Sources & Publications We Follow
The publications and research sources Case Management Guide monitors and cites — curated for people who work in human services, not an indiscriminate directory. Inclusion reflects our editorial judgment of reliability and relevance, not affiliation or endorsement. Our News and Research coverage draws primarily from these sources.
Human services policy & practice
APHSA — Policy & Practice magazine (external link)
Covers: Public human services policy, implementation, modernization, economic mobility, and human services technology.
Why we follow it: The house publication of the state and local human services agency association — closest thing to a trade journal for public human services administration.
National Council of Nonprofits (external link)
Covers: Nonprofit operations, government grants and contracting practice, workforce, and advocacy for the sector.
Why we follow it: Consistent sector-wide reporting on how funding and policy changes land on operating nonprofits.
Research organizations
Urban Institute (external link)
Covers: Nonprofit finance, government grants and contracts, the social safety net, Medicaid, and state and local government.
Why we follow it: Produces the foundational national data on nonprofit–government funding relationships that our funding coverage relies on.
American Institutes for Research (AIR) (external link)
Covers: Evaluation and behavioral/social science research, including human services program evaluations.
Why we follow it: Evaluator of the SSYI research central to our In Practice coverage.
WestEd (external link)
Covers: Research and evaluation, frequently in education and youth-serving systems.
Why we follow it: Co-evaluator of the SSYI studies; a recurring rigorous evaluation shop in our space.
Healthcare & Medicaid
KFF (and KFF Health News) (external link)
Covers: Medicaid financing, eligibility, state-directed payments, work requirements, and federal/state health funding.
Why we follow it: The most consistently precise independent tracker of Medicaid policy — the largest funding stream touching human services.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) (external link)
Covers: Official Medicaid rules, guidance, and data.
Why we follow it: The primary source for Medicaid policy; everything else is interpretation.
State & local policy
The Pew Charitable Trusts (external link)
Covers: State fiscal policy, federal funds flowing to states, and public finance.
Why we follow it: Rigorous fiscal analysis of the federal-to-state funding pipeline most human services money travels through.
Stateline (external link)
Covers: State policy implementation, Medicaid, public programs, and state/local policy changes.
Why we follow it: Daily reporting on how state governments actually implement the policies that shape local programs.
Philanthropy & nonprofit finance
Candid (external link)
Covers: Foundations, donor-advised funds, nonprofit finance, and philanthropy trends.
Why we follow it: The central data source on philanthropic funding flows and nonprofit financial health.
Giving USA (IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy) (external link)
Covers: The annual estimate of total U.S. charitable giving by source and destination.
Why we follow it: The long-running benchmark for private giving trends.
Government funding portals
Grants.gov (external link)
Covers: Federal grant opportunities and the federal grants lifecycle.
Why we follow it: Primary source for federal funding opportunities.
SAM.gov (external link)
Covers: Federal award registration and contract opportunities.
Why we follow it: Required infrastructure for any organization receiving federal awards.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) (external link)
Covers: Federal human services funding, programs, and HIPAA guidance (via the Office for Civil Rights).
Why we follow it: The federal agency most human services funding and privacy rules trace back to.
Standards & technology
NIST (external link)
Covers: The Cybersecurity Framework and cryptography standards.
Why we follow it: The shared vocabulary for security conversations with software vendors.
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (external link)
Covers: WCAG accessibility standards.
Why we follow it: The reference standard for accessible software, including the systems case managers use daily.
For important contested topics we consult multiple source types — a government primary source, independent research, and sector/practitioner perspectives — without manufacturing "two sides" where the evidence does not support them. See our editorial policy.