The “Start Small” approach encourages agencies to begin with targeted, manageable improvements in their WIC application process before expanding changes more broadly, fostering easier implementation and measurable early successes.
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.
This document, submitted in response to Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities, summarizes key aspects of DOL’s principles and approach to advancing equity. One of the five areas outlined includes administering and improving the federal-state Unemployment Insurance 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.
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.
The team aimed to automate applying rules efficiently by creating computable policies, recognizing the need for AI tools to convert legacy policy content into automated business rules using Decision Model Notation (DMN) for effective processing and monitoring.
A case study on how North Carolina leveraged human-centered design, interagency collaboration, and data-sharing strategies to improve cross-enrollment in SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid, aiming to reduce administrative burden and better serve families.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
This resource examines how improvements in customer service experiences in public benefit programs like Medicaid, CHIP, and TANF can help better meet enrollees’ needs and build trust in government.
