2023 Impact Report
Table of contents
Message from our CEO
2023 was a formative year in Code for America’s journey.
We renewed our purpose and resolve as new challenges pushed us to think differently and understand our important role as a trusted nonprofit in an increasingly volatile economic and political environment.
As we look back on 2023, three significant changes shaped our work:
We thought about the elements of effective implementation more seriously than ever as we embarked on a new chapter of post-pandemic services. As states grappled with communicating federal policy changes and designing new systems, we leveraged our tech capabilities to help eligible families apply for or keep critical benefits—deepening our relationships and impact with government along the way.
Government reached a huge milestone, decades in the making, with a national pilot allowing people to file their taxes directly with the IRS. Our foundational work on the Advance Child Tax Credit proved government’s tech capability to improve services for filers with low income and provided valuable lessons for the design and distribution of this new system.
A renewed energy and interest in AI revealed the promises and pitfalls of this technology in government. We conducted experiments to better understand AI’s opportunities and risks, laying a critical pathway to test and share our learnings with government and technology partners alike. It will be imperative that governments take a thoughtful approach to AI’s usage and regulation, and our close, trusted partnerships give us a platform to help them navigate these emerging technologies.
Our work over the last year prepared us for the challenges ahead—building a resilient government that strengthens with change, thoughtfully embraces innovation, and serves everyone with dignity and respect. While this may feel like a daunting task, we know it will make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. As a nonpartisan nonprofit, we are more prepared than ever to show what’s possible in creating a government that can truly work for everyone.
I’m excited to share highlights of our 2023 impact, to reflect on where we’ve been and imagine the ways we can push for government transformation in 2024 and beyond.
With a deep sense of gratitude for your support and partnership,
Amanda Renteria
Chief Executive Officer
By the numbers
Code for America is transforming the way people interact with government by changing the systems that underpin it.
1 million people
through our programs
We help people access benefits like food assistance, flexible cash, automatic record clearance, and healthcare coverage.
$3 billion
in benefits
Our programs connect people to benefits that help alleviate poverty and advance equity.
24 states
and at the federal level
We deliver digital services and enable government to sustain change.
over 60%
BIPOC and/or women/nonbinary media spokespeople
We’re reshaping representation in civic tech, making sure our media spokespeople identify as BIPOC and/or women/nonbinary.
3,500
policymakers and practitioners
Our events like Summit and FormFest bring the civic tech community together and include over 200 hours of watch time on event videos shared on YouTube.
Impact by program
We believe effective and thoughtful human-centered technology can change government systems to interrupt the cycle of poverty and deliver equitable outcomes to people.
Direct service
We catalyze change with digital products and services that deliver outsized outcomes.
Shape the agenda
We create the conditions for change by framing the problem and solution, fostering partnerships, and building momentum for collective change.
Enable government
We sustain change by enabling government capability to deploy human-centered technologies to improve government services.
In 2023, Code for America worked in partnership with government agencies in 24 states and Washington, D.C., and provided digital services to residents across 29 states and Washington, D.C.
The map on the screen highlights 25 US states and territories we partnered with in 2023 (Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington, D.C.) and 27 states where we provided software services for residents (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconisn, and Wyoming).
1 Social Safety Net
Our Social Safety Net team works with states and the federal government to transform how government delivers public benefits that help people meet basic needs in the digital age.
The map on the screen highlights 10 US states we partnered with in 2023: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Minnesota.
The map on the screen highlights the state of California.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Connecticut.
The image on the screen shows the cover of the Benefits Enrollment Field Guide.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Louisiana.
2 Tax Benefits
Our Tax Benefits team works to simplify the tax filing process and help people achieve the financial stability they deserve.
The map on the screen highlights two states we partnered with on tax benefits in 2023, Arizona and New York, and 27 states where we provided tax benefits software-based services: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconisn, and Wyoming.
The map on the screen highlights the 27 states where we provided software services for residents: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconisn, and Wyoming.
We shaped the national conversation about simplifying tax filing, publishing hundreds of pages of research and recommendations based on our experience running GetCTC, the only simplified filing tool for the entire federal government from 2020–2022 when simplified filing was allowed for the Child Tax Credit and other tax benefits.
These included our marquee publication outlining what an IRS direct filing tool could look like; our detailed data on the importance of waiving income reporting requirements for low-income households; thorough analysis of outreach avenues for tax benefits.
The image on the screen shows an illustration of a group of people working and have discussion while looking at notes on a white board together.
The image on the screen shows an illustration of hands with paper work and a laptop computer.
The map on the screen highlights the states of Arizona and New York.
3 Criminal Justice
Our Criminal Justice team works with government, communities, and the national Clean Slate Initiative to fundamentally transform the process of clearing records to eliminate barriers for people trying to move forward with their lives.
The map on the screen highlights the states we partnered with on criminal justice in 2023: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Utah.
The map on the screen highlights all 50 US states.
The map on the screen highlights the states of Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, and Nevada.
The map on the screen highlights the states of California, Connecticut, and Michigan.
4 Local Initiatives
Our Local Initiatives team partners with local governments and allied organizations to achieve better outcomes for residents and improve local capability to use equitable digital services.
The map on the screen highlights the states where we had local initiatives partnerships in 2023: California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Tennessee.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Tennessee.
The map on the screen highlights the state of Texas.
The map on the screen highlights the state of New Mexico.
Impact on the civic tech landscape
Beyond the direct impact of our programs, in 2023 Code for America continued to play a critical role in shaping the ever-evolving ecosystem of civic technology.
Jumping into new opportunities
In order to fulfill our mission it’s important that we stay on the leading edge of all trends in both government and technology, and experiment with new ways of working to maximize our impact.
AI experimentation
As emerging technologies continued to rapidly reshape our world, we launched a series of AI experiments aimed at exploring how artificial intelligence can help people access government services. Through this work we are testing and developing novel solutions to some of government’s most pressing challenges—and ensuring those solutions can be implemented in ethical, equitable, and scalable ways.
Enabling government to meet new challenges
In 2023 government faced difficult capacity challenges and constraints. The federal government launched the first new permanent social safety net program in nearly 50 years: Summer EBT, a monthly grocery benefit provided to families during the summer months when children are not receiving meals at school. This program has the ability to help almost 30 million children, but comes with immense implementation challenges for states. That’s why along with No Kid Hungry, a campaign of Share Our Strength, we created the Summer EBT Playbook: a comprehensive, free resource designed to help state agencies plan for and implement a human-centered Summer EBT program.
Additionally, public sector workforce shortages continued to negatively impact state operations. Inadequate staffing levels mean that public servants are dealing with unmanageable caseloads and fewer clients are actually making it through the government systems that provide them with critical benefits. We have always taken a human-centered approach to serving not just our clients but the dedicated government workers who operate within these systems. We are making deep considerations into how our solutions can not only improve the client experience, but increase efficiency and decrease caseworker workloads to bolster state operations.
FormFest 2023
In collaboration with the Beeck Center for Social Impact at Georgetown University, we hosted the first-ever international gathering focused on how better form design can make public services more accessible, efficient, and equitable. Over 2,000 registrants representing 26 countries joined our virtual event to collaborate and learn from one another about web accessibility standards, the challenges of getting clean data, and the responsibility to consider diversity, equity, and inclusion while building for a broad audience. It was an energizing event where we collectively imagined a future where better form design could dramatically improve the experience of interacting with and build more trust in government.
Code for America Summit 2023: Showing what’s possible in a changing world
In May, we convened the civic tech community for our annual knowledge-sharing and networking event, once again as an in-person conference in Washington, D.C.
attendees
first-time attendees
government attendees
Notable speakers included:
- Clare Martorana, Federal Chief Information Officer
- Dr. Fallon Wilson, VP of Tech Policy at Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council
- Alejandro Roark, Chief of Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at the FCC
- Jay Jordan, CEO, Alliance for Safety and Justice
- Dominique Duval-Diop, U.S. Chief Data Scientist
Stepping up as thought leaders
Thank you to our supporters
We could not do this work without the support of our generous funders and supporters, who are committed to making government work in the new digital age.
Funders like Google.org, whose support has helped us sharpen our nationwide perspective on the potential impact of automatic record clearance, and have the information, knowledge, and tools necessary to support the continued expansion of automatic record clearance nationally.
In 2023, we partnered with Google.org Fellows to craft an approach to access data in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. in order to develop a replicable tool to analyze state criminal justice data efficiently and effectively. Through our six-month fellowship, we imported over 138 million records across four states, and anticipate adding 4 additional states with more than 50 million records in 2024.
Thank you!
Leadership and board
In 2023, we welcomed three additions to our executive team.
Tracey Patterson
Chief Program Officer
As of February 2023, Tracey Patterson has been leading our program teams in the Social Safety Net, Tax Benefits, Criminal Justice, and Local Initiatives. She played a pivotal role in developing the $100 million, multi-year social impact plan for the Safety Net Innovation Lab in 2021. Prior to Code for America, Tracey spent over 20 years working to advance meaningful change by building relationships between communities, policymakers, coalitions, direct service organizations, researchers, and activists.
Scott Johnston
Chief Product Officer
In November, Scott Johnston became Code for America’s first-ever Chief Product Officer. Scott has spent more than 16 years at Google, where he created and scaled products and teams for Google Workspace, including Google Drive, Meet, Chat, and Voice. Prior to Google, Scott was the Vice President of Products for JotSpot when it was acquired by Google in 2006 and Director of Engineering for Kintana, a start-up in the IT process automation space.
Dave Schlendorf
Chief Financial Officer
Dave transitioned from Senior Advisor to Chief Financial Officer in 2023. Dave has built out Code for America’s financial and operations team to support our growth and impact. Prior to Code for America, Dave spent over 18 years at the FBI where he was a key leader in FBI’s post-9/11 transformation and held several roles including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human Resource Officer, and Chief of Strategy. During his time at the FBI Dave focused on trying to make the bureau a more efficient, data-driven, diverse, and inclusive organization. Before his time in government, Dave worked in the finance industry. He has degrees from Duke University and Harvard Business School.
We also welcomed two new board members.
Angela Blanton
Chief Financial Officer, Carnegie Mellon University
Angela provides strategic leadership for Carnegie Mellon University’s business and finance functions, as well as for the management of its financial and capital resources. Angela has bolstered the university’s financial performance while actively managing a $1.5 billion annual budget. A connector at heart, she has a passion for bringing people together to execute on strategic vision, manage change, and drive data-informed decisions to ensure long term financial prosperity. In addition to Code for America, she is chair of the Board of Trustees at Pittsburgh Public Theater and serves on other non-profit boards including the Black Economic Advancement Mobility (BEAM) Collaborative and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
Suzan Kereere
President of Global Markets, PayPal
Suzan leads PayPal's local businesses, client relationships, and growth strategies in markets around the world. With experience at Fortune 100 companies across global business lines and regional high- growth divisions, including Fiserv, Visa, and American Express, Suzan is well-recognized for her accomplishments in digital transformation, sales optimization, front-line customer engagement, and inclusive growth. Suzan is a longtime advocate for equity and inclusion in business and society. She serves on the board of directors for 3M and Code for America, and is a trustee on the board of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.
Board members
- Amanda Renteria, Chief Executive Officer
- John Lilly, Board Chair
- Shona Brown, Board Treasurer
- Katie Biber, Board Secretary
- Angela Blanton, Board Member
- Suzan Kereere, Board Member
- Tim O’Reilly, Board Member
- Wendy De La Rosa, Board Member
- Spencer Kympton, Board Observer
Executive team
- Amanda Renteria, Chief Executive Officer
- Arlene Corbin Lewis, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer
- David Schlendorf, Chief Financial Officer
- Scott Johnston, Chief Product Officer
- Tracey Patterson, Chief Program Officer
- Yasmin Fodil, Chief of Staff
Our team
Code for America is led by a woman of color and committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level of our organization.
All staff race and ethnicity
All staff gender
Leadership race and ethnicity
Leadership gender
What the future holds
The world around us is changing, and Code for America has a unique role to play as the new digital age takes shape. As we renewed our purpose and resolve to enact our mission, we had to make some important—and not always easy—transitions.
In light of our mission today, we reexamined the role of volunteerism at Code for America and made the difficult decision to sunset our volunteer Brigade program. As organizations explore a new way of working in an increasingly distributed and remote-first work environment, we were extremely proud to reach a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement that supports our employees, advances our mission, and sets a new standard for tech nonprofits. And looking to a more volatile future, we restructured our organization to maximize our impact—allowing us to jump into emerging opportunities and be ready to respond in moments of crisis.
As we look to the future, we see ourselves at an inflection point—a profound moment that will reshape what government services will look like.
We have an enormous opportunity to get it right. And it will take all of us, a collective of everyone who cares about the power and potential of government innovation, to shape this new digital age. What we do right now matters. And we are prepared to do it because of critical partners and supporters like you.
Thank you for being on this journey with us, and we look forward to sharing all that we can accomplish together in 2024.
- For donor inquiries: giving@codeforamerica.org
- For press inquiries: media@codeforamerica.org
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