Mass. Appeal - Get the food stamp benefits you were wrongly denied

[alanjosephwilliams]

BLUF: New software and fraud-targeting data-mining practices are wreaking havoc on food stamp enrollees in Massachusetts. 73,000 people (or ~8.5% of the entire user base, vs 1.2% drop nationally) have been churned off since October. This is a huge blow to the stability of devastatingly large number of families.

Meanwhile, "the appeals process is not nearly so high-tech. Some residents have struggled to reinstate themselves: for example, it took one resident a month, including two visits to Boston City Hall and multiple faxes."

SO: Let's make it easier to appeal these discharges, which are so often erroneous.

This seems like a candidate for a generalized pattern we keep encountering: the need to fill out a web form, write that data to PDF, then fax it to the appropriate place ( + give recipient confirmation, power to follow up).

The problem may not be so easy. But! There is a organized advocacy community regarding this topic, led by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Poverty Law Advocates. I've spoken to the Food Stamps Outreach Team in Massachusetts, and would be willing to continue to help bring the right people together. These advocates could help validate user needs, defuse legal barriers, and provide distribution and marketing to the population in need.

This seems like an ideal project for Code for Boston if they have bandwidth and interest. Any thoughts @daguar @lippytak @WheresHJ @jennymt @RebeccaCoelius @cbracy @prestonrhea

References: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/ppdated_snap_system_results_in.html https://www.equalfuture.us/2015/04/01/massachusetts-food-stamps-software/

[daguar]

Love it — feels a bit like Clean meets Expunge.io.

[daguar]

(Also #gosox.)

[alanjosephwilliams]

plus @ondrae

[WheresHJ]

Looping in CfB leadership team @beechnut @mjrouser @isaacchansky @ebagslolz @captaincalliope @margrink @kris10klm04

[ondrae]

That sucks. It feels like passionate advocates fighting the Borg with fax machines, all over a plate of vegetables.

Great project and good that you found a local partner. The parenthetical steps (+ give recipient confirmation, power to follow up) seem the hardest?

Any chance the appeal process is common across states?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9lNbNGbo24

[ondrae]

Should that generalized pattern of form to pdf to fax be its own project? Call it gov1.5

• A form builder to help you replicate the PDF
• The fields you choose for the PDF show up on a simple web form.
• You choose a fax number.
• User puts in a way to get confirmation.
• Set it up as a standalone service that can be included in other processes.

[daguar]

@ondrae Totally. In fact it's such a good idea that we started talking about that possibility (with more cursing) a bit back: https://github.com/codeforamerica/project-ideas/issues/12

Combining the DC District Housing project with this and others makes me feel like there's definitely an emerging pattern.