Experience the Benefits & Career Navigator!

Income inequality

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Social Benefit tackles income inequality by simplifying access to the complex network of public benefits and tax credits, essential for creating stability and pathways out of poverty. Partnering with the USC Center for Social Innovation, research identified Federal, State and LA County benefits, highlighted the siloed application processes, the need for streamlined access and: Difficulty accessing benefits, leading to underutilization
"Benefits cliffs" where modest income increases trigger severe losses
Fear of losing benefits acting as disincentive to work
Low-income households missing valuable tax benefits due to fear and misunderstanding
These benefits provide significant cash for those in need and lack of access to them perpetuates income inequality by leaving billions of resources untapped and trapping individuals, particularly families, in poverty. The Social Benefit Navigator seeks to maximize access to benefits and provide trusted information to achieve economic mobility.

The Benefit Navigator is a new online tool for case managers that tackles the challenge of navigating the complicated web of public benefits and tax credits (Federal, State, and LA County). The Benefit Navigator empowers case managers and their clients to maximize benefits by providing trusted information in multiple languages, quick accessibility, and groundbreaking transparency via a scenario planning tool that shows what will happen to client benefits when wages change. In the last 3 months, over 31 million dollars in new eligible benefits and tax credits (cash in hand) were identified – an average of $15,000 per household! LA2050 funding will fuel greater use of the Navigator across LA County by government agencies and service providers and enhance its capabilities to promote economic mobility by creating a living wage calculator and platform to navigate living wage career pathways.

LA County has 1.4 million households living in poverty. The Benefit Navigator is being piloted by 35 agencies across LA County (200 case workers and 3,000+ clients). Third-party evaluators confirm that millions in new eligible benefits are identified and applied for via the Navigator weekly, averaging over $15,000/household. In 2024, 9,488 clients are expected to identify $150 million in benefits. By 2025, 22,564 clients are projected to identify $356 million in benefits, and by 2028, 155,296 clients are estimated to identify $2.4 billion in benefits. We are currently operating in LA County, but we have plans to expand to other parts of California and the nation. The scenario planning tool also demonstrates how wage increases affect benefits, providing clients with the security to work, leading to an average 24% increase in client-earned income. The is only just the beginning as we envision even greater impact from our coming tools to help people earn living wages.

We are currently in our second, expansion pilot phase, and we are measuring the impact through a third-party evaluator. Evaluators analyze the Benefit Navigator by quantifying the benefits identified, applied for, and received and assessing changes in earned income. Our Initial Pilot in 2023 was with 10 Los Angeles based NGO social service agencies. Each agency had a group of trained Navigator case manager user and control group of non-users. Over a six-month period, 54% Navigator user client s identified additional eligible benefits and tax credits We are currently developing Data Dashboards that will automatically track the same impact data as the evaluation, enabling us to report and maintain data impact integrity over time. The Data Dashboards will be provided to licensed Navigator user agencies for measuring their impact and to policy makers for analytical systems change purposes.