How to Find Opportunities for Public Assistance

Federal Assistance Tools Available to Help Many don't realize how you can take advantage of the free public assistance from the federal government in emergencies.

Welfare was meant to help in a variety of circumstances like higher education, financial distress and higher healthcare costs.

To be clear, you still must meet the requirements from the government, but they provide it to those who need it the most.

How to Find Opportunities for Public Assistance Even when you don't qualify for one public assistance program, you may qualify for others.

Check around because the government offers a variety of programs, and sometimes they look quite similar.

Nevertheless, the federal government funds all of them.

The difference comes from how the requirements may differ from one federal assistance program to the next.

Some of the possibilities to look at include: Medicaid Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Supplemental Security Income Temporary Assistance to Families in Need Supplemental Security Income Child Health Insurance Programs Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children You may want to ask about the requirements for those federal aid programs.

If you don't qualify for one, check to see if they offer a similar program.

Beware of Government Scammers Unfortunately, scammers exist abundantly in this area and often try to gain access to sensitive information.

Beware of fraudulent official status and how they communicate with you.

Scammers often try to call you with a fake caller ID to fool you.

You may see a text or email about government funding.

Most government agencies don't reach out to you like this, so don't be fooled.

If you ever have a doubt, don't hesitate to go to the source and ask first.

Beware of them trying to force you into an immediate decision.

Any time a government assistance program contacts you without you initiating the process, beware of it being a potential scammer.

Check and doublecheck to see that you spoke with a real official.

A true official will never feel offended at you checking their authenticity.

Where to Search: Benefits.gov

They designed this system as a suitable tool to help those in need to find assistance.

Some of the tools you can use under their program include the Benefits Finder and the Browse Benefits feature.

Benefits Finder: The Benefits Finder function will hand you a feature where you fill out a survey for them to locate aid programs that can help.

The survey looks at the options available to make things easier for you.

Browse Benefits: If you'd just like to see what they have, check the Browse Benefits tool.

You can sort the options based on state and federal agency.

Conclusion Many assistance programs exist at the federal, state and local level.

Even if you don't qualify for one program, you may want to try for a different program.

Benefits.gov, in particular, can help you to see your options.