Recent Projects

Some examples of recent projects:

Economic Security Project California (ESCA), evaluation of Claim Your Cash Los Angeles (CYCLA) pilot project (2025)

The evaluation of the Claim Your Cash Los Angeles (CYCLA) pilot examines a pilot program designed to increase the take-up of tax credits among low-income residents of Los Angeles County by leveraging existing connections with frontline benefits workers. The first-year findings highlight key successes and valuable lessons for future efforts, including CYCLA’s effectiveness in driving new users to free tax preparation at partner VITA sites. While some agency partners succeeded in converting filers from paid services to free filing, others primarily attracted individuals who were already likely to use VITA. In 2025, the pilot will also explore whether expanding co-located VITA sites might further enhance the program's impact. Data collection for year two is currently in progress. Final 2024 report is available here.

Claim Your Cash Los Angeles - Year One Analysis (2025)

The February 2025 report on the Claim Your Cash Los Angeles (CYCLA) pilot analyzes its first year, focusing on efforts to increase tax credit uptake among low-income LA County residents. The program leveraged existing connections with frontline benefits workers to drive new users to free tax preparation services at VITA partner sites. While some agency partners were effective at bringing in new filers and transitioning them from paid tax products to free services, others saw less impact. Expanding VITA sites in 2024 will likely boost the program's success, and more detailed data collection in future years will provide a clearer picture of the pilot's full impact. Final report available here.

Boundless Demand - Culturally Relevant Fresh Foods for Bay Area Food Bank Participants (2024)

In May 2024, the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) partnered with Diana Jensen Consulting Services to conduct research aimed at developing a strategic procurement policy for Bay Area food banks to better meet the needs of BIPOC food program participants. The report, titled Boundless Demand, explores which produce items BIPOC food program participants want but aren't receiving enough of and identifies significant gaps in demand. The study supports the goal of operationalizing equity and enhancing the resilience of the regional food system, in line with new funding opportunities from the USDA's Local Food Purchasing Agreement (LFPA) program. The findings highlight the culturally important fruits, vegetables, and herbs for key populations such as Latinx, Black/African American, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino communities, aiming to improve food bank offerings to better reflect the needs of Bay Area's diverse low-income residents. Final report available here.

WIATT project with Full Frame Initiative (2023-2024)

Diana Jensen Consulting collaborated with the Full Frame Initiative (FFI) on the roll-out of WIATT (Wellbeing Insights, Assets & Tradeoffs Tool), playing a key advising and prototyping role. WIATT focuses on ensuring the representation of diverse community voices in development project feedback by identifying local data sources to complement survey results. Diana designed visual tools for civic teams to assess the diversity of survey responses in real time, and worked with FFI to create prototype asset maps that support outreach efforts. Diana worked with the WIATT team to facilitate stakeholder meetings in Cleveland, OH and Kingston, NY, bringing together FFI, city officials, and community representatives to interpret both quantitative and qualitative survey data.

Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund - Food Security Initiative (2023- 2025)

Diana Jensen Consulting serves as a strategic advisor for Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund’s Food Security Initiative, where we have played a key role in facilitating strategic planning over the past two years. In addition to guiding the initiative’s overall direction, we provide mentorship to the operations lead responsible for implementing the scope of work. Our collaboration has focused on ensuring that the initiative is both impactful and sustainable, driving progress toward enhancing food security in the communities served.

San Francisco-Marin Food Bank Home-Delivered Grocery Program | Analysis of Impact and Opportunities (2023)

In 2023, Diana Jensen Consulting conducted a literature review, analysis of program data, focus groups and participant interviews in order to understand the impact of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s home-delivered grocery program for participants, and its role in the existing service landscape. Explored policy and operational opportunities for maintaining a sustainable program in the fact of significant shifts in the funding landscape. Final report available here.

CalFresh Expansion to SSI Recipients | Learnings and Opportunities (2022, 2024)

In 2022, Diana Jensen Consulting analyzed data provided by the California Department of Social Services, along with findings from interviews with key stakeholders and a client focus group, to identify the successes and challenges of the initial roll-out of CalFresh benefits to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in California. Deliverables:

An interactive dashboard, updated annually, to support state and local actors implement effective additional outreach strategies;in implementing
A 2-pager to support advocates to share findings with policymakers; and
A comprehensive report (2022) that includes recommendations for addressing remaining service gaps, and provides a roadmap to reach full, equitable enrollment.

California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) Member Survey (2020, 2022)

Diana Jensen Consulting designed, fielded, and analyzed the 2020 statewide survey of member food banks to (a) paint a clearer, more nuanced picture of the network's tremendous work before and during the COVID-19 crisis, and (b) identify challenges and opportunities for the coming years. Worked with the CAFB communications team to translate findings into external talking points and useful visuals that the association and its members could use with funders and policymakers. Redesigned in 2022 to reflect new network priorities.

Code for America Internal Knowledge Base Development (2019 - 2022)

From 2019 - 2022, Diana Jensen Consulting synthesized 10+ years of Code for America's insights gleaned from field work and research on improving safety net program and criminal record clearance automation systems into a robust internal "Knowledge Base." The goal of the project was to ground staff in existing institutional knowledge, ensure new projects build on past ones, and boost the organization's ability to research and promote changes that will help people the most. The Knowledge Base provides a variety of searchable summaries of insights, including those related to the underlying barriers to benefits delivery, effective strategies to address them, and the most important next questions to address in research. Products also included "Deep Dives" - synthesized learnings on key topics areas, an Airtable repository of research materials, and an organizational approach for maintaining the Knowledge Base for effective ongoing use.

California Older Adults Meals Gap Analysis & Dashboard (2021)

In 2021, Diana Jensen Consulting analyzed population-level survey data and service delivery data from a wide range of food assistance programs for low income older adults to develop a gap analysis that estimated the scale of unmet need for food assistance among older adults before and during COVID-19. Facilitated a series of cross-sector, statewide stakeholder discussions to identify recommendations for closing those gaps. Report and interactive dashboards available here.

COVID Community Based Organization (CBO) Food Delivery Operations (2020)

Diana Jensen Consulting led the COVID Community Based Organization (CBO) Food Delivery Local Operations Work Group, which was tasked by the California Department of Social Services and California Department of Aging to identify ways local CBOs could coordinate and get food assistance to older adults sheltering in place during early months of the COVID-19 crisis. Convened California stakeholders across multiple sectors - nonprofits, county administrators, statewide associations, state agencies. Specifically:

Developed county-level of estimates of demand for services;
Engaged corporate stakeholders that could support innovative cross-sector approaches to home delivery.
Identified promising practices and consolidated them into an easy-to-share resource as they emerged in real time;
Synthesized and shared feedback on various FEMA program implementation challenges with appropriate CalOES contacts; and
Consolidated critical operational and policy "lessons learned" based on extensive interviews with key stakeholders to inform future efforts.