Resource List

Over the past decade, there have been significant expansions in policies that support low-income working families, such as refundable tax credits, health insurance, child support enforcement, child care subsidies, and nutritional supports.  These programs help hard working families who struggle to meet basic needs due to low wages, irregular hours and lack of benefits. However, this safety net is incomplete.  CLASP advocates for improvements in individual programs and in the service delivery system to help ensure low-income families have the support they need to stay employed and provide for their families.  Below are some helpful resources.

The Patchwork Safety Net and Stitching Up the Holes: General | Health Programs | Nutrition Programs

The Patchwork Safety Net

• Bridging the Gaps - Center for Economic and Policy Research
• "Living on Nothing but Food Stamps" - Jason DeParle, The New York Times, (Jan. 2, 2010)
• "For Victims of Recession, Patchwork State Aid" - Jason DeParle, The New York Times, (May 9, 2009)
• The Closed Digital Door: State Public Benefits Agencies' Failure to Make Websites Accessible to People with Disabilities and Usable for Everyone  - Cary LaCheen and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, (June 22, 2010)
• Family Resource Simulator - National Center for Children in Poverty
• Making Work Supports Work: A Picture of Low-wage Workers in America Jessica Purmort, National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, (2010)
• The Safety Net's Response to the Recession - Center for Law and Social Policy testimony to the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, Committee on Ways and Means, (2009)
• Safety Net Effective at Fighting Poverty But Has Weakened for the Very Poorest - Arloc Sherman and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (2009)
• Retaining Benefits: An Important Aspect of Increasing Enrollment - Laura Summer and the National Council on Aging, National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment, (2009)
• Is there a System Supporting Low-Income Working Families? - Sheila Zedlewski, Gina Adams, Lisa Dubay, Genevieve Kenney and the Urban Institute, (2006)

Stitching Up the Holes

General

• Moving to 21st-Century Public Benefits: Emerging Options, Great Promise, and Key Challenges - Stan Dorn, Urban Institute and Elizabeth Lower-Basch, CLASP for the Coalition for Access and Opportunity, (May 2012)
• Toolkit: Moving to 21st-Century Public Benefits: A Menu of Options - Sarah Fass Hiatt for the Coalition for Access and Opportunity, (May 2012)
• Online Services for Key Low-Income Benefit Programs: What States Provide Online with Respect to SNAP, TANF, Child Care Assistance, Medicaid, and CHIP - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (updated May 2012)
• Promoting Public Benefits Access Through Web-Based Tools and Outreach: A National Scan of Efforts - Jacqueline Kauff, Emily Sama-Miller, and Elizabeth Makowsky, Mathematica Policy Research, (April 2011)
• Audio Conference: Braiding Funding Streams to Support Integrated Service Delivery - Center for Law and Social Policy, (March 31, 2011)
• CLASP Testimony to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources Hearing on Use of Data Matching to Improve Customer Service, Program Integrity, and Taxpayer Savings - Elizabeth Lower-Basch and the Center for Law and Social Policy, (March 2011)
• The Parnership Fund for Program Integrity - U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
• 'Work Supports Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families' Project, - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Urban Institute, (2011)

  • Assessing the Evidence about Work Support Benefits and Low-Income Families: Rationale for a Demonstration and Evaluation - Gregory Mills, Jessica Compton, and Olivia Golden, Urban Institute, (February 2011)

  • Improving the Delivery of Key Work Supports: Policy and Practice Opportunities at a Critical Moment - Dorothy Rosenbaum and Stacy Dean, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (February 2011)

  • Designing Subsidy Systems to Meet the Needs of Families - Gina Adams, Kathleen Snyder, Patti Banghart, Urban Institute, (January 2011)

• Simplifying Programs: Aligning Policies and Procedures in Benefit Programs - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• The Next Frontier in Public Benefits: Electronic Benefit Cards - Karen K. Harris, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, (January 2011)
• HHS/ IRS Memorandum of Understanding on Agency Collaboration to Support Low-Income Families - Remarks by David Hansell, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service, (January 2011)
• The Power of the President: Recommendations to Advance Progressive Change - Sarah R. Wartell and John Podesta, Center for American Progress (November 2010)
• Community Services Block Grant and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act State Approaches to Benefits Enrollment and Coordination Activities - National Association for State Community Services Programs, (November 2010)
• The Closed Digital Door: State Public Benefits Agencies' Failure to Make Websites Accessible to People with Disabiities and Usable for Everyone - Cary LaCheen, National Center for Law and Economic Justice, (June 2010)
• Helping Americans Help Themselves: Toward a National Single Stop Policy and More Efficient, More Effective Poverty Fightinh - Tom Freedman and Michael Weinstein and the Democratic Leadership Council, (2010)
• An Integrated Approach to Fostering Family Economic Success: How Three Model Sites are Implementing the Center for Working Families Approach Annie E. Casey Foundation, (2010)
• A New Era of Partnerships: Report of Recommendations to the President - President's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, March 2010.
• Improving Access to Public Benefits: Helping Families and Individuals Get the Income Supports They Need Shelley Waters-Boots, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, and Annie E. Casey Foundation, (2010)
• Audio Call: The Public Benefits Boost: New Strategies for Increasing Take-Up - Center for Law and Social Policy, (May 26, 2010)
• Applying Online: Using Technology to Enroll Low-wage Workers in Public Benefits - Liz Schott, Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy, Vol. 4 (Winter 2009)
• Helping Low-wage Workers Access Work Supports - Kay Sherwood, MDRC, (2009)
• Express Lane Eligibility: New Strategies for Increasing Enrollment - Laura Summer, National Council on Aging, National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment, (2009)
• Using Data-Driven Strategies to Enhance Benefits Outreach, Enrollment, and Retention Activities - Laura Summer, National Council on Aging, National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment, (2009)
• Big Ideas for Children: Out of the Desert: An Integrated Approach to Ending Child Poverty - Julie Kashen and Elisabeth Mason, First Focus, (2008)
• Big Ideas for Children: How Policymakers Can Use Automation to Help Families and Children - Stan Dorn, First Focus, (2008)
• Improving Work Supports: Closing the Financial Gap for Low-Wage Workers and their Families - Nancy K. Cauthen, Economic Policy Institute, Agenda for Shared Prosperity, (2007)

Health Programs

• Coordinating Human Services Programs with Health Reform Implementation: A Toolkit for State Agencies - January Angeles, Shelby Gonzales, and Alicia Kone, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (June 2012)
• Tri-Agency Letter on ACA Cost Allocation Flexibility - Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), (August 10, 2011)
• Express Lane Eligibility Toolkit - The Children's Partnership
• Maximizing Enrollment for Kids - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and National Academy for State Health Policy
• National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
• Benefit Access and Health Care Reform Resources - Center for Law and Social Policy

Nutrition Programs 

• Comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on SNAP Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions - Center for Law and Social Policy, (July 5, 2011)
• Food Stamps On-Line: A Review of State Government Food Stamp Websites - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (updated July 29, 2011)
• A Unique Opportunity to Improve School Meals Applications - Zoe Neuberger and Abby Lane, (April 2011)
• Study on the Impact of the Ohio Benefit Bank - Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks' (OASHF), (October 2010)  See also the press release and executive summary
• Doing What Works to End U.S. Hunger: Federal Food Programs Are Effective, but Can Work Even Better - Joel Berg, Center for American Progress, (March 2010)
• 'Enhanced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Certification: SNAP Modernization Efforts -- Interim Report,' - Food and Nutrition Service Office of Research and Analysis, United States Department of Agriculture, (April 2010)  [For summary, click here.  For Volume 1, click here.  For Volume 2, click here.]
• FRAC Webinars of Child Nutrition Reauthorization - Food Research and Action Center

Updated 06/07/2012.