Urban Institute Evaluation Shows MyFriendBen’s Impact on Benefits Access

In 2026, the Urban Institute released an independent evaluation of MyFriendBen based on its implementation in Colorado and North Carolina. Researchers analyzed roughly 100,000 completed screenings from 2023 to 2025, surveyed more than 300 users immediately after screening and again three months later, and conducted in-depth interviews with people who had used the tool. The study found that MyFriendBen reaches households with significant need and delivers a simple experience: 79 percent of users said the screener was “very easy” to use, with a median completion time of under seven minutes. About two-thirds of users learned about benefits they hadn’t known they were eligible for, and within three months, 86 percent had applied for at least one new program, with 85 percent of those applications approved. The researchers concluded that MyFriendBen shows real promise in closing the benefits access gap, and pointed to deeper integration with community organizations and government agencies as the next step in expanding its impact. Read the full report at urban.org.

Source: https://www.urban.org/research/publication/myfriendben-benefits-screener