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PUBLIC BENEFITS JUSTICE UPDATE
JULY 2024

Webinar: Amplifying Voices with Lived Experience for Meaningful Engagement and Change
The Community Partnership Group recently hosted a webinar exploring the crucial work of co-creating policies with individuals who have lived experience. Panelists Barbie Izquierdo, Tamika Moore, and Alice Aluoch shared their insights on policy formation, best practices, impact, and invaluable lessons learned. They also discussed the importance of funders investing in initiatives that prioritize the perspectives of those with lived experience. Join the CPG's mailing list:

Why We Should Rethink the SNAP Interview Requirement: A Former Caseworker’s Perspective
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"As a former social services caseworker turned SNAP policy expert, I’ve spent years navigating the intricacies of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) interview requirement," writes Senior Policy Analyst Parker Gilkesson Davis. This blog argues the benefits of rethinking the SNAP interview requirement, emphasizing its redundancy and low efficacy in preventing fraud. Davis proposes making the interview optional to better serve those in need and allow caseworkers to focus on providing essential support and resources to clients.

Rule Finalized to Provide Affordable Health Coverage for DACA Recipients and Immigrant Youth
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CLASP put out a statement applauding the Biden Administration’s final rule extending affordable health coverage to immigrant youth. This will remove barriers in the Affordable Care Act marketplace to affordable health coverage for thousands of DACA recipients and further clarify eligibility for certain other immigrants, including people granted Special Immigrant Juvenile status, children seeking asylum or other humanitarian relief, and applicants for adjustment to Lawful Permanent Resident status.

In the News
June 24, 2024 | Grist
The climate case for mock meats is clear. But who can afford them? [link removed]
Parker Gilkesson Davis was quoted in a Grist article discussing the affordability of mock meats and their impact on climate. The article explores the environmental benefits of plant-based meats but raises concerns about their accessibility to families with low incomes.

April 26, 2024 | The Progressive
Forced Treatment and Criminalization Won’t End Homelessness [link removed]
In Grant Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court held that people experiencing homelessness can be fined or arrested for sleeping outdoors. Additionally, several states and municipalities have expanded involuntary treatment at residential facilities. Although policymakers argue that involuntary treatment can help people experiencing homelessness, Policy Analyst Jesse Fairbanks argues in an op-ed for The Progressive that forced treatment and criminalization both seek to hide people experiencing homelessness from public view.

National, State, and Local Spotlight
Federal Government Plans to Provide Direct Rental Assistance through Housing Choice Vouchers
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that the agency will soon test whether distributing cash directly to tenants is more effective than using vouchers. The housing choice voucher program is the nation’s largest rental assistance program, serving over 2.2 million households. But voucher recipients often struggle to use their vouchers. One federal study estimates that about 40 percent of recipients can’t use their vouchers because of barriers outside of their control such as a landlord being unwilling to rent to somebody with a voucher. HUD hopes that substituting the voucher for direct cash assistance and reducing burdens related to inspections will increase landlord participation. [link removed]

State Spotlight
Oregon became the first new state to join the IRS Direct File program since the announcement of the program becoming permanent. The Direct File tool will be available to tax filers during tax filing season 2025. The pilot of the Direct File tool took place during the 2024 tax filing season and included twelve different states. More states should follow Oregon’s lead and provide the Direct File option to make filing taxes more accessible, free, and easy for tax payers in their state. [link removed]

Local Spotlight
Bread for the City is hosting a film series this summer about economic security at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. You can view the dates and times of the movie screenings here: [link removed].

Key Publications and Blogs
June 20, 2024 | Madison Trice and Clarence Okoh
To Tulsa & Beyond: Lessons of Afrofuturism in Policy Advocacy
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Afrofuturism offers vibrant and Black-constructed visions of the future that are often rooted in but not constrained by histories of racial injustice. Afrofuturists can help us imagine a world where Tulsa survivors are offered justice long denied by state actors; and these speculative, liberated futures can become the North Star guiding us toward justice and liberation.

May 24, 2024 | Parker Gilkesson Davis
Farm Bill Passed by House Agriculture Committee Would Cut Food Assistance by $30 Billion
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The Farm Bill recently passed by the House Agriculture Committee proposes to cut approximately $30 billion from SNAP over the next decade. This cut, resulting from the bill’s failure to maintain updates to the Thrifty Food Plan, could significantly reduce benefits for SNAP households, undermining progress made in recent years to ensure sufficient nutritional support for families with low incomes.

May 16, 2024 | India Heckstall
Brown’s Legacy: Race-Conscious, not Colorblind, Policies Can Fix Systemic Inequities
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In 1954, the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Unfortunately, affirmative action opponents have weaponized Brown to support their view that the Constitution will only allow race-neutral policies to undo past racial harm. Race-conscious policies and programs must be essential tools in our fight. To deliver on Brown’s moral vision, we must redouble our efforts to dismantle systemic barriers by acknowledging and honoring our racial differences, not pretending they don’t exist.

April 29, 2024 | Juliana Zhou and Cara Brumfield
High Quality Race & Ethnicity Data Are Essential for Achieving Health Equity
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Because the roots of structural racism in the United States run deep, efforts to address its insidious legacy in health care must be based on a complete understanding of the problem gleaned through data. A robust race and ethnicity data standard at the federal level should be universally adopted by state and local governments and health industry leaders to better understand and uproot systemic health inequities.

What We’re Reading
Alliance for Housing Justice | Building Our Future: Grassroots Reflections on Social Housing [link removed]

National Women’s Law Center | Why The 2025 Tax Fight Matters for Care Investments
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KFF | What are the Implications of the Dobbs Ruling for Racial Disparities?
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National Immigrant Law Center | New Policies Strengthen Language Access Protections in Health
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Washington Post | A tale of two states: Arizona and Florida diverge on expanding kids’ health insurance
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