by Frank Mejia, Employment Services Division Chief
CalWORKs/Welfare-to-Work (CW/WTW) celebrates its 20th birthday this year! (Note: see the Retrospective article below if you'd like a first-hand account of its birth!) Our program has evolved quite a bit over the last 20 years, with challenges during economic downturns and budget shortfalls, to successful brighter years when the State Legislature restored cuts and created new opportunities to serve our clients better. In recent years, many new investments enacted by the State Legislature have enabled us to further strengthen the families we serve and improve outcomes for them.
We are now on the eve of launching a new era of success with the advent of the CalWORKs 2.0 initiative, and we have the lessons learned and the positive strides made in the last 20 years to position us for even greater success in the next 20 years. Let’s celebrate some of the highlights below from the last 20 years that will help us build on the success of tomorrow, including:
- Access and support to mental health and substance abuse treatment, as well as screening for learning disabilities, and support for victims of domestic violence through our co-located CalWORKs Resource Support Team of licensed clinicians available at each site;
- Adoption of case coordination of services for families served by both CalWORKs and Child Welfare Services through our Linkages initiative;
- Providing better service to families with fathers through our Supporting Fatherhood Involvement Initiative;
- Successful implementation of an expanded subsidized employment program known as Job Opportunities Building $kills (JOB$);
- Adopting homework study time into the list of approved WTW activities;
- Implementation of the On-Line CalWORKs Appraisal Tool (OCAT) to better identify family needs and strengths and develop better WTW plans;
- Implementation of a Distance Learning Program to assist clients in meeting required hours of participation;
- Implementation of co-located WTW services at Allan Hancock College to better serve our mutual student population;
- Addition of Family Advocacy Services program to help families in crisis and provide services to stabilize and ready them for participation in the WTW program;
- Addition of the Housing Support Program (HSP) to provide assistance with locating, securing and furnishing a home or apartment for our families facing homelessness;
- Successful implementation of a home visitation program to re-engage sanctioned WTW recipients known as our WTW Re-Engagement Program (WREP);
- Addition of Diaper Assistance to help struggling families with the costs of purchasing diapers for their children;
- Repeal of the Maximum Family Grant Rule (MFG) to provide greater income support to growing families;
- Instituting an Auto program at various times to help struggling families with costly repairs on their vehicles so that they have safe and reliable transportation to and from work and school;
- Addition of a Once in a Lifetime Exemption (OIL) to provide families with a reprieve from mandated participation and a temporary stop to the time clock while they deal with a special circumstance that keeps them from WTW participation.