Resource Format: Report
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Measuring psychological burdens in access to U.S. social programs
This report contributes to the quantitative measurement of psychological burdens by examining a case study of a single social program: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by considering new quantitative measures of the psychological burdens faced by SNAP applicants.
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Improving Access to Public Benefits and Customer Experience: Key Actions and Best Practices
Comprehensive and sustained improvement in benefits access and customer experience requires changes across policy, operations, technology, staffing, procurement, and more. This guide offers a collection of actions and best practices for states to apply.
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Better Identity at Five Years: An Updated Policy Blueprint and Report Card
In 2018 the Better Identity Coalition released a Policy Blueprint outlining five key initiatives that to solve the majority of America’s challenges in the digital identity space. This report from 2024 grades progress on each of the original Blueprint’s five key initiatives – as well as the 19 items that were contained in the “action plan” to support those initiatives.
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New Mexico’s Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Support Impact Report
The New Mexico Human Services Department and Department of Health, as part of the Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports program, leveraged data sharing to align SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, and WIC.
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Rules as code: Seven levels of digitisation
This report, written for practitioners, classifies “digital transformation” of legal rules into a hierarchy of levels to help establish common terms.
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Automated Decision-Making Systems and Discrimination
This guidebook offers an introduction to the risks of discrimination when using automated decision-making systems. This report also includes helpful definitions related to automation.
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A Safety Net with 100 Percent Participation: How Much Would Benefits Increase and Poverty Decline?
This analysis explores the potential reduction in poverty rates across all U.S. states if every eligible individual received full benefits from seven key safety net programs, highlighting significant decreases in overall and child poverty.
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Government By Algorithm: Artificial Intelligence In Federal Administrative Agencies
Little is known about how agencies are currently using AI systems, and little attention has been devoted to how agencies acquire such tools or oversee their use.
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Digital Authentication and Identity Proofing in Unemployment Insurance (UI) Applications
On May 19, 2023, the Digital Benefits Network published a new, open dataset documenting authentication and identity proofing requirements across online SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid, child care (CCAP)applications, and unemployment insurance applications. This page includes data and observations about authentication and identity proofing steps specifically for online unemployment insurance applications.
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Encouraging Uptake of Benefits with Psychological Ownership Messaging
A brief report on our quantitative research about messages that increase people's take-up of government benefits by making them feel like those benefits belong to them.
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SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020
SNAP Waivers and Adaptations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020 is a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy (IHSP) based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). This research seeks to understand perspectives from state SNAP administrators on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from waivers and flexibilities used to preserve equitable access to SNAP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on state agency survey responses, this report summarizes key findings from the first calendar year of pandemic response and provides policy considerations for the future of SNAP. This research was supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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Using Human-Centered Design to Integrate Benefit Applications
This guide illustrates how agencies can use human-centered-design practices to revise and integrate benefits applications.