Policy & Practice | Fall 2023

aphsa viewpoint

By Morgan McKinney and Jess Maneely

Data Sharing to Modernize Benefits Enrollment and Outreach: Insights from the CSNS Grant Program

I nnovative data sharing models are supporting state and local benefits access while paving the way for long term human services transformation. Projects funded under the Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports (CSNS) grant program deployed three distinct data sharing models to drive better customer service, simplify access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and connected benefits, and streamline program delivery workflows. These models were leveraged by CSNS teams to advance agency priorities ranging from customer-focused service delivery modernizations, to strengthened outcomes evaluation, to organizational culture enhancements. The imple mented models and lessons learned are detailed in the American Public Human Services Association’s (APHSA’s) new brief, Leveraging Cross-Program Data to Modernize Outreach and Enrollment in SNAP and Connected Benefits. 1 The issue brief presents user-friendly visual diagrams and narrative descrip tions of the three tested data sharing models and outlines considerations for agencies and partners embarking on data sharing initiatives. Here are top takeaways from this brief: Leveraging Data Sharing to Advance Priorities In their CSNS projects, human services agencies worked across systems and departments to analyze service gaps in the programs they

on the data fields collected by and exchanged between agencies, analyses can reveal trends related to participant characteristics and demographics such as age, race, location, languages spoken, and more. CSNS project teams in Michigan and Mecklenburg County, NC, demonstrated how these analyses can be deployed by agencies to develop and execute specific equity goals. For example, an analysis that reveals a wide participation gap among a population that primarily speaks a language other than English can be used to generate customer-focused improvements to program access for that specific population. Such was the case in Mecklenburg County where,

administer. CSNS sites then used those analyses to develop enrollment- and retention-focused interventions, like the Kansas team’s targeted client outreach to populations overrepre sented in enrollment gaps. Agencies also leveraged data sharing models to streamline referral and enrollment processes to eliminate steps customers need to take to apply for and receive needed services, exemplified by project teams in New Jersey and New Mexico deploying APIs, Decision Engines, and systems linkages to simplify WIC cer tification for families enrolled in SNAP and related programs. In administering the grant cohort, we at APHSA learned that depending

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Policy & Practice Fall 2023