Since the onset of the pandemic, Propel has surveyed SNAP households using Fresh EBT every month to understand how circumstances in their lives are changing. We’ve had the opportunity to share these monthly findings with state, federal, and nonprofit partners. Most recently, we presented in a spotlight session at CBPP’s Virtual SNAP Policy Conference.
We hope that sharing these key insights will contribute to a better understanding of the changing needs and realities of low-income families. Read on to learn more about December’s survey findings, or visit our COVID-19 response page.
Benefits Update Center
In addition to surveys, we’ve also…
As another month of quarantine and social distancing passes, the financial toll on low-income households continues to build. Despite this harrowing reality, the critical work of state agencies to administer much-needed benefits to families in crisis has made a huge difference.
We consistently hear from Fresh EBT users about their experiences navigating social safety net services and wanted to share some of the things we’ve heard since the onset of the pandemic:
“Receiving EBT has been a Godsend. Without it we would have been without food in the house.” -Anne F., LA
“My new caseworker is amazing and acted right…
Over the last few months of “client chats,” we interviewed diverse groups of SNAP participants about a wide variety of issues. From navigating the recertification process to making food benefits stretch, to stigma at the grocery store, these conversations revealed the everyday realities of living with scarcity. However, in addition to their hardships, the folks we interviewed spoke at length about their hopes, dreams, and future plans too.
Here at Propel, listening to clients is one of our core values. We spend a lot of time trying to understand the pain points of our clients in order to consistently improve…
Earlier this month, Propel hosted a panel at the EBT: Next Generation Conference focused on client experiences with EBT. The purpose of the panel was to hear from SNAP participants on how they feel about and engage the technologies and programs that impact their daily lives.
Following the panel, we had a chance to sit down with Princess Alexander, Mary Cannon, Steven River, and Maribel Rodriguez to capture some of their insights on the central topics of the conference. Not surprisingly, there was a range of ideas and opinions!
Q: Some states are testing programs that allow SNAP participants to…
Propel is a social enterprise that builds software products for low-income Americans. Fresh EBT, our financial management app, helps low-income Americans manage their SNAP benefits, save money, and earn income. Fresh EBT is available for free in all 50 states and is currently used by over 2 million people every month.
We are frequently asked by states and nonprofit partners how the technology behind Fresh EBT works, so we put together this post as a step-by-step walk-through.
Fresh EBT works like a skin on top of the existing EBT portal. When a cardholder opens the Fresh EBT app on their…
A guest post by Reggie Bicha, former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, former Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Very few public assistance programs give citizens the support, education, and tools they need to escape poverty. These programs mitigate the effects of living in poverty but don’t get people out of it. This is a hidden truth about anti-poverty programs. We tell poor people to “get a job,” but don’t sufficiently invest in programs that give them training, guidance, and connections to do so. We provide childcare but fail to provide affordable early…
Propel recently sat down with Washington State Poverty Reduction Workgroup steering committee members Jennifer Bereskin, Dante Pollard and Claudia Franson to have a conversation about their experiences with food stamps, their ideas to improve the SNAP program, and the logistics of grocery shopping. Like millions of Americans, they struggle to make ends meet every month despite receiving benefits from the SNAP program.
Jennifer Bereskin
Jennifer’s family name is Bereskin from the Qawalangin kaw-Langin Tribe of Unalaska — Unangax/Aleut ung aloot clan. She is a single mother of a seven-year-old special needs child with autism. As a social justice advocate, Jennifer is working…
On January 20, 2019 millions of SNAP participants woke up to a surprise: an unexpected month of SNAP benefits deposited onto their EBT cards. On January 10, to ensure that SNAP households would receive benefits during the lapse in appropriations, FNS provided a blanket waiver to all State Agencies to allow states to issue February benefits prior to January 20. If states did not issue benefits before January 20, clients might not receive February SNAP benefits.
And in a herculean effort, state agencies, counties, EBT processors, client advocates, and others worked tirelessly to ensure families did not lose out on…
At Propel, we take our role within the EBT ecosystem very seriously. While lots of tech companies aim for “disruption”, we don’t see it that way at all — on the contrary, we are deep believers in SNAP and EBT, as well as the public-private partnership that keeps them running. We do our work at Propel because we want to supplement those programs and help them achieve their promise: to provide critical supports for low-income Americans.
We wanted to take a moment today to outline our principles around how we interact with EBT systems. We believe that:
All EBT systems…
In this series, we highlight our incredible partners who are helping us improve financial health for SNAP participants.
In 2018, the Pennsylvania Treasury launched a demonstration project in six counties. They invited new and expectant parents to register for a 529 plan and receive a $100 grant for babies born in 2018.
Pennsylvania worked with Common Cents, a behavioral design lab, to explore branding for this project. Many Child Savings Account programs have started developing brands that are distinct from the government agencies that sponsor them. …
