David Helene on LinkedIn: FAFSA simplification has been a nightmare. Emergency aid may be more… (2024)

Excited to be in Arlington, VA through Tuesday for the #APHSASUMMIT24. Would love to connect with folks to trade notes around rollouts of Summer EBT, early applications of AI in human services work (and how these applications are being given appropriate guardrails), how agencies are adapting to the new CCDF rules, and other issue that might be top of mind. If you're in town, give me a shout!

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Since I published this a few weeks ago, NOAA has projected that we can prepare for 17-25 named storms and 4-7 major hurricanes, and despite it only being the first week of June, Nevada is expected to see 112 degree temperatures today. It's only a matter of time before communities across the country are engaging in meaningful disaster response, and we can't wait longer to prepare. We at Beam, Formerly Edquity are here to support and would love to learn how communities are in process of setting up the right digital infrastructure for response.

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I'm excited to participate in this National League of Cities webinar in partnership with Scholarship America on June 10th to discuss effective approaches for building municipal talent pipelines! At a time that requires so much new training and upskilling of our workforce -- whether in service of talent pipelines for green jobs to ensure the success of the Inflation Reduction Act, to rapidly address massive supply shortages around caregiving, or to consider other important areas of talent development -- I'm excited to reflect on models we've seen be effective and how Beam, Formerly Edquity is supporting promising workforce and training initiatives across the country.

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Really excited to be with our like-minded community of civic technologists this week at the Code for America Summit.In particular, given we're less than a month removed from the release of new guidance and principles from the federal agencies around how to incorporate AI into benefits access work, I'm looking forward to the many discussions around how to do so thoughtfully, responsibly, and with some of the most acute problems in mind. We're deep into this work at Beam, Formerly Edquity and are excited about the early returns on our approaches. However, given the torrid pace of adoption in the space and the profound implications on the lives of hardworking caseworkers and the livelihoods of our most vulnerable neighbors, it's all the more important that we continue to solve for best practices in community. Let me know if you'll be around to trade notes on how we might get to a more equitable and effective safety net.

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The Beam, Formerly Edquity team is excited to be at the Smart City Expo USA Conference tomorrow (and I am personally very glad that my hometown of New York is hosting)! We're looking forward to engaging with local and state leaders around how to build the next generation of digital infrastructure for critical safety net programs -- and what a responsible AI agenda looks like in supporting public officials and constituents around this critical work. If you'll be around, we'd love to say hello!cc Aarti Tandon

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Yesterday, I was fortunate to enjoy a beautiful day here in Brooklyn. But as states like Minnesota and others struggle with air quality due to the wildfires currently raging in Canada, I was reminded of what we experienced last June and of the devastation so many communities across the country suffered due to climate disasters last summer. As these events are only expected to get worse in the months to come, I discuss how we need to make proactive investments into disaster response infrastructure and how Beam, Formerly Edquity has successfully supported communities on this front.#disasterrelief #climatechange #digitalinfrastructure

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Excited to be heading to Austin from March 4-6 for #sxswedu next week. If you'll be in town, would love to find time to catch up.

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