How the Endless Paperwork of the Pandemic Kept People From Receiving Benefits

This is Part 1 of “Insecurity,” a series of short films that tells the stories of Americans who aren’t caught by our social safety net. As we will see, the pandemic only made things worse, including for Lisa Ventura, a social worker who finds herself drowning in the endless paperwork required for her clients, and family, to receive the benefits and services they are entitled to and need.

This piece was supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.