NASCIO Awards

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

2008 Awards: Digital Government: Government to Citizen (G to C)

RECIPIENT:
Michigan - Direct Certification Program

The National Kids Count: Trends in Child Well-Being survey noted that children living in poverty in the state of Michigan grew from 13.7% in 2000 to 17.3% in 2005. This represents approximately 710,000 children under the age of 18 living in poverty who may not receive adequate nutrition on a regular basis. National research shows a high correlation between hunger and poor school performance. This same research shows that students who eat breakfast are more alert, have improved memory and problem solving skills, and perform better on standardized tests. Michigan’s goal with this program is to help feed hungry children in order to affect positive learning outcomes.

Michigan has historically had problems getting families to apply for school- based food assistance and estimates that 40% of children who were eligible for free and reduced meals did not take advantage of the program. There has been a social stigma associated with applications for assistance within the school, and many eligible families will not apply. As a result, these children arrive to school hungry and have difficulty concentrating on learning activities.

In order to increase the number of eligible children receiving free or reduced-cost meals, Michigan developed a multi-agency task force to determine how technology could be used to better identify eligible families. This task force included four state agencies and representatives of the local school districts. Recommendations from the task force were developed into a cross-agency project. Specific milestones and metrics of this initiative included:

Eliminating the need for families to directly apply for free and reduced-cost meals
Using eligibility data previously collected by other state agencies to automatically pre-qualify children for the free and reduced-cost meals program
Notifying families that they have been enrolled in the program
Developing a communication strategy in conjunction with the school districts to make sure each school fully understood the program and expectations.

The initial matching process was done prior to the beginning of the 2007 school year. The process matched food stamp records maintained by the Department of Human Services with student enrollment files, maintained by the Center for Education Performance and Information (CEPI). This process directly certified 337,500 students for paper-free instant eligibility in the food program.

"Technology in Michigan has played a pivotal role in improving the way we provide service to our citizens and their families. Using government technology to directly certify school-aged children for their free meals helps to ensure our kids are healthy and ready to learn during the school day."
....Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, State of Michigan

FINALISTS:
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District of Columbia
The CapStat Website: Building a City that Works featuring DC Data Catalog, Data Feeds and Summary Reports

Minnesota
Minnesota RxPrice Compare

OTHER NOMINATIONS:
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California
California's Electronic Benefit Transfer Program

Delaware
Delaware's School Closing VXML Initiative

Hawaii
Hawaii State ID Card Express

Indiana
Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles "Customer Choices" Initiative

Kentucky
e3.ky.gov

Massachusetts
Mass.Gov: Achieving a True “Single Face of Government” Through Continuous, Sustainable Improvement

Maine
HireME- State of Maine Online Job Application Service

Missouri
Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP)