Policy & Practice | Fall 2023

Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce. https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-FAQ ; Data protection: Federal agencies need to strengthen online identity verification processes. (2019, May 17). U.S. Government Accountability Office. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-288 9. Buolamwini, J., & Gebru, T. (2018). Gender shades: Intersectional

Gilman, M. (2022). Me, myself and my digital double: Extending Sara Greene’s stealing (identity) from the poor to the challenges of identity verification. 106 Minn. L. Rev. Headnotes 301. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4063962 10. NIST SP 800-63-4 (initial public draft) Digital identity guidelines. (2022, December 16). National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce. https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/63/4/ ipd#:~:text=The%20guidelines%20 present%20the%20process,of%20 digital%20identity%20solutions%20and

11. Quay-de la Vallee, H. (2022,

January 7). Combatting identify fraud in government benefits programs: Government agencies tackling identity fraud should look to cybersecurity methods, avoid AI-driven approaches that can penalize real applicants. Center for Democracy and Technology. https://cdt.org/insights/combatting identify-fraud-in-government-benefits programs-government-agencies tackling-identity-fraud-should-look-to cybersecurity-methods-avoid-ai-driven approaches-that-can-penalize-real applicant/

accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification. Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, (81) 1–15. http://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/ buolamwini18a/buolamwini18a.pdf ;

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Every step that states take to make benefits enrollment as frictionless as possible helps more eligible people enroll with improved ease and certainty—which has the added benefit of reducing the burden on caseworkers.

using machine-backed translation services that do not appear to be evaluated and corrected by a fluent speaker. Quality translations of other languages are still rare. Use Free Data Insight Tools to Drive Deeper Insights States can use the 2023 Field Guide to evaluate human-centered enrollment experiences across 11 human-centered best practices. But there are other free, easily accessible, online tools that can also help. The tools below empower govern ment staff to assess their enrollment websites’ accessibility, web perfor mance, reading level, and more. We used these, and similar tools, to do the initial assessments of each enrollment website that appears in the “State Profile” section of the Field Guide. 7 State agencies can use these findings to make improvements against these metrics, which ultimately makes their sites easier for clients to use. They can start with: n Mobile-Friendly Test 8 —A quick Google tool that provides a screen shot of how your webpage looks on a mobile device and includes a list of mobile usability problems. n Hemingway Editor 9 —A tool that gauges reading level in English and gives feedback that can help simplify language. n Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE) 10 —A tool that identifies web accessibility errors and assists

Reference Notes 1. https://www.codeforamerica.org/features/ safety-net-blueprint 2. https://codeforamerica.org/programs/ social-safety-net 3. https://codeforamerica.org/ 4. https://codeforamerica.org/features/ bringing-social-safety-net-benefits-online 5. https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/ removing-barriers-to-access-from-remote identity-proofing 6. https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/63345e3 3f3c909d27d0e558b/6387c66416651cb57f 509ce0_420SNfiY0aazRdyCrGPW6ewzxE HrN33d-WmdDBcYGIc.pdf 7. https://codeforamerica.org/programs/ social-safety-net/benefits-enrollment-field guide/#explore-states 8. https://search.google.com/test/ mobile-friendly programs/social-safety-net/ benefits-enrollment-field-guide 12. https://info.codeforamerica.org/newsletter 13. https://codeforamerica.org/programs/ social-safety-net/partner-with-us Sara Soka is a Senior Program Manager of Safety Net Best Practices at Code for America. She can be reached at ssoka@codeforamerica.org. 9. http://hemingwayapp.com 10. https://wave.webaim.org 11. https://pagespeed.web.dev

human evaluation to make web content more accessible to people living with disabilities. n PageSpeed Insights 11 —Reports on the desktop and mobile perfor mance of a webpage and provides suggestions on how loading speed, search engine optimization, and other characteristics of that webpage may be improved. These tools remind us that impactful changes can be small. Progress can be incremental and doesn’t always have to be a huge, flashy overhaul. Every step that states take to make benefits enrollment as frictionless as possible helps more eligible people enroll with improved ease and certainty—which has the added benefit of reducing the burden on caseworkers. Sign up for the Code for America Safety Net newsletter 12 to receive additional resources. If you’re inter ested in talking with Code for America about the ways we’ve partnered with state agencies to pilot and implement impactful changes, please reach out to the Safety Net Innovation Lab. 13

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