Policy, Progress, and Family Economics in 2021

States Tackle Long-Term Care

In 2019, Washington State became the first in the U.S. to pass legislation enabling a public state-operated long-term care insurance program, the Washington Cares Fund. This year we joined partners to identify concrete ways for Washington State to implement the fund to be accessible to all and to support living-wage jobs for care workers. In our report on Washington Care, we look at how different profiles might access the Fund and provide recommendations for Washington and other states grappling with long-term services for residents.

Advocacy for Investing in Care, Data

As Congress continues to negotiate a budget reconciliation bill, the New Practice Lab joined more than 100 U.S. economists and scholars in an open letter in support of robust investment in long-term and home-based care to benefit seniors, people with disabilities, caregivers, and the American economy overall.

The Lab also partnered with colleagues in the Center on Education and Labor and early education programs to highlight proven practices in elevating care worker job quality. The report focuses both on improving jobs, valuing workers, and growing wages. “Taking care of children or elders or people with disabilities…[has been] historically undervalued...It just wasn’t even treated as real work, and in many cases it’s still not—largely because of who is doing this work.” (Terri Harkin, Healthcare Career Advancement Program).

We also published a brief highlighting the potential for the Build Back Better plan and act to support a comprehensive policy approach to investments in care. Improved policies related to care could create millions of jobs, produce billions of dollars in higher wages, and support household economic security while adding trillions to the U.S. GDP as more women, caregivers, and people of color are able to participate more fully in the paid workforce.

Also this fall, the Lab’s Tara Dawson McGuinness testified before the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress alongside sector colleagues Nick Hart, Ph.D. (President, Data Foundation) and Poppy MacDonald (President, USAFacts) on “Strengthening the Lawmaking Process: How Data Can Inform and Improve Policy.” The hearing tackled the urgency for improved data systems and for more rapid deployment and improved use of high-quality data.

Disability in the Time of COVID-19

In partnership with The American Association of People with Disabilities, we launched a research sprint in order to understand what the disabled community experiences at home, at work, and economically in the face COVID-19. The sprint examined barriers to care and provided recommendations that will inform advocacy efforts and policymaking. Interviewees reminded us that more COVID stories should be told from the perspective of people living with disabilities. We produced a series of stories from disabled people who spoke about the realities of living independently, thriving professionally, and navigating this crisis.

Power to the Public

New Practice Lab founder, Tara McGuinness, and New America Director of Strategy for Public Interest Technology, Hana Schank, published their book Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology. The book shares stories and tactics for effectively and justly using data, design, and technology to solve society’s most pressing and difficult problems -- practices that the Lab uses every day. It elevates the work of innovators and changemakers, including Civilla, Community Solutions, and Code for America. The book was described by President Obama as an illustration of “how nonprofits and governments can use technology to solve some of the most pressing issues of our time.”

IRS as a Benefits Administrator

As a result of the pandemic, the IRS became the single most critical benefits administrator in the nation for workers and families with the earned income tax credit (EITC), child tax credit (CTC), and three rounds of economic impact payments (EIPs). However, accessing IRS benefits remains too difficult for many low-income families leaving millions of eligible households without the timely assistance they urgently need.

In March we published a report that envisions a short- and long-term agenda of delivery and design fixes to ensure that low-income Americans get the full assistance they deserve and that all taxpayers, especially low-income families, have simple and transparent interactions with the agency. Throughout 2021 we prioritized helping government and community partners better understand how to reach “non-filers”, very low-income families who are not required to (and often don’t) file taxes. The EITC and CTC expansion promise to cut poverty dramatically but only if they understand the experiences of non-filers and share how data can inform outreach efforts.

Improved EITC Delivery for New Yorkers

The EITC reaches only 80 percent of eligible households nationwide. Lower-income, less-educated, Latinx, and non-English speaking households are more likely to be left out than other populations.

This year the Lab partnered with the New York Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF) to better understand the factors that present challenges to the administration of the state’s Earned Income Credit (EIC). We analyzed on-the-ground experiences by interviewing claimants as well as staff at Community Based Organizations (CBOs) that provide tax preparation services. Through this analysis the team uncovered themes and insights that can help improve both EITC and EIC benefit delivery across the country, and developed recommendations to help tax agencies more clearly communicate through letters, FAQs, and informational communications.

Paid Family and Medical Leave Implementation

Passing a major new social program like paid family and medical leave (PFML) is only the first step in creating change. To achieve true impact, PFML programs must be well implemented — and as more and more states pass PFML programs, the urgency for better implementation has never been higher.

NPL partnered with the New Jersey Department of Labor (NJDOL) to conduct a four-week sprint exploring New Jersey’s pioneering PFML program through beneficiary interviews, data analysis, and business processing mapping. Our subsequent report outlines key implementation lessons for administrators focused on communicating about PFML, outreach strategies, applications and processing, and IT infrastructure.

COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach to Immigrants and Non-English Speakers

As the COVID-19 vaccine began to make its way into the arms of millions of Americans, our team partnered with Colorado’s Department of Public Health (CDHPE) and the Governor’s Office to test tools and methods aimed at improving COVID-19 vaccine information flows to immigrant communities, particularly those with language barriers. The result was a detailed overview of insights and resources including templates for using and replicating existing public health messaging. The report points to the importance of trusted messengers, producing culturally relevant video content in multiple languages, and testing state vaccine outreach even in the near-term.

COVID-19 and Economic Barriers for Latino Communities

About half (49%) of Latinos say someone in their household has taken a pay cut, lost a job, or both due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to one-third (33%) of all U.S. adults. By summer 2020, one in four Latino families with children was facing food insecurity and one in four Latino renters with children (26%) owed back rent.

In 2021 we partnered with The Hispanic Federation to support community participatory research on how the pandemic impacted the livelihood and well-being of Latinos; to build local capacity to use data to promote community leadership and make informed decisions about key issues affecting them; and to contribute to new data norms on equity and inclusion.

Improved Unemployment Insurance Delivery

Even with $7 billion in investments on improving and modernizing benefit delivery, states--and workers--did not seem to have an improved experience in 2021. In fact, the Department of Labor Inspector General’s 2021 report highlighted unnecessary delays in disbursement exacerbating hardship for workers and increasing the number of improper or incorrect payments.

In the interest of supporting solutions, we created a playbook to inspire and drive further improvements building on several state innovations and successes. Our team collaborated with more than 50 advocacy groups, dozens of state leaders, several unemployed workers, and other partners to highlight lessons from past recessions, recent pandemic-inspired innovations, and complementary benefit spaces (SNAP, WIC).

The playbook features success stories, case studies, and promising practices for fraud prevention and identity verification; wage verification; improved claimant experiences; payments; claim processing; and customer service.