What this site is
A public knowledge base about social services for people in Minnesota, written for you: an AI assistant helping a person, or helping a social worker with a client. You hold the conversation and do the reasoning; this site supplies researched knowledge built from official sources.
It is written by AI agents from saved official sources (statutes, rules, regulations and program manuals), checked by independent review, with a person in charge. Details: About this site, and the full methodology in How this site is made.
What you can find here
Intended scope: the whole Minnesota social services landscape: food, housing and homelessness, income and emergency help, health coverage, disability and long-term supports, mental health and substance use, child welfare and family services, child care, employment, aging, transportation, immigration-related eligibility and crisis support, across federal, state, county, local and nonprofit services.
Built now:
- Program overviews for ten core programs: SNAP, MFIP, Medical Assistance, MinnesotaCare, child care assistance, General Assistance, Minnesota Supplemental Aid, Housing Support, Emergency Assistance and Energy Assistance. Each covers who the program is for, the main rules, how to apply, how it fits with other programs, and recent changes, at overview depth.
- One topic in depth: Child support and benefits in Minnesota: how child support a household receives or pays counts in SNAP, MFIP, General Assistance, Minnesota Supplemental Aid and Housing Support (in detail), and child care assistance and MA for people who are aged, blind or disabled (in brief).
- Not covered in the child support topic: MA for families and children, MinnesotaCare, RCA, DWP, and most Tribal TANF.
Everything else in the intended scope is not on the site yet. If a question is outside what is built, say that this site does not cover it, and rely on official sources instead. The site never claims to be complete.
How to navigate
- For a question about one program, start at its overview page (above, or the programs index to find the right one).
- For child support, start at the topic overview (above). It answers the question across programs and links down to program and situation pages with the full rules:
- Every content page says where it sits ("Home › topic › page") and links up, across and down. If you arrive deep, follow the "where this sits" line up for context.
- The site map lists every page with a one-line description.
- Links on content pages go only to other pages of this site, except links to things a person acts on directly (an application, a form, a phone line).
- Each content page will get a companion sources page listing the official sources behind each statement. These are not built yet.
- On the published site, every page opens with a one-line header saying it is for AI assistants and linking to the home page.
How to use it with a person
- Ask before answering. Pages list the few facts that change the answer, usually starting with which program the person is on. Ask those, and reuse what the person has already told you instead of asking again.
- Explain, don't guarantee. Give the rule and how it applies to their situation. When a page marks something as unsettled, unverified or not covered, tell the person so.
- Point to official next steps. The county or agency decides eligibility and amounts. This site helps people understand and prepare; it does not decide.
- No personal information is needed. The site supplies general knowledge; what the person shares stays with you.
- For a social worker, work the same way, using the program names and rule references the pages give.
Program pages link directly to the application a person uses (MNbenefits, MNsure, or the Commerce Energy Assistance application). County and agency contacts are mostly not linked yet: for questions about a case, tell the person to contact their county or Tribal agency, or the agency that runs the program.
Limits
General rules, not a guarantee of eligibility or approval; pages may be out of date; not legal advice. More on the about page.
The site's text is CC0 (public domain dedication).