Code for America and Anthropic have joined forces to develop AI tools aimed at assisting government caseworkers who administer public benefits, with their first initiative focusing on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
This partnership was unveiled during the 2026 Code for America Summit in Chicago on May 8. The cornerstone of their collaboration, the SNAP Policy Navigator, is an AI-driven tool powered by Claude, providing caseworkers with immediate access to verified SNAP guidelines at the federal, state, and county levels while handling individual cases.
Amanda Renteria, CEO of Code for America, expressed, “This partnership with Anthropic highlights our mutual conviction that responsible AI can be a game-changer, alleviating the burden on caseworkers, streamlining case processing, and ultimately expediting the delivery of benefits with increased accuracy.”
First tool addresses SNAP policy complexities across jurisdictions
SNAP caseworkers are tasked with deciphering eligibility regulations that differ at the federal, state, and county levels while frequently changing. The Policy Navigator is designed to provide specific, case-relevant answers sourced from up-to-date verified policies, eliminating the need for caseworkers to sift through numerous documentation sources manually.
The tool employs Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard increasingly embraced in the AI sector that facilitates secure, two-way communication between AI applications and reliable data sources. This ensures that every response a caseworker receives is traceable to its original policy source.
Elizabeth Kelly, Head of Beneficial Deployments at Anthropic, remarked, “Technology achieves its greatest impact when it reaches those in critical need. SNAP caseworkers bear a heavy burden, navigating complex rules under tight deadlines for families relying on the safety net. Together with Code for America, we’re equipping them with Claude, ensuring that more qualified families receive assistance efficiently and accurately.”
Comprehensive suite of Claude integrations planned beyond SNAP
The collaboration looks beyond the initial pilot project. Code for America and Anthropic aim to create reusable Claude integrations adaptable across various states and counties, encompassing tasks such as eligibility document reviews, policy inquiries, and drafting clear communications for benefit recipients.
This announcement coincided with the release of Code for America’s second annual Government AI Landscape Assessment, which monitors state-level AI adoption through four key stages: readiness, piloting, implementation, and impact.
In 2025, Code for America operated in 27 states and Washington, D.C., helping seven million individuals access $22 billion in benefits. The existing infrastructure within state and county agencies offers the partnership a swift pathway to pilot and expand these tools in active government settings without starting from scratch.
