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Safeguarding Medicaid and SNAP in the Wake of H.R. 1
November 10, 2025 @ 9:00 am – 9:45 am PST
As H.R. 1 begins to reshape the landscape of safety programs, charitable foundations face a pivotal moment. The legislation delivers sweeping tax cuts to corporations and high-income earners—while dramatically reducing funding for essential programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These cuts threaten the well-being of millions of families, children, and seniors, and shift the financial burden to already overstretched state and local governments.
Now more than ever, philanthropic organizations must act swiftly and strategically to mitigate harm. A key opportunity lies in supporting states as they navigate urgent administrative and implementation challenges—ensuring vulnerable populations don’t fall through the cracks.
Join us for a timely funder briefing with:
- Ariel Kennan, Senior Director, Digital Benefits Network at Georgetown’s Beeck Center
- Tim Shaw, Director, Benefits Transformation Initiative at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program
Together, they will share efforts of the Digital Benefits Leadership Council, a civic tech initiative designed to preserve and improve access to public benefits, and how foundations can support efforts to reduce benefits loss for millions in the short term and leverage this moment to modernize the benefits delivery infrastructure for the future.
This program is for grantmakers who work for a qualifying philanthropy.
Speakers
Ariel Kennan, Senior Director, Digital Benefits Network, Georgetown’s Beeck Center
Ariel Kennan (she/her) is a Senior Director at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, where she researches and advises on advancing design, data, and technology for accessible and equitable delivery of public benefits. Ariel leads the Digital Benefits Network to support practitioners in current and near term challenges in public benefits delivery and envisioning future policies, services, and technologies. She also serves on the Beeck Center’s leadership team.
Ariel is a leader in service design, digital product development, and organizational strategy. She has worked in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors to drive change and deliver impactful solutions. Previously, she served in the New York City Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity where she founded the nation’s first municipal service design studio and managed a portfolio of best-in-class digital products to connect and deliver services. Most recently, she was the Director of Civic Innovation at Sidewalk Labs, where she led the strategy for inclusive participation in the social infrastructure of cities.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Design from Parsons School of Design. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Tim Shaw, Director, Benefits Transformation Initiative, Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program
As the Director of the Benefits Transformation Initiative and Senior Policy Advisor for the Financial Security Program, Tim works to advance promising policies that address the most pressing financial security challenges facing people in America. Working with leaders across levels of government, Tim and Aspen FSP’s Benefits team seek to provide policy, nonprofit, and market leaders with the innovative ideas, research, and networks of leaders they need to design and enact policies that help people weather financial shocks and comfortably afford everyday life.
Before joining the Aspen Institute, he was an Associate Director for Economic Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. While there, he was the policy lead for BPC’s Paid Family Leave Task Force and led projects on economic opportunity, retirement security, and fiscal policy. Prior to that work, he was a tax and budget staffer at the Government Accountability Office. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Politico, and the Wall Street Journal.
Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
