This toolkit offers strategies for advocates and state agencies to enhance the efficiency of eligibility verification processes for Medicaid and SNAP, aiming to reduce administrative burdens and improve access to benefits.
APHSA's President and CEO reflects on lessons and opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and constructs a national narrative around the moment.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
California’s SNAP program faced record application volume due to the COVID-19 crisis, and other states must anticipate similar demand. This post summarizes key takeaways from GetCalFresh’s real-time data and client communications, and offers recommendations for how other states can implement effective responses.
This report explores the financial challenges faced by U.S. workers, analyzing the roles of work arrangements and public and workplace benefits in achieving financial security, while highlighting the disparities in access and effectiveness for low- and moderate-income workers.
The GAO placed the UI system on its High Risk List in June 2022, leading the DOL to develop a transformation plan detailing activities and strategies for building a resilient UI system capable of responding effectively to future economic challenges.
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.
Through the ACCESS project, key collaborators have shared insights into current and future opportunities for alignment within their agencies, including potential enablers for and barriers to alignment activities.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
This report recommends updating the methodology used by the Census Bureau to calculate the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to reflect household basic needs and replace the current Official Poverty Measure as the primary statistical measure of poverty. The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the SPM and provides recommendations for updating its methodology and expanding its use in recognition of the needs of most American families such as medical care, childcare, and housing costs.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Though the rhetoric of “waste, fraud, and abuse” is ubiquitous when it comes to welfare programs, low-income households receive little relief from benefits programs. Most efforts to make public benefits systems more “efficient” actually just waste time and money in practice. They instead serve to stigmatize low-income families and chip away at the little assistance that remains available to them.
This resource highlights strategies for integrating benefits renewals and correspondence, potentially reducing administrative burdens for both clients and caseworkers.
Nava partnered with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) to rapidly develop two cloud-based digital services, enhancing unemployment benefit access during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initially created to inform federal staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this tip sheet highlights the importance of using equitable communication and includes tips, guiding questions, and additional resources.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
