Improving Access to Public Benefits: Helping Eligible Individuals and Families Get the Income Supports They Need

While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) significantly expanded public benefits programs such as food stamps, unemployment insurance, SCHIP, TANF and child care and housing subsidies, at least $65 billion in vital government services and support remain unclaimed. Among families with at least one full-time worker, less than 1 in 5 eligible families receives food stamps, fewer than 1 in 10 gets child care assistance and only half receive public health insurance through Medicaid or SCHIP.

According to the authors, vulnerable families underutilize public assistance programs because they are unaware of eligibility requirements and stymied by the complicated application policies. The report highlights the need to extend outreach efforts, raise awareness regarding screening, implement new technology-based tools and online application procedures and improve state policies to remove barriers to access of benefits. The authors suggests that funders, states, communities and the federal government work together to replicate and expand specific projects already in place to ensure that low-income families receive the benefits they critically need.

This report was prepared by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute and The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Read the report.