Project:Benefit Wiki/Community Portal

This page contains resources for the community maintaining the Benefit Wiki project on OpenCongress.

How to participate
You can edit any page clicking on the edit tab at the top of the article. (You have to be registered to edit, which you can do by clicking "Join OpenCongress" up in the top-right corner.)

You can help keep the project up-to-date by adding information about benefits in your state, tracking the current rates of total unemployment/insured unemployed, and relevant news articles from your state.

Simple guidelines

 * Help on using the Rich Editor (inserting links, formatting text, etc.)
 * Quick guide to using the regular Wiki code (i.e., disabling the Rich Editor)

Editing state dashboards
To edit a state dashboard (which includes information on unemployment rates and eligibility for Tiers 1 and 2 of EUC):
 * 1) Find the state on the Benefit Wiki map.
 * 2) Click "Edit" at the top of the page
 * 3) Click the "Disable Rich Editor" link (You'll now see the regular wiki code, which includes instructions on filling in the info)
 * 4) Edit the fields for TUR/IUR/TIER1/TIER2
 * 5) Click the "Save Page" button at the bottom of the screen

State pages

 * Fill-in information for individual states
 * Contact information for unemployment offices
 * Phone numbers
 * Physical addresses
 * Web URLs


 * Current Data
 * Unemployment rates (TUR and/or IUR)
 * Any other data deemed useful by the community


 * Benefits
 * Eligibility requirements
 * How are benefits impacted by federal legislation
 * i.e., are Tier 1 and 2 EUC available in this state?


 * Training/education opportunities
 * Are benefits impacted by training/school
 * Links for resources (training centers, universities and community colleges, etc.)

Federal benefits information

 * Fact-check articles on:
 * Unemployment benefits
 * Emergency unemployment compensation


 * Create articles on:
 * Extended benefits (Avelino)

Current legislation

 * Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009
 * Fact check the current article
 * Create an article for H.R. 3548 that will link to the above article on S. 1699 (Avelino)
 * Create article on H.R. 3404
 * Identify any additional legislation that needs a wiki article

Misc. stuff

 * Build-out "How to participate" section on this page. (Avelino)
 * Establish guidelines for participation/sourcing
 * Organize to march? I added that in the discussion page. (iliveinct)


 * Improve homepage
 * Contact info - see blank below (all)
 * Better interface for selecting states (Conor)
 * "About" section (Avelino)

Contact/Participants
The Benefit Wiki project on OpenCongress is coordinated by OC community members with support from the OpenCongress team. You can contact any of us via our user talk pages linked-to below or email [mailto:writeus@opencongress.org OpenCongress team].

Benefit Wiki is a community project open to participation by all. Please add your name/username below if you'd like people to know you're participating and so they can contact you via your user talk page.

Benefit Wiki organizers


 * HopefromCA
 * Nancym
 * Jones8288

OpenCongress helpers


 * Avelino Maestas

Participants:


 * Wingnut
 * Abaratar
 * iliveinct