Product Releases
A week-by-week record of what we've shipped: new states, new benefit programs, partner launches, and improvements to the screener.
Week of August 3 - 7, 2026
Work in Progress: Missouri
Missouri continues to fill in. Four more programs have been researched and added:
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI) — monthly cash assistance for people who are older, blind, or have a disability
- ACA Premium Tax Credit — help paying for marketplace health insurance
- Earned Income Tax Credit — a refundable credit for working people with low to moderate income
- Child Tax Credit — a credit for families with children
Missouri still isn’t open to the public. We’ll share more when it officially launches.
Work in Progress: Kansas
Kansas is also underway. Food Assistance (SNAP) has been added, joining over a dozen other programs, including TANF, Nurse-Family Partnership, Head Start, and the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
Kansas isn’t open to the public yet either. We’ll share more when it officially launches.
A co-branded experience for Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy
We launched a co-branded screener for the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy in North Carolina. People arriving through their site now see a screener that carries their branding, keeping the experience continuous with the help they were already seeking.
A redesigned confirmation page
We rebuilt the confirmation page people see before submitting their screening, making it easier for them to review what information they are about to submit and go back and edit it as needed. See a sample of the new confirmation page.
Better insight into how the screener gets used
We’ve recently built out a detailed analytics system across the screener, and this week extended it so we can view these analytics by state. That means we can see where people hesitate, where they drop off, and which programs actually get clicked through to — and use that to fix friction instead of guessing at it. We track how the screener is used, never who is using it.
State updates
Massachusetts — Added the CommonCorp Program for Youth to the screener, along with a new SNAP navigator: the YMCA of Greater Boston, which can help people apply in person.
Washington — Fixed an issue that had kept the Working Families Tax Credit from appearing in results, and improved our benefit estimate for Housing Choice Vouchers. We also added a note that Section 8 vouchers can be hard to secure even when you qualify, so expectations are set honestly up front.
Illinois — Head Start is the newest live benefit in the screener. We also clarified how we describe LIHEAP’s different levels of energy assistance.
Texas — Improved the accuracy of our Children’s Health Insurance and Family Planning Program eligibility checks, and updated the homestead exemption estimate.
Colorado — Added a new SNAP navigator for people who need help applying, and removed a resource that’s no longer available.
Reliability and maintenance
We upgraded our hosting platform ahead of an end-of-life deadline, improved how the screener counts household members for tax credit eligibility, retired legacy data fields, and removed a confusing tooltip.
Week of July 27 - 31, 2026
Coming soon: Missouri
We’ve begun building out Missouri. The state-specific configuration is in place and the first four programs have been researched and added:
- Early Head Start — free early learning and family support for babies, toddlers, and pregnant women
- Head Start — the preschool-age counterpart
- WIC — nutrition support for women, infants, and children
- National School Lunch Program — free and reduced-price school meals
Missouri isn’t open to the public yet, and more programs are still to come. We’ll share more when it officially launches.
🌻 Coming soon: Kansas
Kansas is well underway, with about twenty programs researched and added so far. Three more came in this week:
- Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF) — cash assistance for families with children
- Low Income Energy Assistance (LIEAP) — help paying heating bills
- Nurse-Family Partnership — free home visits from a nurse for first-time parents
Like Missouri, Kansas isn’t open to the public yet. We’ll share more when it launches.
A co-branded experience for CU Denver
We launched a co-branded screener for the University of Colorado Denver’s Wellness & Recreation team. Students who come to MyFriendBen through CU Denver now see a screener carrying CU Denver’s branding, so the experience feels continuous with the campus resources they started from.
We also built CU Denver an aggregate dashboard — no personal information, only totals — so they can understand their campus impact: how many screenings were completed, the average number of programs matched, and the estimated dollar value of benefits surfaced, with a breakout for students.
A clearer income section
We rebuilt the part of the screener where people enter their income. Instead of asking everyone to work through a list of income sources, we now start with three plain-language questions about employment and other money coming in, and only ask for detail where it applies. Fewer questions for most people, and less confusion about what counts as income. See the new income section in action.
State updates
Massachusetts — The BabySteps Savings Plan is now in the screener. It’s a statewide program that seeds a $50 college savings account for every newborn and adopted child in Massachusetts.
North Carolina — We added a short survey to the results page so people can tell us directly about their experience.
Reliability and maintenance
We cleaned up legacy data fields, reverted a caching change that didn’t behave as expected in order to keep production stable, and fixed a handful of small interface bugs.