We’re excited to share that Nava Labs is partnering with the Goodwill Central Texas and Goodwill Keystone Area in Pennsylvania to pilot an AI-powered resource referral tool with caseworkers as part of a grant from the Gates Foundation. This tool aims to make it easier for Goodwill staff to refer clients to a range of other health and social services beyond what’s offered at the organization.
Nava Labs is the philanthropically funded arm of Nava Public Benefit Corporation, focusing on prototyping policy and systems changes in government programs and advocating for their adoption. This pilot is the second in a series to test AI-powered tools that support resource navigation and public benefit enrollment for people with low incomes and the caseworkers who help them. Recently, the Nava Labs team piloted an AI-powered assistive chatbot that supports Los Angeles county caseworkers to help families understand program eligibility and enrollment requirements.
“This AI-powered referral tool has the opportunity to reduce administrative burden for caseworkers, enabling more and better tailored referrals for clients,” said Genevieve Gaudet, Director of Nava Labs. “Testing the referral tool with two Goodwill partners will help us gain insights into scaling to multiple environments with different operations and existing technology."
Nava Labs will help Goodwill integrate the referral tool into existing case management workflows, enabling caseworkers to use the tool in their daily interactions with clients and provide feedback iteratively. The team will gather user feedback and other data to evaluate the referral tool’s impact on administrative burden.
Recently, Nava Labs was also selected to join Google.org’s Generative AI (GenAI) Accelerator cohort and is partnering with two California-based organizations to develop and test a suite of generative AI-powered agents, or software systems that use AI to help complete benefit applications with caseworker oversight. The GenAI cohort project builds on Nava Labs’ work with caseworkers in Los Angeles to research, prototype, and pilot an AI-powered chatbot with caseworkers who use Imagine LA’s benefit eligibility tool.
