Trooper Sanders, CEO of Benefits Data Trust, discussed the Philadelphia based non-profit, helping thousands of people access entitlements for food, housing, and healthcare. We began with the fact that there is over 400 billion dollars in unclaimed funds that are lost each year – lost to the farmers, grocers, transportation system. He discussed their mission to connect and educate the public on assistance they are entitled to receive but don’t know it or are deterred by the complicated enrollment process. We discussed the barriers, pride and stigma one of the largest. Mr. Sanders described how BDT works with both sides, the social service funders and the applicant, to help create more accessible, user-friendly systems to help alleviate poverty and get families back on track and to get more of these dollars back into the economy.
