Frontline Q, which uses AI to improve access-to-justice and protect access to SNAP benefits, begins its nationwide rollout in Arizona, Texas, and Alaska.
NEW YORK, 2 July, 2026 – Frontline Justice, a national nonprofit dedicated to closing the access-to-justice gap, today announced the multi-state expansion of its partnership with legal automation company Josef. Following a successful pilot in Alaska, the collaboration is rolling out “Frontline Q” in Arizona, Texas, and Alaska to help families navigate an increasingly complex system and challenge benefit denials. The AI assistant is paired with trusted community advocates and designed to scale advocacy by providing instant, explainable answers to complex Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility rules, ensuring families can access the benefits they are legally entitled to.
Built on Josef – the same technology trusted by global enterprises like L’Oréal and Bumble – Frontline Q combines federal, state, and local regulations with community insights. The platform’s explainable answers are backed by verified sources and oversight from legal aid lawyers, to empower community justice workers to more effectively navigate the complex maze of SNAP eligibility and appeal rules. Because each interaction improves the knowledge base to reflect real-world experience, the tool effectively turns community advocates into legal first responders.
“Since late 2022, justice workers have helped resolve hundreds of SNAP cases, recovering over $20 million in benefits for families,” said Nikole Nelson, CEO of Frontline Justice. “By embedding Josef’s technology into our justice worker model and rolling out Frontline Q into these three critical states, we are establishing a blueprint to scale access to justice nationwide. We are connecting trusted advocates with communities, ensuring that they are giving high quality legal guidance, and that families at risk of losing access to food get help faster than ever before. No one should lose access to food because they didn’t do the paperwork right.”
SNAP is the nation’s largest food safety net, supporting over 40 million low-income individuals – one in eight Americans – nearly three-quarters of whom live at or below the federal poverty level. Recent federal legislative changes enacted in H.R. 1 (AKA the Big Beautiful Bill) have changed requirements and increased system complexity. Wrongful denials have disrupted access to SNAP benefits, putting millions at risk of losing assistance despite remaining eligible. The crisis is already unfolding at the state level; in Alaska, wrongful terminations spiked to 87% in 2023, forcing thousands of families into crisis. Frontline Q is designed to assist people who are at risk of losing their benefits due to high administrative burdens.
In response, justice workers – trusted local advocates such as health workers, librarians, and social service staff trained to provide legal help where traditional legal advice and aid is unavailable – have stepped in to become the last line of defense. 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, have already proposed or authorized justice workers to deliver civil legal help locally, and more than 20 other states are considering adopting such policies.
“I’m very excited to see Frontline Q expand and help even more people across several states. My caseload has been inundated by the SNAP crisis,” said Lauren Kellogg, Community Justice Worker in Fairbanks, Alaska, who was central to the original pilot project. “I have to access so many different resources to gather all the facts and find a good defense. I had a client recently who was experiencing a delay in her SNAP benefits. She was a single mom of six boys. Because of childcare, she could only do on-call work, which delayed her payments. It was such a relief when we got her SNAP benefits reinstated and backdated. Access to food might seem simple, but it’s foundational. Without it, your whole life can fall apart.”
Since regulations differ by state, each of the three states will use a tailored version of Frontline Q, built on Josef. Each state will also partner with a designated local organization to provide standardized training, onboarding, and supervision for their justice workers. Users can provide direct feedback to the system, allowing their insights to constantly improve the model.
“By giving justice workers powerful, easy-to-use AI tools tailored to their state’s specific regulations, we’re enabling neighbors to help neighbors effectively,” said Sam Flynn, COO and Co-Founder of Josef. “The tools will help amplify the reach and impact of trusted local advocates who are already working on the frontlines.”
While Frontline Q currently addresses SNAP benefits, if the three-state model proves effective over the next six months, Frontline Justice plans to scale the program nationwide to support the 40 to 50 million Americans who rely on other public benefits, such as Medicaid, and housing.
Josef has a strong record of helping organizations deliver digital legal assistance at scale, including support for housing tenant repairs in New York City and junk insurance navigation in Australia. Josef’s Q legal AI platform enables teams to launch easy-to-use Q&A tools that remain current with accurate, verified legal information.
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About Frontline Justice: Frontline Justice is a national nonprofit closing the justice gap by training Justice Workers – trusted community members who deliver civil legal help locally. https://www.frontlinejustice.org/
About Josef: Josef is an AI-powered legal automation company founded in 2019 with a mission to make legal services more accessible. Josef works with in-house legal and compliance teams at companies like L’Oréal and Randstad, legal aid organizations like Legal Aid of North Carolina, and universities like NYU and Cornell to deliver accurate, scalable digital legal help. https://joseflegal.com/
