State and local government teams are facing unprecedented pressure to make decisions, operate effectively, and plan for the future in the midst of continued uncertainty. That’s why U.S. Digital Response publishes Weekly Dispatch, an update on effective resources, a forecast on what’s next, and an overview of how USDR volunteers are working with governments.
Partner:
Recently completed projects that other state and local governments may benefit from by replicating or remixing.
On May 22, the State of California launched a Pandemic-EBT enrollment website, enabling families with children who qualify for free and reduced-price meals at school to sign up for grocery funds while schools are closed. Within one day, more than 430,000 student applications were submitted, and within a week, the site enrolled 1.3 million kids across the state. Code for America worked with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to develop this accessible, online P-EBT application in near record time.
U.S. Digital Response is partnering with Code for America to provide free technical assistance that enables other states to deliver P-EBT to their own residents. Together, we are offering generalized troubleshooting and consulting with states encountering technical barriers to the implementation of P-EBT. We can organize a small team to provide hands-on assistance solving technical challenges, such as data engineering support to improve the data matching and data sharing processes. We can also advise on messaging and notification strategies for outreach to free and reduced-price eligible student households if their phone numbers or email addresses are available. Agencies interested in getting free help in implementing P-EBT can contact Code for America senior program manager Eleanor Davis and USDR volunteer Sara Soka to begin figuring out the right solution for their state.
Last week we talked about the need for adequate access to COVID-19 testing in order to safely and responsibly reopen society. On Thursday, June 4, the City of Seattle announced a partnership with the University of Washington to launch two free citywide testing sites for residents in Seattle. The new sites are expected to increase capacity by more than 1,600 tests per day.
The citywide testing program was quickly developed in a matter of weeks once difficult to secure testing kits were available. Operations, from leasing to staffing, including added technology enabling the scaling to 1,600 patients per day, were made possible through a partnership with U.S. Digital Response and Solv Health. U.S. Digital Response surveyed tools and landed on Solv Health, a health appointment booking company, which dedicated engineering time to adapt their easy-to-use booking tool to meet the needs of the Seattle’s testing sites. The platform was created and ready to launch within two weeks.
Here are a few topics USDR teams are investigating in preparation for potential requests: