Today, families in need of child care assistance, health coverage and food assistance often have to apply to three different agencies, providing pretty much the same information and documents to each of them. All the while, different eligibility workers handle this information to determine the family’s eligibility separately for each program. Placing such redundant and unnecessary paperwork burdens on families and workers is neither an efficient or effective use of limited public resources, A new initiative that I blogged about last fall aims to change that: the Ford Foundation’s “Work Support Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families.”

This week, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and South Carolina received the good news, that they were chosen to receive $250,000 planning grants. Notably, states applying for grants had to secure the approval of their Governors and the participation of key agency heads, generally a mix of those overseeing Medicaid, children’s health insurance, food stamps, and child care subsidies.

During the first year, the nine states will assess their current operations and develop plans for testing new ways of doing business. States that demonstrate they can execute those plans will compete for three-year implementation grants of up to $500,000 per year. The Urban Institute will evaluate the initiative and provide project direction in partnership with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), which is leading technical assistance to the states.

In conjunction with the grant announcement, our friends at CBPP released a very extensive report that addresses the issues and opportunities of this ambitious initiative: Improving the Delivery of Key Work Supports: Policy & Practice Opportunities at A Critical Moment. The report looks at the key areas of policy, procedure, and data utilization, illustrating why coordination among programs is critical and how to overcome its inherent challenges. Moving from theory to practice, it provides a catalogue of specific options states can pursue and reviews some best practice. Happy reading to all you policy and process wonks!

We look forward to following the progress of this project and sharing lessons learned.