The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its induced recession underscored the crucial importance of unemployment insurance (UI) to workers, and to the stability of the American economy. Temporary federal expansions of unemployment systems during the pandemic showed how they can quickly be scaled to increase benefit levels and to include categories of workers who were not previously eligible, such as the self-employed, caregivers, and low-wage workers. And, states showed that separate programs can be set up to provide similar benefits to workers who are explicitly excluded from unemployment insurance—in particular immigrants who do not have a documented immigration status.
The existing system for evaluating state safety net programs does not adequately capture the human experience of accessing services. This new National Safety Net Scorecard is a more meaningful set of metrics that can effectively asses the true state of the current program delivery landscape and measure progress over time, creating a more human-centered safety net.
This report explores strategies for developing a new generation of technologists dedicated to public interest work, emphasizing the need for a stronger talent pipeline to support government and nonprofit technology initiatives.
This brief provides research recommendations to improve programs serving LGBT youth, focusing on homelessness and sexual health education services funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Report by the Aspen Institute discussing Benefits21, a multi-stakeholder, multi-faceted initiative to integrate and modernize benefits systems. This paper provides an overview of Benefits21, along with a discussion of the shortcomings of current public and private benefit systems.
This report discusses the financial resilience strategies families used to manage gaps before benefits arrived, in addition to providing recommendations for how benefits can be better designed in the future to fit the financial lives of lower-income households.
This section of the Building Resilience plan outlines strategies to expand access to unemployment insurance (UI) for underserved populations and improve benefit adequacy through system reform, outreach, and data-driven equity efforts.
There is a key disconnect between policymakers’ intent and implementation of policies. A user-centric, iterative, and data-driven approach can result result in digital technology that provides much needed data and insights at a substantially lower cost.
This section of the Building Resilience plan outlines comprehensive strategies to help states prevent, detect, and recover unemployment insurance (UI) fraud while protecting legitimate claimants.
A practical, plain-language guide offering public-sector procurement and technology teams actionable tools and best practices for procuring AI responsibly and effectively.
