcoming Doors, Easy to Understand, Clients Can Make Informed Decisions, Responsive to Changing Needs, Simple Actions
The Hawai‘i Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with the Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) and the Children’s Healthy Living Center of Excellence (CHL Center) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is building foundational capacity to share and analyze administrative data across the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). This groundwork will enable Hawai‘i to increase access to nutrition support programs, in alignment with Hawai‘i’s ‘Ohana Nui framework, which aims to dismantle intergenerational poverty.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
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.
Through its work with USDS, California identified key strategies and quick implementation steps to automate federal unwinding waivers that would net the largest impact for Medi-Cal redeterminations.
California Health and Human Services Agency (Cal HHS)
This case study highlights a collaborative effort to enhance Nevada’s unemployment insurance (UI) program by simplifying claimant-facing communications and improving user experiences through behavioral science and human-centered design.
National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA)
Code for America's GetCTC portal simplifies access to the Child Tax Credit for low-income families by providing a mobile-friendly, bilingual platform for streamlined tax filing.
The Policy Rules Database (PRD), developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the National Center for Children in Poverty, consolidates complex rules for major U.S. federal and state benefit programs and tax policies into a standardized, easy-to-use format. This database allows researchers to model public assistance impacts, simulate policy changes, and analyze benefits cliffs across various household scenarios using common rules and language across different programming platforms.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the federal government authorized a new emergency program, Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), to replace school meals with money for groceries while schools are closed. Code for America describes its efforts to launch an accessible, online P-EBT application under an accelerated timeline due to to immense demand caused by the pandemic.
This playbook is designed to help government and other key sectors use data sharing to illuminate who is not accessing benefits, connect under-enrolled populations to vital assistance, and make the benefits system more efficient for agencies and participants alike.
This case study examines how Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services uses data practices to advance racial equity in child welfare through identity-informed data collection and anonymous decision-making.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
