Web Application for Screening Beneficiaries of Government Programs

ECONorthwest has developed web applications for citizens to identify the public benefits they may qualify for.

The Challenge

For decades, low-income people have had to navigate overwhelming and fragmented service delivery systems to meet the needs of their families.

The Results

To address this problem, ECONorthwest has collaborated with public and nonprofit agencies to fundamentally change how governments deliver information to their citizens. Today, people in need of critical services can anonymously answer simple questions about their family size, income, and housing situation. A web-based benefits prescreener then evaluates whether they are likely to qualify for assistance from up to 30 programs, including: food, health, cash, housing, energy, senior assistance, and tax credits. The site tells visitors which services they appear to be eligible for and directs them to the closest agency that provides each service. The site is available in multiple languages.

Our benefits prescreeners employ a flexible design that easily accommodates the addition of new questions, new programs, and other languages. Questions are generated one screen at a time, based on answers to previous questions. This allows each user to be asked the minimum number of questions appropriate to their situation, while ensuring that all necessary questions are asked and answered.

Our first benefits prescreener was Oregon Helps. The flexible design of that site has allowed us to rapidly and economically develop several similar sites. Arizona Self Help, New Jersey Helps, and Los Angeles County Helps are currently in use and others are under development. Each prescreener incorporates local programs, rules, and contact information.

Awards

Our first benefits prescreener, Oregon Helps, which has won important national and international awards.

• The Stockholm Challenge is a unique awards program for pioneering IT projects worldwide. It is a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences in a democratic and open way, and a way to showcase best practices within the field of IT. Oregon Helps won the Stockholm Challenge award in the category of e-government in 2004.
• Harvard University's Innovations in American Government Awards Program recognizes efforts that provide concrete evidence that government can work to improve the quality of life for citizens and that it deserves greater public trust. Harvard selected Oregon Helps as a semifinalist in 2006—one of 50 such government programs recognized. Other semifinalists included programs developed by NASA, the U.S. Army, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
• Through its Achievement Awards, the National Association of Counties (NACo) selects county programs that represent innovative and creative solutions to the problems that local governments face. NACo recognized Oregon Helps with its annual Achievement Award in 2004.
• The Government Technology Leadership Award (known as the Gracie Award, after Admiral Gracie Hopper) is sponsored by Government Executive Magazine and the Federal Office of Technology. It recognizes projects making exceptional contributions to public service and e-government and was awarded to Oregon Helps in 2003.

Interested in learning more about how ECONorthwest can help you with your next project? Our toolbox is full and our staff enjoy meeting new challenges.