NSF Award
2228726
Nearly 20% of children under age five in the US live in poverty. To support these children, the US government funds multiple social safety-net programs to provide nutrition, healthcare, early childhood education, and additional income for families. Research on many of these programs demonstrates long-term academic, health, and economic benefits to participating children. However, these programs, which are administered at the state and local levels, are divided among multiple agencies, resulting in separate, and typically cumbersome, application processes. Information on programs and eligibility is neither centrally located nor easily findable, and application portals are often clumsy, confusing, duplicative, and outdated. This can hinder participation in beneficial programs. This project targets efforts to simplify and streamline the application process for families so that children in poverty receive the benefits of the health and education programs for which they are eligible.<br/><br/>This project is planning a centralized application portal for low-income New Orleans families with children, so they can apply for multiple programs that provide services. The project is developing plans to improve and streamline the benefits application process and ultimately to increase enrollment rates in participating programs among eligible families. the project will develop a user-friendly online portal that shows people which benefits they might be eligible for and enables the simultaneous submission of applications and supporting documentation to multiple programs in one application package. The project is working in collaboration with local partners. The portal will be evaluated experimentally to examine the effects on outcomes of interest and understand the causal mechanisms that produce effects.<br/><br/>This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program—Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs—and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
