Exciting Changes Coming: CalWORKs 2.0

Attendees at CalWORKs 2.0 training in March (click to enlarge)

by Carolyn Robinson, Assistance & Employment Programs Division Chief

Our county’s CalWORKs program will undergo some very important changes in service delivery over the next year and through December 2019—shifting from a compliance-oriented work-first approach, to the goal-driven achievement-oriented approach known as CalWORKs 2.0. This new holistic approach takes into account the needs of the entire family and not just the Welfare to Work participant. To learn more, see this short Road Test introduction video, created as a part of our CalWORKs 2.0 project marketing campaign.

To kick off this initiative and introduce the CalWORKs 2.0 philosophy change to our CalWORKs staff, we invited a team from the state to come to our County to provide a one-day foundational training, known as Evidence to Practice: Goal Achievement in CalWORKs 2.0. The training was conducted on March 12^th and 13^th in Santa Barbara at the Fess Parker Hotel. Over those two days, a total of 163 staff were trained: 75 from our county, and 88 from 17 other counties. To view photos from the event, see this slideshow.

This training pilot allowed CalWORKs Employment Services and related staff from Santa Barbara County, other larger counties, counties in close proximity, and community partners (Behavioral Wellness and ResCare-San Diego County) to explore the evidence base that underlies CalWORKs 2.0 and see how the strategies apply to their everyday work. The training addressed what is known about adult capabilities, adult learning, the behavioral science of living in poverty, goal achievement and its implications for how we help our participants set and achieve their goals. The trainers were most knowledgeable in their areas of expertise, which made this vital training a great success. The attendees actively participated and then shared positive feedback regarding their ability to come away from the training knowing how to use this framework to deliver services in a more intentional and goal-directed way.

A week later, during a cohort call, other counties who had sent staff to the training provided some enthusiastic feedback. Sonoma County staff enjoyed the exercises from the training and planned to use them when training their own staff. Ventura County had started CalWORKs 2.0 a year ago, so they had already done some training, but were still glad to have come.

The training facilitators included:

LaDonna Pavetti, Vice President for Family Income Support, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Valerie Uccellani, Co-Owner and Senior Partner at Global Learning Partners

Megan Stanley, Consultant, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Kudos to our department’s core implementation team for negotiating an agreement with the State CalWORKs 2.0 Facilitation Team to come to Santa Barbara County to conduct this training for free.