Social Safety Net

Building a future-ready benefits system for food assistance, health care, and other public benefits
Let’s work together to strengthen and future-proof social safety net programs across the country.
Partner with us →
Illustration of an adult and children sitting around a computer

The Challenge

Paperwork and outdated systems make it hard for people to get benefits. We’re here to help.

 

The majority of Americans have turned to at least one public benefit program at some point in their life for health care, food assistance, or economic support in times of need. Meanwhile, delivery systems have lagged behind due to legacy technology systems, outdated processes, and a lack of investment in digital infrastructure.

The social safety net is a network of largely disconnected supports that aims to promote the health and well-being of children, adults, and seniors—and to help them live with agency and dignity. But for too many people, the process of applying for and maintaining safety net benefits requires navigating old systems with numerous barriers that make it harder to get basic needs like food and health care. 

At the same time, frontline workers are working with systems built for a different era, spending hours on manual data entry and duplicative paperwork instead of helping people. This takes time away from what matters most: connecting people to the services that can change their lives.

An illustration of a couple with groceries

42 million
Americans receive food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

But too many face administrative barriers while seeking or retaining benefits.


83 million
Americans—one in five people—have access to health care via Medicaid, the largest health insurer in the country

Complicated application and renewal processes make it difficult for people to get and keep coverage.

The Opportunity

Code for America is creating a more effective, more resilient human-centered safety net.

Since its inception, Code for America has helped government agencies make services work for all people through the mindful use of technology. For us, that’s meant:

  • Streamlining the benefits enrollment process for people and caseworkers by creating a single easy-to-use, all-in-one application instead of completing multiple forms
  • Implementing automatic Medicaid renewals that reduced caseworker processing time by more than 80%
  • Deploying proactive communication tools to more effectively guide people when they need help and for caseworkers to get more accurate and timely information
  • Cleaning up duplicate records that wrongly deny benefits to families and burden agency staff
  • Utilizing AI tools responsibility to help government agencies address capacity constraints and compliance

 

What is the Safety Net Innovation Lab? Through our Safety Net Innovation Lab, Code for America is modernizing government to be more resilient and future-ready, so that it truly serves everyone.

Our Impact

Making it easier for governments to deliver benefits and simpler for people to apply.

Code for America works to develop strong partnerships, build digital tools and services, and share best practices across the ecosystem. Our impact is evident throughout the country:

 
A map of the United States highlight the current and former states where Code for America has had safety net partnerships and/or Summer EBT Partnerships. Current & former social safety net partners: AZ, CA, CO, CT, IL, LA, MD, MN, NM, NY, TX, and Washington, D.C. Summer EBT Partners:
A legend for a map depicting current and former Code for America social safety net state partners and Summer EBT partners.
  • We’ve shared our expertise in human-centered design to improve the process of applying for benefits in states across the country. For example, listening to clients and stakeholders and incorporating their feedback was an essential element of our work in Minnesota, where we worked to improve the state’s automatic renewal process for Medicaid.
  • We’ve harnessed technology to help governments communicate policy changes while helping eligible families retain benefits. For example, through effective text message reminders in Connecticut, Louisiana, Colorado, and California, we’ve helped reduce the number of people losing access to food assistance and health care while minimizing costs. 
  • We’ve worked to improve systems for caseworkers within state agencies, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of backend processes. By streamlining Medicaid renewals and automating repetitive tasks to process SNAP applications more quickly, our efforts have helped states run programs more smoothly so that more people can stay connected to benefits. 
 
In California, we helped more than
6.2 million
households collectively get more than $12.8 billion in food benefits by creating a more accessible digital enrollment experience
We helped Connecticut deliver
4.8 million
in SNAP benefits by texting clients with timely, actionable information about their benefits
We reduced caseworker processing time in Minnesota by
80%
through automated (ex parte) renewals, cutting a 70-minute task down to just 11 minutes per case

AI-powered case processing in DC
Code for America has partnered with the District of Columbia to facilitate the timely and accurate delivery of critical benefits, including SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF. 
Through the use of AI-powered entity resolution, we’re working toward faster case processing and estimate that the use of this technology ultimately could save caseworkers more than 600 hours per month.

Helping states navigate H.R. 1
Our team developed a Work Requirements Implementation Toolkit to help states comply with Medicaid and SNAP work requirements imposed by H.R. 1.
This suite of resources is part of our larger effort to provide strategic support to states as they work to meet various H.R. 1 demands, like increasing SNAP payment accuracy and improving the efficiency of Medicaid redeterminations.

Streamlining the Medicaid renewal process in Minnesota
Working shoulder to shoulder with the state of Minnesota, we helped create a new system for automated (ex parte) Medicaid renewals, which reduced staff’s renewal processing time by 80% and translated to more than $4 million in annual savings for the state. Our team started small and iterated, ultimately expanding the automated renewal process to all 87 counties in the state.

A playbook for providing summer nutrition
Our Summer EBT playbook is a turnkey resource designed to help states implement Summer EBT, a new federal program giving children access to food during the summer. Additionally, Code for America has provided hands-on technical assistance across data management, application design, and client outreach to 11 states and jurisdictions, including Arizona, D.C., New York, Wisconsin, and the Cherokee Nation.

Improving access to food benefits in California
For more than a decade, Code for America worked with the California Department of Social Services tostreamline the application and enrollment process for food benefits. Through GetCalFresh, the team connected more than 6 million people to nearly $13 billion in food benefits.
Many of the principles that guided GetCalFresh—plain language, mobile-first design, streamlined document uploads—are now embedded in BenefitsCal, the state’s new online benefits management portal.

Text message reminders in Louisiana
Code for America worked with state agencies in Louisiana to develop a text messaging service that broadcasts reminders and guidance to clients throughout the benefits enrollment and renewal process. In less than a year, the program delivered big results among participants, including an 80% increase in kept WIC appointments and a 67% increase in annual Medicaid renewals.

Resources

Stories

Loading
Two people building a structure with blob shapes

Let’s work together to strengthen and future-proof your social safety net programs.

Partner with usarrow_forward