Introduction
In the public sector, innovation is often a quiet, relentless pursuit—a drive to serve more people, faster, and more fairly. This mission recently earned national recognition for two distinct projects in two different states: Mississippi's modernization of its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and Washington's rapid deployment of its Families Clean Energy Credits. Both projects were honored in the prestigious '50 States, 50 Breakthroughs' showcase, a national program celebrating pioneering public service initiatives.
The key link between these two breakthroughs is the Promise platform. These cases demonstrate that while government programs are varied—from ongoing federal benefits to one-time relief—the essential technology required to drive speed, scale, and equitable outcomes is universal.
Breakthrough 1: Mississippi SNAP Modernization (The Challenge of Speed and Equity)
Mississippi faced a common challenge in administering SNAP: the slow, burdensome process of verifying applicant income. Traditional methods often created delays and back-and-forth, causing applicants to miss out on critical benefits.
The Promise Solution: PromiseVerified for Mobile, Secure Eligibility
Mississippi partnered with Promise to implement PromiseVerified, a mobile-first tool that allows applicants to quickly and securely submit proof of income and required documents via text message.
The Impact: Speed and Fairer Decisions
The technology focused on three core outcomes:
- Faster Decisions: In pilot counties, the tool improved overall timeliness by up to 35%, with SNAP cases processing 75% faster.
- Reduced Friction: 72% of applicants submitted required documents the same day, with nearly half responding within the first hour.
- Audit-Ready Compliance: The tool reduced back-and-forth between applicants and caseworkers, resulting in quicker, fairer decisions and audit-ready records that make SNAP processing more accurate.
This breakthrough showcased the platform’s power to make existing, complex federal programs more humane, efficient, and compliant.
Breakthrough 2: Washington Families Clean Energy Credits (The Challenge of Scale and Rapid Relief)
In Washington, the challenge was delivering $150M in $200 electric bill credits to qualified households across the state by a strict deadline. The Department of Commerce needed to reach a massive population with speed while ensuring that the relief was accurately and compliantly directed to low-income families.
The Promise Solution: Data Matching and Low-Friction Disbursement
Promise partnered with the Department of Commerce and utilities to build a program that prioritized automated relief.
The Impact: Scale and Precision Equity
By combining a rigorous data matching process with a simple, online backup application for those who didn't automatically qualify, the program achieved exceptional results in just 100 days:
- Massive Scale: The program reached approximately 685,000 households.
- Precision Equity: An astounding 95% of the funds went to low-income families.
- Low Utility Burden: The platform enabled a rapid, low-friction experience for residents and minimized manual work for utilities, with every dollar confirmed to have landed in families’ accounts thanks to strict reconciliation.
This breakthrough demonstrated the platform’s ability to handle high-volume, one-time relief programs with speed, low friction, and auditable precision.
The Promise Difference: Two Breakthroughs, One Platform
The recognition of these two distinct programs—one focused on ongoing eligibility modernization (Mississippi) and one focused on rapid one-time disbursement (Washington)—serves as powerful evidence of the Promise platform’s universal value:
- Versatility: The platform is the single technological thread that successfully solved two different state problems, demonstrating its ability to handle both federal benefit verification and state-level relief distribution.
- Focus on the Core: In both cases, the platform’s specialization was leveraged to unlock data and use AI to deliver public benefits that prioritize: speed, scale, and equitable outcomes.
- Partnership: The strategy reinforces that the greatest government innovation happens when state leadership (MDHS, WA Commerce) is successfully implemented by the power of the right technology partner.
Conclusion
Promise is honored to be the technology partner empowering these leaders in Washington and Mississippi. The '50 States, 50 Breakthroughs' showcase validates that when forward-thinking government and purpose-built software work together, faster, fairer, and more effective public service is what's possible.
Learn how the Promise platform can accelerate your agency’s mission to drive speed, scale, and equity in your state.
About the National Academy of Public Administration
Chartered by Congress to provide expert advice, the Academy is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit organization established in 1967 to assist government leaders in building more effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent organizations. Learn more at www.napawash.org.
About Humans of Public Service
Humans of Public Service (HOPS) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that shares stories of public servants on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram. We aim to support government through leadership and career development opportunities and create a community of public servants across the country. Humans of Public Service (HOPS) empowers current and future public servants to build satisfying careers that benefit the collective good through celebration, education, and exploration.
About Apolitical
Apolitical is the world’s largest online network of public servants, with a mission to make governments smarter. It is used by half a million public servants and policymakers across 170 countries, providing governments with the tools, skills and networks they need to become more effective and tech-enabled organisations. Apolitical is a strategic partner to governments, helping them prepare their workforces for the future. Apolitical partners with leading universities and research institutions, including Oxford, the London School of Economics, Stanford Online, and Georgetown University.
About Promise
Promise is a software company that partners with government agencies and utilities to deliver scalable affordability and assistance programs. Promise has supported programs reaching more than 5 million households across 20+ states, helping partners deliver timely, reliable outcomes for the people they serve.
