SingleStop Policy

Single Stop USA Engages in Policy Reform to Close the Access Gap
Single Stop USA aims to reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity and well-being by ensuring families have the supports they need to make ends meet and get ahead.  We use the information we learn from our program work – where our partners help low-income families to access benefits, tax credits and services -- to identify policy challenges and opportunities.

We promote federal, state, and local policies that support access to benefits and improved coordination across programs to help families meet their basic needs and move up the economic ladder.  Our policy work includes:

• Co-convening of a national coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity, along with the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and First Focus.
• Leading efforts to ensure that federal funds are dedicated to increasing benefits access and coordination through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and through demonstration projects.
• Testing innovations through public-private partnerships with local government.  For example, providing joint online applications for health care and food stamps at our sites in New York City, and using webcams to meet the face-to-face interview requirement for food stamps at sites in San Francisco.

To learn more about Single Stop USA and public policy, please see:

• "Translating Practice into Policy: Policy Solutions from Single Stop Site Coordinators"
• "Including Multiple Benefits Access while Implementing Health Care Reform"
• White House Conference on Economic Opportunity and Security for Vulnerable Communities, remarks by Julie Kashen
• Single Stop USA's memo on finger imaging for food stamps (SNAP)
• Single Stop USA's results from focus groups regarding Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• "President Obama's Asset Limit Proposal: Supporting Families and Promoting Improved Coordination" by Sarah Fass Hiatt & Abigail Newcomer
• “Helping Americans Help Themselves: Toward a National Single Stop Policy and More Efficient , More Effective Poverty Fighting” by Tom Freedman and Michael Weinstein, The Democratic Leadership Council
• “Improving Access to Public Benefits: Helping Eligible Individuals and Families Get the Income Supports They Need” by Shelley Waters-Boots
• “Out of the Desert: An Integrated Approach to Ending Child Poverty” in Big Ideas for Children by First Focus
• “A One-Stop Shop for Service Delivery” in Policy & Practices (The Magazine of the American Public Human Services Association August 2009)
• The Senate Democratic  Policy Committee (DPC) “Fresh 50” 2008 report