Jessica Cole, Interim CEO, nonprofit U.S. Digital Response (USDR) and Jessie Posilkin, Economic Stability Program Lead, USDR USDR Team: Alyssa Levitz, Robin Carnahan, Sam Zeitlin, Caroline Jordan, Michael Stanford Focus: Support governments and organizations in extraordinary times Innovation: Created a no-code solution to help people understand their unemployment benefits year end process “When you’re focused on the needs of users, you’re building trust with the claimants.” – Jessie Posilkin
In most states, there’s nothing modern about administering unemployment insurance. The pandemic proved that painful truth. In Pennsylvania, uncertainty around whether residents needed to refile their claim at the end of their benefit year added to the chaos. Those receiving standard unemployment needed to renew their benefits after a year. But residents receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance didn’t. The difference in these “benefit year end” processes caused increased confusion and stress for many claimants. Within a week, the USDR team created a no-code, interactive tool that guides individuals. The team also simplified the language and content to help people understand which type of benefits they receive and whether the benefit year end was applicable to them. So how’d the team do it? Lessons From State & Local Innovators on the Ground
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