Happy New Year from Amanda Renteria
Save the Date: Summit 2023
Summit 2023 will be in Washington, DC on May 16-17 — we hope to see you there! Last year, we were thrilled to see dozens of our funders and supporters. We look forward to welcoming you again this year with opportunities to connect and learn more about our work and the civic tech ecosystem at large.For information on sponsorship opportunities, please email Geneva at gmorley@codeforamerica.org.
Learnings from 2023
- How product managers guide projects from start to finish - every product decision has the potential to either help or harm clients. We share how product managers serve as translators between disciplines and ensure everyone is collaborating effectively.
- Research is a practice in relationship building - there must be trust to get the kind of data that drives meaningful change, which is why we start by creating a safe space for research participants and developing relationships with communities and government.
- Digital services should be easy for people to use. That takes hard work - Lou Moore, our Chief Technology Officer, published an opinion piece in Governing.com, where he shares how human-centered design and technology are how government services can be delivered in an accessible and efficient way.
In Case You Missed It
- The five basics of texting for a human-centered safety net - our Texting Playbook helps government better reach clients through digital communication, which in turn helps more clients access public benefits like food assistance and medical care.
- Our top tips for creating integrated public benefits systems - our report on our work in Minnesota shows the power of innovation in government to build a better experience for the people who rely on it—and highlights the strides that can be made when capacity for that innovation is built within government itself.
- Expanding GetCTC to include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) - one in five eligible households aren’t getting the EITC they’ve earned. This year, we took a big step toward closing the EITC participation gap and simplifying the tax filing process by adding functionality to GetCTC, our free simplified tax filing tool.
- The IRS sends letters to over 9 million who could miss out on valuable 2021 tax credits - in order to reach more non-filers, we successfully advocated for the IRS to send outreach letters to people who had not filed a 2021 tax return and were eligible for tax credits.
- America’s broken criminal legal system contributes to wealth inequality - a new study by the Center for American Progress highlights how our criminal legal system strips wealth from families and widens the racial wealth gap. Automatic record clearance helps to address these issues by allowing those impacted by the justice system to access life-enhancing opportunities like stable housing, jobs, education, and more.