We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience and to better understand our website traffic. By browsing our website, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
Privacy Policy OK

2025 Impact Report: Built for This

Dear friends,

Welcome to our 2025 Impact Report. As we put this together, one thing became unmistakably clear: the time to prepare has passed. This is a moment to act.

Across the country, states were forced to navigate deep uncertainty—federal workforce reductions, sweeping policy changes like H.R. 1, a historic government shutdown, natural disasters, and growing affordability pressures that touched every community. At the center of it all were people: families relying on food assistance, health coverage, tax credits, and disaster recovery to survive and move forward. Their lives and their dignity were, and are, in the balance.

Code for America was built for moments like this.

For more than 15 years, we have shown up in every state, earning trust through delivery. We know government not as an abstract system, but as a set of real constraints, real people, and real responsibilities. Our deep, durable relationships with states, paired with our ability to innovate at the cutting edge of technology, give us a rare ability to act quickly and responsibly when it matters most.

In 2025, we didn’t step back. We built. We adapted. We helped states respond in real time. We protected access to food, health care, and tax benefits. We applied AI thoughtfully to make government faster, fairer, and more human. And we did so while delivering tangible results, reaching tens of millions of people and helping deliver billions of dollars in benefits.

This is who we are. We're the problem-solvers. The doers. We're who states call when the stakes are high and the path forward is unclear. We turn intent into action and get the work done.

Enclosed are lessons learned, stories, and practical tools from the work we did in 2025 in service of helping build a government that works better for all. I am so proud of what we were able to do and know that none of it could have been possible without your continued support.

As the pace of change accelerates, we are prepared: to stand with government, to center people, and to turn moments of disruption into opportunities for lasting, human-centered progress.

—Amanda Renteria, Chief Executive Officer

Headshot photo of Amanda Renteria

Amanda Renteria
Chief Executive Officer

In 2025, we didn’t step back. We built. We adapted. We helped states respond in real time.

Our impact

In 2025, we worked in 27 states and Washington, D.C.

7 million
people helped
$22 billion
in benefits delivered
Map showing all the states Code for America worked with in 2025. The list includes: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.

With more than 15 years of delivering impact, we are the institution readying others for the future. To date, we have worked with over 500 partners in all 50 states across the country.

Meeting the moment in 2025

This year made clear just how much is shifting—and how quickly. States faced deep cuts and received little guidance following reductions in the federal workforce in January and the passage of H.R. 1 in July. The longest government shutdown in history and unprecedented delays in food assistance further compounded these issues.

Through it all, states were left to navigate sweeping changes to SNAP and Medicaid. Additionally, affordability emerged as a defining concern for voters across the political spectrum. The stakes are high: H.R. 1 threatens to increase administrative costs, strain already stretched systems, and put essential benefits at risk for millions of families.

Code for America was made for moments like these. No single actor can meet this challenge alone.

When government, nonprofits, philanthropy, and the private sector come together, we prove what’s possible.

As policies evolve, budgets tighten, and economic need grows alongside rapidly advancing technologies like AI, this is a moment for new models, products, and partnerships—and for solutions that move at the same speed as the change around us.

January

Wildfires destroy much of Los Angeles and surrounding areas

January–March

Cuts in staffing across federal agencies including USDA (SNAP) and HHS (Medicaid)

July 4

H.R. 1 is signed into law

October 1

Federal government shutdown begins

November 1

SNAP benefits lapse, creating uncertainty for 42 million people

November 12

Federal government shutdown ends

Highlights

In 2025, we responded to a rapidly changing environment, helping government prepare for a modernized, human-centered future while preserving access to the programs and services millions of people rely on today.

Adapting now while preparing for what’s next

Over our 15-year history, we’ve proven that we’re built to navigate change. We know that making an impact isn’t one solution or tool, but consistent adjustments to what the world needs. In 2025, we used our expertise to help our partners act quickly, ensuring they could adapt to everything from changing policies to natural disasters.

Helping states adapt to a new safety net

The passage of H.R. 1 has brought the most significant changes to the safety net in decades, including expanded work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and new work requirements in Medicaid. In response, we began to evolve our safety net work, providing strategic support and actionable resources to states navigating these changes in real time.

We developed the Work Requirements Implementation Toolkit, which draws on our more than 15 years of experience to improve public benefits delivery.

This collection of resources helps states implement the SNAP and Medicaid work requirements in H.R. 1, in more human-centered ways, understand the implications of this new policy, and design smart systems and processes that meet the needs of caseworkers and clients. We will continue to provide states with resources and support through 2026 and beyond.

Watch: An overview of our SNAP & Medicaid Work Requirements Service Blueprints

Supporting recovery after disaster

After wildfires devastated Los Angeles County in January 2025, Code for America quickly deployed a rapid response team to make it easier for survivors to begin rebuilding. In less than one month, the team delivered a service blueprint that mapped the full survivor journey—from temporary housing to rebuild permitting—helping County staff identify opportunities to improve agency handoffs and simplify the process for survivors.

The team also delivered a redesigned, mobile-friendly website to enable survivors to understand their options and make informed decisions about what actions to take, which LA County launched at the beginning of 2026. To support long-term success, the team provided content, design, and engineering guidance, along with training, so County staff could maintain and improve the site over time.

LA County Recovers website mockup shown on a laptop and mobile phone screen

The redesigned, mobile-friendly LA County Recovers website

Shifting to support state tax filers

In 2025, we continued to connect tax filers to flexible cash through GetYourRefund and working with Arizona, Idaho, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina to deliver tax benefits via FileYourStateTaxes. To date, our tax program has helped 725,000 people, and delivered $1.5B in flexible cash.

After a successful pilot year followed by a decision to make the program permanent and expand it, the IRS discontinued its free online tax filing program, Direct File, in November. Direct File proved that a government-run filing option is possible and preferable, especially for low-income filers. We quickly pivoted to building a new state tax filing platform, GetStateCTC.

In 2026, our team will continue successful strategies and build new technology to meet the needs of low-income filers, including connecting people to free tax help through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program and exploring how AI can increase efficiency in the tax filing process.

Watch: An overview of our GetYourRefund tax product offerings

Funder spotlight

Changes at the IRS and the end of Direct File mean more people are looking for free, trusted, and easy-to-use tax filing support. As we continue to evolve our tax solutions to meet the needs of filers, we are grateful to Ballmer Group, The Tepper Foundation, and other supporters who share our belief that taxes should be simple, secure, and accessible for everyone.

Achieving real impact with responsible AI

AI is rapidly altering the landscape, with the potential to transform the way government services are delivered. We’re excited about the opportunity AI brings: for the first time in a long while, technology has reached the scale and maturity to give us a real chance to tackle our biggest, most complex challenges. We’re taking a solutions-first approach, helping states apply AI where it makes sense and will deliver real, practical outcomes that have the most impact.

Understanding the AI landscape

At Code for America, we look at any new technology through the lens of what it can do to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and ease for clients. AI is no different. AI has the potential to analyze and interpret data more quickly and augment workflows to make room for more meaningful human interaction.

As we help government incorporate AI responsibly, it’s critical for us to collectively understand the landscape—which governments are ready to incorporate the new technology, and which still need to prepare their systems to support AI?

In July, we published our Government AI Landscape Assessment, which provides a clear picture of the readiness levels of states when it comes to AI adoption. This 50-state analysis gives a comprehensive snapshot across key dimensions such as Leadership & Governance, AI Capacity Building, and Technical Infrastructure & Capabilities.

Whether states are navigating early phases like building foundational capabilities and defining governance structures, or they’re in advanced stages with an established AI team, knowing where they stand in their AI journey allows them to more confidently identify essential next steps for building out their human-centered, AI-supported public services delivery. The assessment had more than 8,500 page views in just six months and nearly 20 press hits. We’re looking forward to sharing an updated assessment in 2026.

Watch: A walkthrough of our Government AI Landscape Assessment

Using AI to save jurisdictions time and money

We partnered with Washington, D.C., to enable the timely and accurate delivery of critical benefits and address the District’s high SNAP payment error rate, which measures administrative processes like having all correct signatures, application processing timeliness, and how often states issue the wrong benefit amount—either too much or too little—to eligible households. This work became especially urgent with the passage of H.R. 1, which introduced additional penalties to SNAP agencies tied to payment error rates.

Our team created an error-prevention browser extension to alert caseworkers to potential payment errors, helping staff review work and making corrections to avoid potential hits against their payment error rate and potentially cutting the time a caseworker spends on a case by nearly 30%. Additionally, our team used AI-powered entity resolution technology to support caseworker workstreams, which has the potential to recover about 650 caseworker hours per month.

We’re looking forward to applying our learnings to a 22-month partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to build on their work to reduce SNAP payment error rates, improve caseworker efficiency, and support customer service through accurate and efficient case processing.

Watch: What changes to SNAP payment error rate policy mean for states and the people who rely on these benefits

Using AI to make government websites accessible for people with disabilities

Under the Department of Justice’s updated Title II rule of the Americans with Disabilities Act, all state and local governments must ensure all public web content—including PDFs— is accessible.

We’re helping governments tackle this herculean task through our AI Studio Accessibility Project (ASAP). Using Generative AI, ASAP automates discovery, classification, and assessment of PDFs, flagging accessibility issues, summarizing content, and helping staff triage backlogs through a user-friendly application.

In 2025, we piloted the tool in Salt Lake City, with over 9,000 PDFs, some dating back to 1998, and in Georgia, with over 55,000 PDFs across agencies. We’re scaling to additional jurisdictions before the 2027 ADA deadline. Not only are we helping agencies derisk their AI initiatives, this human-centered approach reflects our mission to apply technology to improve how government serves the public.

Watch: A preview of our collaboration with the State of Georgia and Salt Lake City on leveraging AI to improve accessibility and policy compliance

Funder spotlight

Thoughtful AI implementation can transform public service delivery while maintaining the trust and accountability that government requires. With the generous support of JPMorganChase and Google.org, Code for America is actively partnering with governments to design and test AI solutions that are improving and reimagining how government can better serve people.

Anticipating change and leading forward

We’re helping states learn to adapt to an ever-changing world and anticipate the demands of tomorrow, always with the people who rely on government services and benefits at the center of our approach.

Increasing efficiency and reducing burden in the Medicaid renewal process

As states across the country manage limited resources in their effort to meet increasing health care needs, benefits agencies are working tirelessly to ensure eligible Medicaid clients can maintain health insurance.

In 2025, Code for America brought our expertise in improving the Medicaid renewal process—knowledge garnered through previous work in several other states—to Texas, where more than four million people rely on Medicaid for access to health care. We estimate that at least 220,000 caseworker hours will be saved and more than half a million eligible clients will be able to retain their health care coverage annually due to this intervention.

Additionally, insights gained through our partnership are now guiding the state’s Health and Human Services Commission to develop an improved workflow and eligibility system design, extending beyond Medicaid to include SNAP and TANF.

220,000
caseworker hours saved annually
500,000+
clients retain health care coverage annually

Making access to benefits easier for Marylanders

In partnership with the Department of Human Services and the Maryland Benefits team, we set out to make it easier and faster for Marylanders to access their benefits. Building off the designs and learnings of a pilot we ran for SNAP, Cash Assistance Programs, and Energy Assistance Programs in Baltimore County and Queen Anne’s County in 2024, we supported the research, design, and launch of Maryland’s new application for integrated benefits.

The Maryland Benefits One Application, or MarylandBenefits.gov, launched in July 2025. It is a mobile-friendly, easy-to-use tool that helps customers apply for multiple benefits, including SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, Energy Assistance, and WIC. Since launch, it has served more than 510,000 Marylanders and reduced the average application time from roughly 70 minutes to under 30 minutes. Additionally, more than two-thirds of users report the experience as easy or very easy.

This work represents our mission and vision in action: we help governments test, learn, and move with confidence—reducing risk, building internal capacity, and delivering solutions that can be adopted, sustained, and carried forward.

A cellphone showing the Maryland Benefits One Application

The Maryland Benefits One Application

Funder spotlight

Our partnership with Maryland was powered by a shared willingness to imagine what’s possible—and to build it. By embracing innovation and emerging technologies, we demonstrated how government can work better for families. We are deeply grateful to Blue Meridian Partners for their investment and steadfast commitment to scaling transformative solutions that expand economic mobility for young people and families navigating poverty.

Grounding innovation
with experience

We’re using our deep institutional knowledge to create tools and services that allow government to get further, faster, all while remaining committed to human-centered design. By blending proven practices with emerging approaches and new ideas, we’re delivering innovation grounded in real experience.

Realizing our mission after a decade in California

In July 2025, Code for America officially sunset GetCalFresh, the SNAP digital assister we built for California, and worked with the state to support the rollout of a permanent, multilingual, multi-benefit application and client portal, BenefitsCal.com. GetCalFresh is an example of how innovation in government can be safely piloted, monitored for improvement opportunities, and scaled at a pace that always keeps the human experience front and center.

Many of the principles that guided GetCalFresh—plain language, mobile-first design, streamlined document uploads—are now embedded in BenefitsCal, influencing how service delivery happens at scale across the state. GetCalFresh fundamentally changed how Californians access food support, at its peak accounting for 70% of online SNAP applications in California and 50% of all SNAP applications in California. It helped deliver $12.8 billion in SNAP benefits by supporting the submission of 6.2 million approved applications over its lifetime.

6.2 million
people helped
$12.8 billion
in benefits delivered

Turning policy into real-world change

We published a new edition of The Advocate’s Guide to Automatic Record Sealing, which offers support as states continue working to pass and implement automatic record sealing policies.

To date, our criminal justice team has disseminated this resource to nearly two dozen partners, providing them with practical strategies to advance automatic record sealing measures in their states.

Our team knows this training has the potential to yield real-world change: the policy and technical expertise reflected in the guide helped deliver an implementable Clean Slate policy in Illinois, which in October became the 13th state to pass automatic record sealing legislation.

Cover of The Advocate’s Guide to Automatic Record Sealing

Supporting the delivery of Summer EBT when families need it most

Summer EBT is the first new, permanent federal food assistance program in almost 50 years, and we’re excited about the opportunity to build the technology to support the program from the ground up. Building on our successful engagement with New York and Vermont in the Summer EBT program’s inaugural year (2024), we offered support to eight more states in 2025. We brought years of food assistance systems expertise to support the administration of this new federal program in eight states and jurisdictions, including Arizona and Washington, D.C.

Code for America’s ability to provide actionable and specific technical assistance on issues like deduplication, application design, and client communications ultimately helps ensure fewer children go hungry during the summer months. Moreover, this technical assistance laid the groundwork for shoulder-to-shoulder work with states in 2025 and 2026. We plan to launch self-service products to increase benefits enrollment and redemption in two states for Summer 2026. We hope to scale to many more states in future years.

Cellphone showing the Summer EBT Enrollment Checker

The Summer EBT Enrollment Checker, a self-service tool to help families check their eligibility and enrollment status for Summer EBT benefits

Funder spotlight

No child’s future should be shaped by hunger. Summer EBT proves that when we design systems to work for families, we can ensure every school-aged child has consistent access to three meals a day—even when school is out. Share Our Strength and Code for America are building tech solutions to support this movement, reach 30 million children, and end childhood hunger once and for all.

Shaping the ecosystem

As a trusted convener and thought leader, Code for America unites the civic tech community—bringing thousands together to exchange knowledge, strengthen relationships, and collectively shape the future of civic innovation.

Code for America Summit 2025

Designing for change, delivering for the future

Code for America’s Summit is the largest annual gathering of civic tech and public service leaders in the country. This year’s event returned to Washington, D.C. and featured new activations like the Demo Lab, an interactive “civic tech science fair” where teams had the opportunity to showcase their work to their peers in an informal setting.

Notable speakers included:

  • José Andrés, Chef, Restaurateur, Humanitarian
  • Nishant Shah, Sr. Advisor for Responsible AI & Head of Enablement, State of Maryland
  • Josiah Raiche, Chief Data and AI Officer, State of Vermont
  • Shawnzia Thomas, Georgia CIO & Georgia Technology Authority Executive Director
  • Tony Sauerhoff, Deputy CIO, State of Texas
800+ attendees
32% government employees
175+ speakers

FormFest 2025

Better government, one form at a time

Our third annual FormFest, co-hosted with the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, brought together participants from around the world to share their knowledge about improving forms as a gateway to government.

  • 2,000+ registrants from 47 states and 25 countries
  • 55% government employees
  • 57 speakers from 33 organizations

Safety Net Innovation Lab Cohort Convenings

Each month, we brought together government leaders who work to make safety net benefits delivery more human-centered and effective for clients and staff in their states.

This community of practice accelerates the adoption of human-centered approaches across jurisdictions and issue areas while surfacing and elevating urgent needs from across government. The group meets virtually and gathers in person at our annual Summit.

Photo of a Safety Net Innovation Lab Cohort Convening, showing government leaders sitting around a table and discussing ideas
Photo of a Safety Net Innovation Lab Cohort Convening, showing government leaders sitting around a table and discussing ideas

Delivering best practices our partners can act on—today

As a result of the passage of H.R. 1, states will have to make changes to implement new work requirements in SNAP and Medicaid in a short amount of time.

We mapped and documented the new requirements for both programs to give a clear picture of how these policies will impact the process of applying for, determining, and maintaining these benefits.

In 2026, we will release a work requirements self-advocacy tool to support clients in understanding how to navigate these new policies.

Graphic of a service blueprint for work requirements
arrow_outward
Blueprinting SNAP Work Requirements
Our takeaways from creating our service blueprint that walks through the experience of how work requirement policy impacts the process of applying for, determining, and maintaining eligibility for SNAP benefits.
Graphic of a service blueprint for work requirements
arrow_outward
Blueprinting Medicaid Work Requirements
A followup piece focusing on our service blueprint to help states navigate work requirement policy changes for Medicaid benefits.
arrow_outward
Five Questions to Ask When Evaluating Technical Products
It’s important that state agencies ask the right questions when they procure technical systems to make sure those solutions are effective.
arrow_outward
Building a Human-Centered Prioritization Process for Product Changes
How to create processes that make decisionmaking easier and more impactful through clear metrics and stakeholder alignment.
arrow_outward
Designing Chatbots That Improve the Experience of Accessing Benefits
Chatbots can be a critical aspect of service delivery, but they need to be built in a human-centered way.
arrow_outward
Getting Your Data Ready for AI
Before governments deploy AI, data systems need to be ready, so we created a guide on how to get there.

Thought leadership for the civic tech ecosystem

PDFs are the tip of the spear for Code for America’s new AI studio
StateScoop
June 24, 2025
arrow_outward
Human-centered design could help Medicaid recipients meet new work rules — without losing coverage
Federal News Network
August 21, 2025
arrow_outward
‘Service blueprints’ for SNAP, Medicaid can help states protect eligible beneficiaries, says Code for America
StateScoop
September 10, 2025
arrow_outward
A national blueprint for responsible AI in government
Route50
September 25, 2025
arrow_outward
What happens now that the IRS has officially suspended Direct File
Federal News Network
December 19, 2025
arrow_outward

Leadership and board

This year, we executed a board transition from founding members to new voices with expertise in AI, economic policy, nonprofit financial management, public-private partnerships, and startup entrepreneurship. We also welcomed Angela Blanton as our new board chair to oversee the organization as it enters its next chapter.

This expansion of high-level leadership better positions us to execute real-time strategy shifts, increase and expand partnerships, and advance emerging technology opportunities.

Board members

  • Amanda Renteria, Chief Executive Officer
  • John Lilly, Board Chair
  • Shona Brown, Board Finance Chair
  • Angela Blanton, Board Member
  • Brett Loper, Board Member
  • David Singleton, Board Member
  • Suzan Kereere, Board Member
  • Teddra Burgess, Board Member
  • Trent Bigelow, Board Member
  • Wendy De La Rosa, Board Member
  • Spencer Kympton, Board Observer

Executive team

  • Amanda Renteria, Chief Executive Officer
  • Arlene Corbin Lewis, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer
  • David Schlendorf, Chief Financial Officer
  • Scott Johnston, Chief Product Officer
  • Yasmin Fodil, Chief Operating Officer
  • Aurelle Amram, Vice President of Partnerships
  • Jana Rhyu, Vice President of Product
  • Juliette Cho, Vice President of Philanthropy
  • Rebecca Piazza, Executive Director of Safety Net

Looking ahead

As we look ahead, government services will continue to face rapid change and unprecedented pressure to deliver. In 2026, we will see the most significant shifts to safety net policy in over a decade as many changes in H.R. 1 go into effect, including deep cuts in federal funding and policy changes that will limit eligibility and access to services. Across all our work, partners tell us that states are being asked to do more, faster, and with fewer resources.

At Code for America, we hear this as a clarion call to act.

Our core mission to use human-centered technology to improve public services and make government work well for everyone is more critical than ever.

In 2026, you’ll see us:

Work faster, in more places, with more focus. We aim to be more efficient in how we deliver, and will look for more shared tools and lessons we can apply across our projects.
Bring a solutions-oriented mindset and continue to integrate AI and emerging technologies that drive outcomes in our projects, solutions, and internally in the way we work.
Build partnerships with anyone committed to making meaningful change for low-income communities, from government to community-based organizations to the private sector.

Millions of families are counting on government to show up with clarity, compassion, and competence.

Even amid uncertainty, we believe a better future remains within reach. Alongside our partners, we will meet this moment with strength, community, and deep commitment to build systems and services to help people receive the services they need to live.