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The
California Department of Social Services continues to deliver and support
critical programs for California’s most vulnerable residents, and provides quarterly updates on their activities. We hope you find this update from them educational.
Also, the recently enacted state budget includes
additional support to help those most in need, strengthen communities, and
ensure that everyone can reach their highest level of health and potential
for a successful life.
The Department recently posted a detailed breakdown of the final enacted budget for
Fiscal Year 2022-23, as agreed upon between the Legislature and
the Administration.
Key CDSS third-quarter achievements include:
Support for Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities
- Community Care Expansion (CCE) - Capital Expansion
Grant Program:
In August, the Department announced that five organizations were awarded
a total of $47 million in grants to create more residential care options
for seniors and adults with disabilities, including people at risk of or
experiencing homelessness. These were the first grants awarded through
this new program, which will provide a total of
$570 million for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and construction of
adult and senior care facilities serving Supplemental Security
Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) and Cash Assistance Program
for Immigrants (CAPI) applicants and recipients, as well as other
community-based residential care settings, such as permanent supportive
housing and recuperative care sites.
- CCE Preservation Program: An additional $195
million will be awarded to participating California counties through the
CCE Preservation Program for the
immediate preservation of licensed adult and senior care facilities
currently serving SSI/SSP and CAPI recipients.
- Career Pathways: On September 15, the
Department’s Adult Programs Division launched Career Pathways for In-Home Supportive
Services (IHSS) and Waiver Personal Care Services (WPCS) providers.
Career Pathways provides $295 million to recruit, train, and retain
providers and to improve care and services for recipients. Providers
will be paid for every training hour and will qualify for incentive
payments if they complete specific pathways. All IHSS/WPCS providers
received a notice advising them to register for classes beginning in
October.
Support for Children and Families
- California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKs) Maximum Aid Payment: The maximum amount of
aid available to CalWORKs recipient families will
increase by 11 percent beginning in October 2022, with an additional 10
percent increase from October 2022 to September 2024. This is the
largest one-time increase in the history of the program and will provide
significant relief to families facing rising costs due to inflation.
- Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund II (PEAF): California made an
additional round of PEAF payments available to CalWORKs recipients. The PEAF II payment was a one-time $47
payment automatically sent to eligible CalWORKs families in July.
- CalFresh Emergency Allotments (EAs): CalFresh EAs continue to be issued,
raising each eligible household’s regular monthly allotment to a minimum
of $95. The most recent EA issuance was for the September 2022 benefit
month. A total of $10.9 billion in EA allotments have been issued,
supporting an average of 2.1 million CalFresh households with critical
food assistance, since March 2020.
- CalFresh Emergency Food Program Support for Food
Banks: The
most recent Budget Act included several key
investments in California’s food bank network, including a historic increase
to the existing CalFood program, bumping the amount available for food
banks to purchase locally-sourced food from $8 million per year to $120
million this fiscal year and then $60 million in the following year.
Additionally, nine food banks were awarded more than $30 million in
direct grants from the state to enhance their facilities and improve
their ability to serve people in their communities.
- CDSS CalFresh Enrollment Impact Evaluations: In August, California
Policy Lab (CPL) released a brief describing their research
evaluating the impact of different outreach strategies to increase
CalFresh enrollment rates among California college students. This
outreach resulted in more than 10,000 students applying for CalFresh in
early 2021 and getting up to $234 in food support per month.
- Pandemic EBT: The Department, in partnership with the California
Department of Education, announced the approval of California’s third
round of P-EBT plans to provide emergency nutrition benefits to children
for school year (SY) 2021-22 and Summer 2022 P-EBT, referred to as P-EBT 3.0. The program will be
available to both school-aged children and young children under age six.
Benefit cards for young children under age six will begin being mailed
in October 2022, while cards for school-aged children will begin being
mailed in November 2022. P-EBT cards will be mailed in alphabetical
order based on first name. To date, California has issued $8.3 billion
in P-EBT benefits to five million children for the 2019-20 and 2020-21
school years.
- Foster Caregiver Pandemic Assistance Payments: The Department has
been issuing one-time pandemic-related relief payments
of up to $5,000 to caregivers of foster youth for their increased
responsibilities during the initial stages of the COVID-19 emergency as
it relates to the home-based care and supervision of children and youth
under the jurisdiction of county child welfare agencies or probation
departments. As of September 2022, a total of about $77.8 million has
been sent to nearly 55,000 caregivers.
- Guaranteed Income: As part of last
year’s state budget, the Department is administering the $35 million Guaranteed Income Pilot Program. Pilot
programs will provide unconditional, individual, regular cash payments
intended to support the basic needs of recipients, with a focus on
serving pregnant individuals and former foster youth. Following
extensive stakeholder engagement, the Department released its Request
for Applications in July 2022 and anticipates announcing grant awards in
fall 2022.
- Valuable Tax Credits and Payments: To encourage CalFresh
recipients to file tax returns to claim the Child Tax
Credit and stimulus payments, the Department worked with external
partners to train more than 40 call agents on tax filing and how to help
clients navigate the filing process. The CalWORKs outreach team will
launch a targeted outreach campaign to more than 400,000 recipients via
text, email, and recorded voice call to encourage them to file their
taxes. Recipients will be provided live assistance support from call
agents on the CalWORKs Outreach Helpline.
- Supplemental Rate Payments for Child Care Providers: In April, the
Department announced one-time supplemental rate payments
that were distributed to eligible family child care providers. This was
part of an agreement between Governor Gavin Newsom, the Legislature, and
the Child Care Providers United union. These first payments, totaling
$144.5 million, were part of a $289 million investment to provide direct
funding to family child care providers. Monthly payments to expend the
remaining $144.5 million in supplemental rate payments started in
August, ranging from $125 to $900 per month. Payments will continue on a
monthly basis through June 2023.
- Child Care Stipends: On March 4, 2020, the
Governor declared a State of Emergency in California in response to
COVID-19. Since then, several rounds of child care stipends have been
sent out to child care providers serving families who receive subsidized
child care. Stipends are meant to help providers with hardships caused
by the pandemic such as reduced enrollment, increased teacher-to-child
ratios, additional cleaning costs, and other costs. Below are some
updates related to stipends for this quarter.
- Subsidized Child Care Stipends: The Budget Act of
2022, as amended by Assembly Bill (AB) 179 (Chapter 249, Statutes of
2022), continues to maximize the utilization of federal COVID-19 relief
funding provided through the American Rescue Plan Act and Coronavirus
Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. AB 179
appropriates up to $320 million in federal relief funding toward
flat-rate, one-time stipends for child care providers serving children
receiving subsidies based on April 2022 enrollment. The Department will
partner with a third-party administrator and existing child care and
development contractors to distribute stipend payments.
- Close-out of Licensed Child Care Stipends: The
Budget Act of 2021, as amended by AB 131 (Chapter 116, Statutes of
2021), included Licensed Child Care Facility Stabilization Stipends,
which served to help stabilize California’s child care infrastructure
for working families. The Department concluded distribution of these
Licensed Facility Stipends on August 31, 2022. As a result of this
pandemic relief initiative, approximately 37,000 direct relief payments
totaling $149 million were distributed to child care licensees.
- Direct Deposit for Child Care and Development
Contractors: The
Department has begun offering child care and development contractors the
option of direct deposit, rather than payment by
paper check. Currently, child care and development contractors may
enroll in this optional service to receive electronic payment. To date,
approximately half of child care and development contractors are now
receiving their apportionments through direct deposit.
- Legislation: Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed many bills
supporting California’s most vulnerable residents, and CDSS is grateful
to have the chance to implement many impactful policy changes. These
changes will result in greater access to specialty mental health
services, education, improved program efficiencies, strengthened
language access, and much more. The Department will be sharing
implementation efforts related to these new laws in the near future.
Thank you to the members of the Legislature, bill sponsors, and all
others who continue to be committed to our mission.
Advancing
a California for All
- Public Charge: In September, a joint statement was issued in response
to federal public charge changes. Immigrants and their loved ones across
California can seek and accept medical care, food assistance, and public
housing without fear or confusion about public charge consequences
thanks to a new public charge rule published by the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security that goes into effect December 23,
2022. Under the final rule, participation in CalFresh, public housing,
or Medi-Cal (except for long-term care), will not be considered as part
of the public charge determination. Also, as a reminder, medical
testing, treatment, and preventive services for COVID-19, including
vaccines, are not considered for public charge purposes. Individuals in
California seeking assistance are encouraged to consult one of many state-funded organizations that provide
legal services to immigrants.
- CalWORKs
and CalFresh Racial Equity and Implicit Bias Initiative: As mandated by Assembly Bill (AB) 135 (Chapter 85, Statutes of
2021), Section 44, the CalWORKs program, in collaboration
with the CalFresh program, is creating a statewide Racial Equity and Implicit Bias (REIB)
initiative, providing training, coaching, and support to
CalWORKs and CalFresh county staff. Responsive to this charge, during
this quarter, the REIB team invited county staff and leadership to share
their thoughts on this effort, inclusive of surveys and focus groups.
Effective September 19, 2022, 4,824 county staff and 1,139 county
leadership staff responded to the survey, with 30 counties participating
in the focus groups. Using the information received, the REIB team will
compile the training plan to be submitted to the Legislature in December
2022.
- Stop the Hate Program: In July, a second
round of Stop the Hate Program grants totaling
$30.3 million was distributed to qualified organizations to provide
direct services and support to victims of hate incidents and to
facilitate hate incident prevention measures. After the first round of
$14.3 million in grants was awarded in March, the Department and Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American
Affairs (CAPIAA) worked together to identify larger
investments with the potential to have an even greater impact in the
area of anti-hate services. This funding was approved as part of the
recently enacted state budget, which included an unprecedented $166.5
million dedicated to combat bias-motivated attacks, including those
targeting Asian and Pacific Islander communities. The Department is also
planning for the next round of Stop the Hate funding to include
underserved regions and communities. The Request for Applications will
be released late fall/early winter 2022. A report of Fiscal Year 2021-22
updates will soon be submitted to the Legislature.
- Golden Bear Passes: In support of
California’s Outdoors for All initiative, the Department partnered with
the California State Parks and the First Partner’s Office to make it
easier for all CalWORKs families to receive a free Golden Bear Pass and enjoy the benefits
of the outdoors. The pass provides free entry at more than 200 state
parks and beaches, ensuring more Californians will have access to the
outdoors. As of September 1, more than 26,000 passes had already been distributed
for families receiving CalWORKs.
- Housing and Homelessness Assistance Funding for
Tribal Entities: Through September 26, 2022, the Department accepted
funding requests and letters of interest for $17.5 million in funds set aside for
eligible Tribal entities to establish housing and homelessness
assistance through the Bringing Families Home Program, Home Safe
Program, and the Housing and Disability Advocacy Program.
- Afghan Integration and Resettlement Services (AIRS)
Funding: The
Afghan Integration and Resettlement Services
(AIRS) is a two-year capacity-building and case management
services grant initiative awarded to 13 agencies in June, for a total
investment of about $9.6 million. The awarded agencies will serve six
refugee-impacted counties across California through June 29, 2024. AIRS
strives to increase services for Afghan newcomers in California by
supporting the organizational capacity of qualified nonprofit
organizations to provide culturally and linguistically responsive case
management services to assist with the successful integration of Afghan
arrivals into their communities.
- Afghan Arrival Job Readiness (AAJR) Project: The Afghan Arrival Job Readiness (AAJR)
Project is a $700,000, two-year employment services grant initiative
(June 15, 2022 through June 30, 2024) that serves eligible Afghan
populations in California. Upwardly Global (AAJR grantee) will support
the job training and employment needs of Afghan newcomers with
job-related trainings, career-pathways coaching, employer connections,
and opportunities to re/upskill. Upwardly Global intends to serve a
minimum of 610 Afghan newcomers during the project period.
- CDSS Afghan Support and Investment Program (ASIP): The Department
developed the Afghan Support and Investment Program (ASIP)
to support the transition of recent Afghan newcomers to long-term
housing in California pursuant to the federal Operation Allies Welcome
(OAW), which was initiated in August 2021. ASIP is designed to provide
time-limited housing rental subsidies and housing-focused services aimed
at helping Afghan arrivals stabilize and move toward self-sufficiency.
ASIP has approved more than 4,700 applications to date and stopped
accepting them as of September 30.
- Statewide Asylee Orientation Project: On September 13, the
Department announced the recipients of the Statewide Asylee Orientation
(SAO) funding for FY 2022-23, allocating $300,000 in total funding to
two nonprofit organizations. The virtual Statewide Asylee Orientation will
provide information to asylees through culturally and linguistically
appropriate self-paced, evergreen, virtual content. This content will
address areas such as eligibility for benefits, employment, social
adjustment, and legal rights and responsibilities. In coordination with
local program partners, the SAO will target content and outreach efforts
for newly granted asylees in California. Please review the award announcement for further details
and a list of awardees.
Stay
up to date by visiting the Stakeholder Resources webpage,
which contains information on key upcoming meetings with CDSS. For more
developments, please visit www.cdss.ca.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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