As H.R. 1 begins to reshape the landscape of safety programs, charitable foundations face a pivotal moment. The legislation delivers sweeping tax cuts to corporations and high-income earners—while dramatically reducing funding for essential programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These cuts threaten the well-being of millions of families, children, and seniors, and shift the financial burden to already overstretched state and local governments.
Now more than ever, philanthropic organizations must act swiftly and strategically to mitigate harm. A key opportunity lies in supporting states as they navigate urgent administrative and implementation challenges—ensuring vulnerable populations don’t fall through the cracks.
Speakers:
Together, they will share efforts of the Digital Benefits Leadership Council, a civic tech initiative designed to preserve and improve access to public benefits, and how foundations can support efforts to reduce benefits loss for millions in the short term and leverage this moment to modernize the benefits delivery infrastructure for the future.
Watch the Recording
Meeting Materials
- Slides from the Briefing
- Georgetown Analysis of SNAP HR1 Budget Impacts (state level data)
- Analysis of State-by-State Medicaid Work Requirements Impacts
- Ariel Kennan of the Digital Benefits Network at Georgetown’s Beeck Center shared these resources:
- Resource Library: Beeck has launched a new H.R. 1 Implementation section on our Digital Government Hub, featuring a suite of practical resources for state and local governments on SNAP payment error rate reduction, Medicaid work requirements, and other important policy and system changes.
- Technical Assistance: Through our Digital Benefits Leadership Council, we’re partnering with other leading civic tech organizations and philanthropy to drive a coordinated response and align technical assistance efforts to support governments currently making H.R 1-related benefits system updates. We’re happy to provide more information about services and contact information for organizations that are partnering on this collaborative effort.
- Research Insights: Our latest research on implementing integrated benefits eligibility and enrollment systems (IEEs) highlights seven key trends from state leaders adapting their systems to new federal requirements, including managing SNAP and Medicaid policy and technology changes.