The Connecticut Departments of Education and Social Services leveraged data-sharing agreements by matching student and SNAP benefit data to automatically certify SNAP Pandemic EBT for more than 287,000 Connecticut students who receive free or reduced-price meals. This allowed the state to provide meals to 82,000 students participating in only the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, but who do not receive food assistance through SNAP, Medicaid, or other food assistance programs. The state also partnered with food retailers to allow SNAP enrollees to use their benefits to purchase eligible food items online.
Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families, in partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab, implemented an Enhanced Service Coordination project in 2019. One part of the state’s 2020-2024 Child and Family Services Plan, it seeks to improve the process of matching clients to services across the state. The innovations include real-time use of data to inform organizational processes and procurement as well as active contract management strategies to further improve service delivery.