BeneFit Finder

Team Members Discord Handles

gaurang_d, samantha.pang

Inspiration

The inspiration for BeneFit Finder came from a stark realization: billions of dollars in government benefits go unclaimed each year, not because people don't qualify, but because they don't know these programs exist or find the application process overwhelming. We witnessed family members and friends struggle to navigate complex government websites, missing out on critical support they deserved. This motivated us to create a solution that could bridge the gap between citizens and their entitled benefits.

What it does

Our webapp makes finding government benefits quick and easy. Users answer a few basic questions like age, income, household size, and location and our application will check for their eligibility for programs like food assistance, healthcare, housing support and more from our custom-made database. Instead of spending hours researching, users get a clear, personalized list of benefits they qualify for in just minutes. Each recommendation comes with simplified eligibility explanations and direct links to application forms, transforming what's typically a confusing process into a straightforward journey.

How we built it

We first built a scraper to find government-funded programs and store them in a database. Afterward, we built our backend in flask - python and implemented Retrieval Augmented Generation to tailor the matches according to the user input

Challenges we ran into

We ran into a lot of bugs and issues along the way that took a long time to fix. Some issues we had were getting the backend to work, connecting the frontend to the backend and lots of deployment issues.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our team successfully created an intuitive interface that makes complex benefit systems accessible to everyone, backed by a robust matching algorithm with high accuracy in benefit recommendations.

What we learned

The development of BeneFit Finder has been an invaluable learning experience that extended far beyond coding. We gained deep insights into the importance of user research when building accessible applications and learned crucial lessons about handling sensitive data responsibly. Understanding the complexity of government systems and regulations proved essential, as did the value of clear error handling and user feedback.

What's next for Untitled

Looking ahead, we have ambitious plans to enhance BeneFit Finder's capabilities. We're working on developing a mobile app to improve accessibility and integrating with government APIs for real-time eligibility checking. Future updates will include multi-language support to serve diverse communities, a document upload feature for streamlined application processes, and community features where users can share experiences and tips. We're also planning to expand our coverage to include state and local government programs, making BeneFit Finder an even more comprehensive resource for accessing public assistance programs.

Built With

• convexdb
• flask
• koyeb
• langchain
• nextjs
• python
• react
• retrievalaugmentedgeneration
• typescript
• vercel