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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 12011998 - C186 FHS#19 - c, TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS `ice +" CONTRA COST. FROM: FAMILY&HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE COUNTY DATE: December 1, 1998 �sr' �'c�uul' SUBJECT: CaIWORKS Implementation SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION(S1: 1. ACCEPT the attached report from the Director of Social Service on the status of CalWORKS implementation. 2 APPROVE the concept of a CalWORKS employment development program, which would provide hiring opportunities and retention support services for CalWORKS Welfare-to-Work participants. 3. Direct the Human Resources Department to prepare a resolution for consideration by the Board of Supervisors which would authorize and establish the CalWORKS Employment Development Program. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: `YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ,RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE —APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): Donna Gerber Mark DeSaulnier ACTION OF BOARD ON_ D, 'nl, 1,998 APPROVED AS RECOM EDAX OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A _X_UNANIMOUS(ABSENT – – – – – ) TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN AYES: NOES- ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN, Contact:Sara Hoffmap,335-1080 ATTESTED_DNgmbU 1 1998 PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF cc: CAO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Leslie Knight-HRND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Eileen Bitten-HR John Cullen,Social Service B - DEPUTY 1 VI. Employment Interviewing (G hours) This workshop introduces an interviewing model to support the transition from "investigative" to "motivational and explorative" interviewing. Participants evaluate their own listening skills,enhance their motivational techniques and learn skills for conducting interviews that facilitate participant development Objectives: Introduction to the Intentional Interviewing approach to planning,conducting and assessing effectiveness in participant interactions. Differentiate between the goals of the traditional eligibility interview and those of the employment-focused interview. ♦ Practice identifying participant strengths and barriers using the key concepts of Intentional interviewing. Presenter: Cliva Mee, Center for Human Services Training and Development Date and Time: Tuesday,November 17, 1998 —9:00--4:04 pm VII. Identifying and Referring Participants with Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues (7 hours) This session covers the symptoms or behaviors that indicate that a barrier may be present. We will also discuss the referral process in our department that supports the WTW participant in eliminating or reducing their barrier to employment. Representatives from the Health Services Department, Battered Woman's Alternatives and Rape Crisis Center will provide an overview of the services available to the WTW participant referrals. Objectives: ♦ Identify behavior associated with mental health problems, substance abuse, victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. ♦ Apply the good cause criteria to the victim of domestic violence. ♦ Evaluate the need for mandatory reporting referrals to Children's Protective Services in cases with domestic violence, substance abuse or mental health issues and the process for making those referrals. ♦ Identify which cases need to be carried by a Senior Employment Specialist and.how to make the referral to the Senior Employment Specialist. ♦ Make a referral to the substance abuse and mental health assessment counselor. ♦ Describe services provided through the Health Services Department, Battered Woman's Alternative and Rape Crisis Center. Incorporate the treatment programs for substance abuse or mental health into the WTW participant requirements. Presenter/Coordinator; Lynne Hofmann Date and Time: Thursday, November 19, 1998 --8:30—4:30 pm VIII. Job Seeking,Job Finding and Job Retention Skills (7 hours) This workshop introduces the Employment Specialist to the job seeking,job finding and job retention skills covered in the four week Job Club attended by most of our WTW participants. Employment Specialists will be reinforcing and supporting these skills during Pre and Post Assessment activities.' Objectives: ♦ Review job finding skills including dress, hygiene, resume writing, thejob market and job interviewing. ♦ Exploration of employer requirements and expectations. ♦ Reinforcement in skills that enhance participant self-esteem,self-image and confidence. ♦ Identify issues that threaten job retention and consider resources available to resolve them. Facilitator: Lynne Hofmann with support from internal subject matter experts Date and Time: Monday, November 23, 1998 — 8:34—4:30';pm IX. Building Life Skills (6 hours) This workshop focuses on how to help participants address personal challenges and build skills for successful participation in Welfare-to-Work. Objectives: ♦ Identify techniques for supporting participants in a broad range of life',changes necessary for moving from welfare to work. ♦ Reinforce interviewing and communication skills for working with participant strengths while building self-esteem and confidence. ♦ Develop skills for helping participants improve money and time management issues. ♦ Acquire techniques for minimizing sabotage by family or friends. Presenter: Jaime Jones, The Center for Human Services Training and Development Date and Time: Tuesday,. December 8, 1998— 9:00 am to 4:00 pm X. Supporting and Evaluating Progress with the WTW Plan (6 hours) This workshop focuses on method's of monitoringparticipant progress in activities designed to support their transition to self-sufficiency. Objectives: ♦ Describe the process used by the Sr. Employment Specialist to develop the WTW Plan Identify non-compliance situations and the process for applying sanctions. ♦ Consider techniques for tracking progress. ♦ Define the E.S. role in supporting the participant's success in completing each step of the WTW goal. Presenters: Lynne Hofmann and Sr. Employment Specialist Supervisor Date & Time: Thursday, December 10, 1998 — 8:30 am--4:30 pm --I'll.,.................................................................. ........................................... ..................... .................................................................... assistant teacher III in a child care center. Or, You could become a trained child care provider. You may be able to join the CaIWORKs Child Care wining Program if: • You, yourself, are on CaIWORKs • You can pass a fingerprint clearance • You can pass a TB test or get TB treatment • You are drug free • You have basic reading and writing skills YOU MUST BE ABLE TO ATTEND CLASSES ALL DAY, 5 DAYS A WEEK FOR S MONTHS. WE WILL PAY FOR YOUR CHILD CARE, TRANSPORTATION, BOOKS AND SUPPLIES. NEXT January 25, 1999 through June, 1999 TRAINING If you applied before and were not invited, please apply again. Return the card below before November 15, 1998! Send it with your CA 7 Form, or for faster service, mail it to Contra Costa County, Social Service Department, 40 Douglas Drive, Martinez, CA 94553 ------------------------------------------------------ Cut along dotted line. want to learn more about the Child Care Training Program! Name Social Security # Address City— State Zip— Phone number CaIWORKs Case tt ........... FHS#19 BACKGROUNDIREASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS: On November 9, 1998, John Cullen, Director of Social Service Department, reviewed the attached update on CalWORKS with the Family and Human Services Committee. The report covers the areas of the state budget,federal and state work participation rates, the Workforce Investment Act as well as County activities, including: v grants and demonstration projects; >_ CaIWORKS/WTW implementation; >_ local CalWORKS performance indicators for child care; a- CalWORKS simplification committee; a job retention services; >- evening services pilot; >- lobby resources/help desks; b- interagency work groups/activities; >_ geographical information system map; other activities. In addition, Mr. Cullen gave a follow up briefing on issues that were raised at the board meeting of October 27, 1998. Mr. Cullen noted that CalWORKS implementation is at the 10 month mark in an 18 month implementation process. The department has accomplished much, but much still needs to be done. Mr. Cullen briefed the committee members on: Participant services-Currently there are 12,400 cases in TANF, including 8,200 welfare- to-work services participants. Over the past year, there has been a 41% increase in job placements, with 2,344 placements. Mr. Cullen also reported that the "bubble" is going through the system slower than expected, primarily due to work load and classification issues and no show rates by clients. Revenue - Mr. Cullen reported that the majority of CalWORKS revenues have been received by the department, $44.5 million to date, which will allow for continued staffing and programmatic expansions to meet the needs of CalWORKS. In addition, the department is working with other service providers, such as EDD, DTPA, colleges, adult education to "coordinate" use of their resources for CalWORKS. Child Care - The department has completed merger of the six categorical programs into one program and has increased staffing (25 child care specialists, eight clerks and four supervisors). In addition, personal computers have been added for child care staff in order to manage appointments, payments and data. To date, there have been approximately 1800 conversions under CalWORKS, including payment changes. Applications are now all within 30 days and there are no payment backlogs, with a few exceptions (due primarily to failure of the client to complete the application, to return it or to appeal the case). Resource Development - The Social Service Department is continuing to expand its resources to support the CalWORKS program. These include child care expansion grants, adding 119 child care trainees. Social Service is also funding Community Services to support expansion of their Head Start program to full day and to expand infant-toddler care. It has established mental health, drug and alcohol, family support, child care, respite and transportation resources in the department. Social Service now has an expanded presence with CalWORKS staff at Diablo Valley College, Los Medanos College, the One Stop Career Centers and the Service Integration Centers. In addition, the department utilized GRIP funding to secure a $784,000 transportation grant for CalWORKS participants and their children. They also received a non-custodial parent employment grant in cooperation with the District Attorney and participated in the Contra Costa and Richmond DTPA Welfare-to-Work Competitive Grants. The department is also co-partnering with EDD on job development efforts. They have met with business to discuss their educational needs and skill requirements; including Chevron, Bank of America; Marriott and Sunrise Development. Training and job placement programs have also been initiated in other agencies, including Nummi, Tech Pros, Federated, Water District and the One Stops. With regard to internal resources, the department has 2 FHS#19 197 personal computers related to CalWORKS and has completed/initiated space reconfigurations and expansions necessary to support CalWORKS programmatic needs. Labor Issues and Staffing - Mr. Cullen informed the committee that he felt that management and labor have successfully addressed many transition issues, including job classes,job duties, salaries, assignments and hiring processes. Most recently, agreement has been reached on how best to "unclog" the initial and ongoing CalWORKS case management process with a request to the Board of Supervisors for 10 new positions and reassignments and temporary Al's for an additional 15 positions. Mr. Cullen cautioned the committee to remember that the department is only 10 months; into this major transformation of the welfare system. Many more issues will develop. There may not always be congruence between management and labor; however the Social Service Department is committed to ensuring that CalWORKS participants receive the best service possible to support their transition from wel€are-to-work. He requested that the Family and Human Services Committee and other members of the Board call him, personally, if there were questions about issues or rumors that needed to be checked out. He offered to meet with Family and Human Services more frequently, if desired, and also offered to meet with board members individually or with their staff. Supervisor Donna Gerber asked which forms have been eliminated. Mr. Cullen;reported that some have been eliminated or shrunk; others were kept to meet the needs of other departments. Supervisor Gerber also noted that domestic violence is a barrier to employment and commented on the work of the Battered Women's Alternative. She wondered if CalWORKS had any resources to address the domestic violence issue. John Cullen reported that such services could be paid out of the Community Investment Fund. Also, staff is being provided training on domestic violence issues. Supervisor Gerber also asked why the two parent household work participation rates are not yet met. Mr. Cullen responded that this is a national problem, that the state directive to the counties has been to focus on the single parent households. He noted that few states are meeting the two parent household work requirements. Supervisor Gerber also expressed concern that on child care training, stating that people in this field may not earn enough for self sufficiency and that there was little upward mobility.' Mr Cullen agreed and further stated that one third of the people going through their program are childcare providers, although many go into child care related industries. Leslie Knights, Director of Human Resources Department, then briefed the committee on the proposed CalWORKS Career Development Program, which was designed to provide County job opportunities for CalWORKS in a supportive manner. The program would hire CalWORKS welfare-to-work program participants into designated County entry level jobs at 5% below merit system classes. Support would be provided to both the job participant and the department to enhance participant job retention and to assist the new hires in the transition to self sufficiency. After one year of successful participation in the program, participants would be eligible for permanent County employment (see attached intake referral testing and hiring process schematic). Supervisor Donna Gerber asked if this was a meet-and-confer issue and Ms Knight responded that her department had talked with the employee organizations. The Supervisor also asked if there was a problem with a lower pay scale. Ms. Knight responded that the program was akin to an apprenticeship program and, consequently, the lower pay scale represented the additional support services given to the program participants. Initially, the program would target 15 participants, which is the maximum number that the department felt it could properly support with job retention activities. Supervisors Donna Gerber and Mark DeSaulnier agreed that the program was an excellent idea and the County should consider a goal of 1% of County employees eventually being former CalWORKS participants and that, once established, the Human Resources Department should review this program with other public agencies such as the cities, water districts, sewer district to engage their participation. 3 y � zrn d d L1 z UJ CL Ov >C Ca LLI � u td E r eC . o ory o m n ma) a5' y etn w C3 �I tyy ty. 0 CS � ,:' 0 0 o m 'Gt � _ w N � � " L O Z LU €11 to ,w ua N _ L U) d, s Gt0 `mLU7 m +r sc ` C. (D zz z W to C SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT CONTRACOSTA COUNTY DATE November 4, 1998 TO Supervisors Donna Gerber and Mark DeSaulnier Family & Human Services Committee FROM John Cullen, Director(4k Social Service Department RF CaIWORKs Implementation Update As an ongoing Family & Human Services referral, we are providing you the attached update on CaIWORKs in Contra Costa County. We continue to work toward complete implementation of the CaIWORKs County Plan with the goal of converting from an eligibility-focused system to an employment and supportive services- focused system, and promoting a countywide workforce development system so that our participants can move toward self-sufficiency. As before, I must acknowledge the dedication and efforts of many staff in the Department, as well as community partners, for their work in making the necessary changes to enable our County's citizens to become self-supporting and productive members of the community. inc fhs 6Lsman.doc ........... ......... ......... ......... ......... ._............................ __ ___ ........... . ............................................................___. ................... Family and Human Services Committee Welfare Reform/CalWORKs Implementation Update November 1998 Table of Contents I. State and Federal Activities..................................................................................................... 1 StateBudget................................................................................................................................................1 Federal and State Work Participation Rates .................................................................................................3 WorkforceInvestment Act...........................................................................................................................3 II. County Activities....................................................................................................................... 3 Grantsand Demonstration Projects..............................................................................................................3 CalWORKs/W'fW Implementation..............................................................................................................5 Local CalWORKs Performance Indicators...................................................................................................6 ChildCare...................................................................................................................................................7 CalWORKs Simplification Conu-nittee.........................................................................................................8 JobRetention Services..............................:..................................................................................................9 EveningServices Pilot................................................. ................................... .................................... ......9 LobbyResource/Help Desks......................................................................................................................10 InteragencyWork Groups/Activities..........................................................................................................10 Geographic Information Systems Map of Contra Costa County................................................I.............I,.Ill MiscellaneousActivities............................................................................................................................12 Attachments A. Draft Transition Pian Update for CalWORKs Welfare To Work Implementation PhaseI........................................................................................................................................................1 Phasell.......................................................................................................................................................4 Local Office Plans for Phase H Ca1WORKs Implementation.....................................................................5 Staffing....................................................................................................................................................9 OtherPhase H Activities.........................................................................................................................10 PhaseIII Planning .....................................................................................................................................11 Appendix A B. Job Retention Services Materials/Participant Comments C. Job Creation Task Force Roster D. CalWORKs Welfare To Work Participant Handbook E. Welfare To Work Training Series Core Knowledge and Skill Building for Employment Specialists and Senior Employment Specialists F. Child Care Training Opportunity Announcement Family and Human Services Committee Welfare Reform/CalWORKs implementation Update November 1998 September 30, 1998 marked the end of the second Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, popularly known as "welfare reform." In this two-year period, Federal, State and County governments, in partnership with their communities and constituencies, have developed and implemented a series of laws, regulations and policies that have fundamentally altered the structure and function of the public social service delivery system. The new system ern.-hasizes outcomes, the value of work and the duty of government to support its citizens in their self-sufficiency efforts. In Contra Costa County, the infrastructure that supports these partnerships, after two years of intensive activity, has been constructed with the purpose of going beyond "welfare reform," building models that integrate services, leverage funding and share expertise to serve individuals, children and families across agencies. These efforts have brought County Departments, Community- and Faith-based Organizations, the public and program participants together to take actions that best support families and best serve the Contra Costa community. This comprehensive approach involves (both short-term projects and long-term vision and planning. This latest in a series of updates outlines the progress made toward these goals as CaIWORKs and "welfare reform" become fully operational. I. State and Federal Activities State Budget The significant budget items for Ca1WORKs and related programs in the 1998-99 state budget, signed on August 21, 1998, are listed below. i Fiscal Incentives—this budget includes $373 million in incentive funds which will be earned by counties on the basis of three measures: Diversions Exits to employment Decreased grants due to increased earnings Successful diversions are those that result in no recurrence of aid for six months plus the number of months equivalent to the amount of the diversion payment. Successful exits to employment are those in which the participant is continuously employed and off aid for six months. The criteria for computing grant savings due to earnings will be released soon. Family and Xuman Services Committee: Welfare ReformtCialW©RSs Update—I1198 1 Incentive funds may be "rolled forward" to the following budget year. Moreover, these tunds can be reinvested in the program based on County, rather than State, priorities. Allocation details and data tracking and reporting are being developed. While a variety of work activities are allowable under state law, the linking of such large sums of money to employment and/or diversion strongly encourages counties to focus on employment. Success in the area of incentives is essential in order for Contra Costa to realize the necessary Employment Services revenue to support our programs and services. The long-term potential is that counties may find more of their future CalWORKs budgets tied to performance in these areas, rather than to traditional "size of caseload" formulas. ♦ Welfare To Work State Match--$10 million was budgeted toward matching the federal Department of Labor's Welfare To Work (WTW) formula allocation funding. The state match will be allocated through County Social Service Departments, while the formula funds are allocated through local Private Industry Councils. The WTW program provides job readiness, placement, employment retention and supportive services for "hard-to-serve" CaIWORKs participants and the noncustodial parents of CalWORKs children. Our local efforts in working to coordinate services with both Contra Costa and Richmond Private Industry Councils will be assisted by this allocation. Child Care--the state budget shows $1.056 billion for child care. These funds are for Stages 1, 2 and 3 services and will be included as part of the CaIWORKs single allocation, These child care funds will increase our resources three-fold. ♦ CaIWORKs Grant Payments--$136 million is budgeted for grant increases for CalWORKs families. This represents a grant restoration of 4.9% and a COLA of 2.84%(effective November 1, 1998). Future COLAs are uncertain as they are tied to future revenues. Vetoes--Among other vetoes, the Governor deleted: $21.9 million in State General Fund monies (resulting in the loss of an additional $22.6 million of Title XIX funds)for CaIWORKs mental health services; $10 million for transportation services for CalWORKs participants; $5 million in incentive funds for California Conservation Corps services to CalWORKs participants; and $4 million augmentation for the Food Stamp Employment and Training Program, Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare ReformlCalWORKs Update-111Y8 2 Federal and State Work Participation Rates The state released data in July 1998 showing that California met the TANF work participation rates (WPR) requirements for "all families" for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 97, and expects to meet the "all families" for FFY 98. However, California did not meet the "2-parent" work participation rates requirement for FFY 97, nor is the state expected to meet the rate for FFY 98. Contra Costa's current capability to measure county-speck work participation rates is limited and is outlined in the "Performance Outcomes" section of this report. From a perspective of potential sanctions, only the "2-parent" rate puts the state at risk. The "2- parent" rate is estimated to be problematic for many states. The Department will monitor thic i.,mie at the federal and state level and keep the Board informed should there be any impact to local resources. Workforce Investment Act HR 1385, the 'Workforce Investment Act, was passed by Congress and signed by the President in August 1998. The Act requires that states establish Workforce Investment Boards, and that local Workforce Investment Areas (which are re-established based on population, past performance and other factors) also establish local Workforce Investment Boards and Youth Councils for planning and oversight of programs named in the Act. The new "WIB"s, which replace "PIC"s, will have an expanded role to promote overall workforce development (including services to public assistance participants) with Department of Labor resources. The Act also formally designates the One Stop Career Center System as the vehicle for providing employment services named in the Act. Local and state plans must be submitted and performance outcomes achieved. The Act is seen as congruent with the planning and activities over the past two years that have moved Contra Costa County (and the Contra Costa/Alameda region, in the form of the EASTBAY Works collaborative) into the One Stop era. SSD staff have, and will continue to, work closely with Richmond and Contra Costa PICS to align CaIWORKs and other employment resources within the County with the new Workforce Investment Act operations. Ii. County Activities Grants and Remonstration Projects Progress on projects involving grants and demonstrations since the last report are listed below. Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare Reform/CaIWORgs Update-11/98 3 ..... .................. . _ ......... ._....... .... ....... ......... ..........................................................__. Regional Workforce Preparation and Development Act--EASTBAY Works is the lead for a regional award from the state (subject to requirements outlined in last year's state welfare reform legislation, AB 1542) of $700,000 as one of five regional sites for developing more comprehensive, neighborhood-based workforce services and building a comprehensive workforce system. ♦ Governor's 15% WTW Special Projects Fundinia--The Transportation Alliance has been awarded $784,000 in Federal DOL WTW funds, allocated at the Governor's discretion for special projects. The winning proposal links work, transportation and child care by establishing owner-operated child shuttle services, vouchers for transportation to and from child care, county-wide, centralized transit information, trip-planning assistance provided by CaIWORKs hires, and other projects. A similar proposal was submitted directly to DOL in the second round of WTW Competitive Grants solicitation and is pending. CalWORKs Community Investment Fund--ln promotion of a workforce development system which would serve CaIWORKs participants, the Social Service Department will develop proposals with qualified organizations to provide services in areas of job placement, resource development, outreach and services which will lead to employment for persons with special needs. In considering areas of investment we will seek to provide services where no other funding is available and to fund services to CaIWORKs participants while contributing to overall workforce development. We will look for service providers who will collaborate to provide services, are experienced in delivering those services, can leverage these investment funds to secure additional revenue and can show fiscal accountability. ♦ Noncustodial Parent Demonstration (CO-OP)--As previously reported, Contra Costa was awarded state funding for a demonstration project to provide employment, supportive and parenting services to noncustodial parents of CaIWORKs children. The County's program for these services is "CO-OP" (County Opportunities and Obligations Program). CO-OP services began on October 1, 1998 at the Richmond One Stop Career Center. The state has provided software and hardware to deliver and track services, as well as technical assistance and training to the seven NCP counties. ♦ Hewlitt Foundation Grant--Contra Costa Economic Partnership leads a work group which is developing a model to assist employees in the medical services industry to move from entry level to self-sufficiency level wages. Partners include Contra Costa PIC, SSD, Contra Costa Health Services, Diablo Valley College and local hospitals. Up to $200,000 may be awarded for this project. Family and Human,Services committee: Welfare ReforntlCaIW©RKs Update--]1/98 4 Child Support Assurance--Contra Costa SSD and DA Family Support Division have joined with Alameda County's SSD and DAFSD to develop a joint proposal for the Child Support Assurance Demonstration Project, a program to serve working parents with child support orders. This proposal is due in November 1998. Child Care Trainim--Contra Costa SSD in collaboration with 'several outside agencies including Head Start, Office of Education, West Contra Costa Adult School and Pittsburg Adult School has been awarded a grant from CDSS of $100,000 to train CalWORKs recipients, who volunteer for the ;program, to be child care providers. The five-month program prepares participants to be assistant teachers, licensed family day care home providers or exempt childcare providers. To date, approximately 75 participants have completed the training and we have 36 participants currently enrolled countywide at two sites: Richmond and Pittsburg. ♦ Job Creation Investment Fund--The SSD in collaboration with the County Economic Partnership has received a Community Department of Trade and Commerce Grant to develop a local plan of job creation. A task force has been formed and is currently working to define job creation strategies with local employers. CalWORKsIRTW Implementation Transition to the new CalWORKs Welfare To Work Services (WTW) Program continues. We are currently in month 10 of an approximate 18 month transition/implementation period. Attachment A is a transition plan which outlines: Activities conducted January-October 1998 (Phase I) Activities planned for November 1998-February 1999 (Phase II) Ongoing activities from March 1999- (Phase III) The proposed transition plan documents local office plans for enrolling current CalWORKs ,participants in the WTW program, outlines methods for conversion to the new service delivery model, addresses staffing and workload issues and discusses planning for the post-conversion phase (1999). Fancily and Human Services Committee. Welfare ReformlCaIWORSs Update-11/58 5 _ .................. ...._.. .. ............... _ ........ ........................._......_. . Local CalWORKs Performance Indicators ♦ Caseload Decline--On 7/1/97 there were 14,513 CalWORKs cases. On 7/1/98 there were 12,510 CalWORKs cases. This represents a caseload decline of 14%. On 11/1/98 there were 11,947 CalWORKs cases. This represents a caseload decline of 18%. ♦ Number of Job-Placements--In SFY 98 there were 2,344 job placements, an increase of 41% over SFY 97's Placements (1,667) and 119% over SFY 96's Placements (1,067). ♦ Percentage of Cases with Earnings--As of August 1998 the percentage of all ,—ai YIt IfY k—.�s families with earnings is 23.2%, with. an average of 24.8% over the last three quarters (10/97-6/98). The current rate for 2-parent families is 52%. The GAIN Information System has just installed programming to calculate rates which include all allowable work activities and reports will become available in the next two months. ! Number of exits to employment--For the period 1/98-9/98, 983 cash aid terminations have been recorded that are directly linked to employment. ! Child Care Savings--Child care is currently recording savings due to employment of more than$500,000 per month. ♦ Grant Reductions Due to Emnlovment--Methods for calculating grant savings are being developed. Using a formula proposed by a CWDA workgroup, Contra Costa has recorded $562,890 in grant savings in July 1998 alone. ♦ Working Ca.IWORKs participants--Persons currently earn about $2,000,000 per month. Besides generating grant savings, participants pay state, local and federal taxes on these earnings and are eligible for Earned Income Tax Credit on these earnings. ! Number of Diversions-21 Diversions have been processed from January through September 1998. A total of$25,328 in Diversion payments have been made. If a "family of 3" average of$565/month is used to determine the savings, the County would generate $103,298 in incentives for this period (6 months' worth of grant payments per family, plus the cost of the Diversion). ! Number of Ca1WORKs Participants Active in GAIN/WTW--As of 9/98, about 54% of all CalWORKs participants are active in the GAIN program or have been successfully enrolled in the W M program. 4,850 participants (including new applicants) were enrolled between March 1998-September 30, 1998. Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare ReformlCalWORKs Updarte-111+8 6 Approximately 3,350 persons are being scheduled to complete enrollment prior to the end of the year. The next step for many participants is Job Club or Assessment. See the proposed CaIWORKs Implementation Transition Plan for more information on local office plans for full enrollment of mandatory WTW participants and progress through Assessment to WTW Plans and work activities. Child Care Child care units are established in all four of the local CaIWORKs Employment Services offices. A new Stage 2 agreement for State Fiscal Year 99 was signed and a coordinating team of staff from SSD, Child Care Council and PACE now meets monthly to facilitate transfer of clients among stages/provider agencies. The Child Care Council's workshop on choosing quality child care is fully implemented in each local Employment Services office. Twice a month in each office the workshop is given to Job Club participants to assist them in making child care arrangements which will support their (sometimes) new, anticipated"working" lifestyles. The magnitude and complexity of shifting child care payments from the old to the new system was far greater than anticipated. Initially plagued by lack of staff and lack of computer equipment/system, child care payments are now largely current. Child care staff continues to be added to the Child Care Units in order to effectively serve the increased number of CalWORKs participants. Two more Child Care Specialists have been hired for each Child Care Unit in the four local CaIWORKs Employment Services offices, bringing the total number of Child Care Specialists to 25, clerks to 8 and unit supervisors to 4 county-wide. In addition, a new child care computer case management and reporting system has been installed for each worker. With this new case management system, child care workers will be able to electronically process family and child information, as well as client forms, which will mean less worker time per child care case. The reporting screens in the system will automatically develop the information needed for the monthly and quarterly child care reports for California Department of Social Services and the California Department of Education, which, until now, has only been available by hand counting. The Child Care Program has successfully completed two separate fiscal and programmatic audits of the CaIWORKs Child Care Program's Stages 2 and 3 and the Alternative Payment Program's Child Care Block Grants. These audits were conducted by the California Department of Education (CDE). The CDE auditors determined that the child care programs were fiscally sound, with the funds used appropriately and monies maximized. They also determined that programmatically child care was being Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare Referm/CWWURKs Update-11198 7 ........ ......_.. _ ......... ._....... . _ ......... ......... .... ... ....................................._..._._......__.. . ............................... administered effectively in accordance with CDE's Funding Terms and Conditions. Collaboration with the Community Services Department's Head Start Program has resulted in: ♦ Establishing a Head Start Recruitment Station in each Employment Services office to assist participants in choosing and applying for this free, Quality preschool program; ♦ Collaborating with capacity-building funds to expand 6 "half-day" Head Start sites around the county to "all day," full year programs; ♦ Joining Head Start and other community organizations in applying for and winning an Early Head Start Program grant for an additional 204 licensed Infant/Toddler slots around the county; ♦ Successfully competing for a Head Start Expansion Program grant to expand 6 additional Head Start sites to all day, full year programs, serving an additional 120 children. Partner organizations include Community Services/Head Start, West Contra Costa Unified School District, RCDP, the English Action Center, the.Even Start/Healthy Start Programs, CHDP, PIC, SSD, the Multi-Cultural Family Resources Center, City of Richmond, Housing Authority, City of Antioch, Antioch Fairgrounds Board, SELPA and Newborn Connections. Talks are now underway to operationalize both the Early Head Start and Expansion Programs grants. Ca1WDRKs Simplifcation Committee This committee was formed pursuant to the agreement with SEIU, Local 535 and has been meeting twice a month with the goal of reducing paperwork by recommending the elimination or revision of fortes. Forms reviewed include the CHDP 6, EFI 1, ECS, IM35A, INV 1, DA100/EFI2, FS 1, CW3B and CW387. Forms are being reviewed after being assembled into a "sample" case folder. While not all forms proposed to be eliminated can be, because of compliance and operational issues, it remains our goal to reduce as much as possible. The committee is also working with various SSD staff on forms-related issues. For example, the CalWORKs Program Analyst met with the Committee to discuss ways to coordinate its activities with existing Program Committees. The Fraud Manager met with the Ccmmitttie to discuss Fraud/Overpayment forms and procedures. The Committee is also working with Information Technology staff to determine whether certain forms can be automated. The IT forms automation capacity is expected to grow as more star`gain access to Personal Computers and individual terminals. Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare ReformlcaIWORKs Update-11198 8 Job Retention Services ♦ Division Managers, along with staff from all four Employment Services offices, have worked to develop, pilot and implement the initial services to be offered in the CalWORKs Job Retention Services Program (Attachment B): A 24-hour Hotline service (Contact Care in Lafayette) for employed participants has been purchased to assist CalWORKs participants in resolving work-related problems, such as workplace conflicts, child care/transportation referral needs, etc. The toll-free number is 1-877-LUVAJOB (588-2562). Job Retention Workshops have been developed and are being conducted, :.,;f:ally ;in the Antioch office, with plans to expand county-wide. These workshops are held on Thursday evenings. A selection of handouts and participant comments is attached to this report. "The Working Person's Survival Guide" is being written. The chapter on child care is complete and is being handed out and discussed at Job Retention Workshops. Other topics in the Guide include Transportation, Emergencies, Financial Issues, Family Issues, Conflict Resolution, Staying Out of Trouble, Hanging In There and Resources. 4 Over 200 participants have been invited to Job Retention Workshops so far. The comments have been positive on presentation topics such as "barrier removal", "how to work with your boss" and a presentation from the Consumer Credit Council. Evening Services Pilot 305 customers have been served on Thursday evenings in the Antioch office since June 18th (not counting Job Retention Workshop participants). 64 applications for CaIWORKs, Medi-Cal/Food Stamps and General Assistance were received during this period. Some of the initial findings include: q This service is proving valuable to employed CalWORKs participants as well as to Medi-Cal applicants, such as those who work all day and have a parent who needs Long-Term Care services! It reduces their stress and in some cases, keeps them from losing pay by eliminating the need to take off work during the day. 4 There seems to be a more relaxed atmosphere and more time to fully explain needed information, resulting in better service to the public. Some Family and Human Services Committee. Welfare ReforMIC41W©RKs Update—l"8 9 ......... ................. ......... ................. ......... _...... .. .....................................__.. staff have commented that they enjoy the quiet, relaxed atmosphere and feel they are more productive as a result. Employed CalWORKs participants comment that they like having the opportunity to turn in paperwork and verifications to staff rather than drop them in a box. Customers appreciate the flexibility in appointment scheduling. Lobby Resource/Help Desks All Employment and Supportive Services Bureau staff appear to agree that the Lobby Resource/Help function benefits not only customers, but also staff in many ways, such as reducing the number of times Workers must leave their desks to assist drop-in participants. Participants also appear to appreciate the welcoming and service-oriented nature of these contacts, which save them time and provide valuable services, such as photocopying and faxing of benefits-related documents and referrals to community resources. The Antioch office has also been keeping statistics on activities at their Resource/Help Desk in the lobby. In October 1998 there were 5,587 contacts at their Information and Screening Center. They processed 116 faxes, conducted 491 Program referrals and processed requests for replacement of lost benefit checks or Food Stamps, as well as many other miscellaneous contacts. Interagency Work GroupslActivities ♦ The Community College Chancellor's Office sponsored a meeting of the three Community Colleges and SSD staff to discuss short- and long-term plans for education, training, and welfare reform. All staff who attended felt they understood the issues much better as a result of this meeting, and SSD staff continue to meet with the individual colleges to coordinate services to CalWORKs participant students. ♦ SSD and Adult School/ROP staff met three times and developed processes for referring, coordinating and communicating with regard to their mutual clients. ♦ The first meeting of the Job Creation Task Force, led by the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, was held on 9/10/98 {Attachment Q. This group includes business leaders, the Employment Development Department, community and faith-based organization representatives, CalWORKs participants, education and training providers, agencies and other interested parties in a process to develop a Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare ReformlCalWORB.s Update—]1198 10 Job Creation Plan for Contra Costa County, pursuant to the requirements of AB 154? ♦ The Workforce Development Advisory Panel met in August and ratified the major recommendations of the Work Plan developed over the summer with technical assistance provided by the Bay Area Partnership (Northern California Council for the Communities/United Way). ♦ A PIC/SSD ad hoc work group, sponsored by the County Administrator's Office, was convened in July to research and develop recommendations about the organizational structure and service delivery options for the Contra Costa Private .:µu,; • Council and SSD. This project was driven primarily by CaIWORKs and Workforce Investment Act legislation, the retirement of the PIC Director and plans in SSD to reorganize to provide a new focus on Employment (Workforce) services and Adult and Children's activities. The PIC/SSD ad hoc group includes Linda Chandler (CCCPIC), Ron Wetter (CCCPIC Board Chair), Sara Hoffman (CAO), Christina Linville (SSU), Val Alexeef (CAO), Linda Best (CC Economic Partnership) and Michael-Laurie Bishow (CAO/Facilitator). The PIC/SSD ad hoc group developed a proposed organizational structure that consolidates PIC and SSD Employment Services` administrative and operational functions, empowers the Workforce Investment Board as the policy and planning body for workforce development in the County and aligns with the requirements of the Workforce Investment Act. In this configuration, the former Social Service Department would become the Employment and Human Services Department, with separate divisions for Employment Services, Adult and Senior Services, and, Children and Family Services. On 9/21/98 the PIC/SSU group presented their proposal at the PIC Board meeting. It was agreed that the two ad hoc groups would meet together to work on resolving the areas of concern with the PIC/SSU proposal and make a formal recommendation based on their work at a future PIC Board meeting. One Stop Career Centers in West and Central County have opened to the public. CaIWORKs staff are located on site, with NCP staff to be located on site early in 1991. One stops in other parts of the county will open soon. Diablo Valley College and Los Medanos College have contracted with SSD for on-campus CalWORK.s Coordinators to coordinate services for their CaIWORKs students and Employment Specialists will be on campus at Los Medanos College. Family and Human Services Commitee: Welfare Reform/CaIWORKs Update-11198 11 ............... ......... ......... ........................................................................__. ................................. ♦ Contra Costa County Adult Schools and the Office of Education will soon receive $169,400 to begin new programs for CalWORKs participants. This money from the State Department of Education will enable schools for adults to offer new classes and to be more proactive in offering evening and weekend classes to the community. Geographic Information Systems Map of Contra Costa County The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the nine county Bay Area, is working with local jurisdictions to identify the transportation needs of participants in the CalWORKs program. One of the tools they are making available to help in this assessment process are a series of geographic information system (GIS)-generated maps. GIS is a computer program that allows the plotting of certain data-get-, on a street-map of a particular area, in this case Contra Costa County. Some of the data displayed on the maps created for Contra Costa County include: CalWORKs participants' residence; licensed child care facilities; employers with the potential of creating entry-level jobs; and bus routes. The maps created by MTC are the product of a one-time project. Consequently, they reflect information from a particular time and do not show the relocations of or reductions in the number of people on CalWORKs, or where actual employment is secured. The Transportation Alliance, through grant-funding, is seeking to address this lack of dynamism . by bringing technology similar to that which produced these maps into the county. As a "snapshot," MTC's maps are valuable in providing a visualization of the potential mis-match between where participants live, where they need to go and the public transportation systems available to take them. Having the ability to generate updated maps gives us the capacity to pian ways of addressing the mis-match issue. Miscellaneous Activities ♦ West County State Employment Development Department staff are being located full- time in the Hercules and Richmond CaIWORKs Employment Services offices, pending the opening of West County One Stop Career Centers. ♦ TREKS Transportation Kiosks are being used in Employment Services office lobbies. These are seen as one of a variety of resources to assist participants in trip planning and determining schedules and fares for various transit systems. ♦ A work group was formed to study possible linkages between Child Welfare Services and CalWORKs. They found linkages in the areas of staff training, case plans/WTW plans and coordination of substance abuse, mental health and domestic violence services. Processes are being developedto address these linkage areas and provide better services. Family anti Human Services Committee: Welfare ReformlralWnRXc 71nidato—r 11QR 12 i Staff`attended, facilitated or presented Public Information services at 33 presentations, trade shows and career days for about 940 people, and 6 festivals, from April 1998- September 1998. ♦ The Welfare To Work Participant Handbook (Attachment D) has been published. ♦ The Quality Control Error Rate is 2.04% for CalWORK.s and is 7.67% for Food Stamps. QC staff recently acquired, and attended training on, software to provide County-specific performance measurement reports derived from random sample QC data. To be statistically valid and reliable, the County QC sample would have to be increased. Also, the State is offering Fields for County-specific data-gathering via the County Performance Sample process. ♦ SSD staff`took the lead in a Central/East County Job Fair scheduled for September 23, 1998, co-sponsored by Goodwill Industries. ♦ SSD staff in partnership with Human Resources is developing a program to achieve employment of CalWORKs participants in County Departments;(which is described further in a separate memorandum to Family & Human Services). ♦ SSD staff are currently developing CalWORK.s reporting, monitoring and outcome indicators and processes that will allow us to condense and summarize future status reports. Family and Human Services Committee: Welfare ReformJCWWQRSs Update-11198 13 _.. ......... ......... ...... ......... ......... ......................... Attachment A Transition Plan Update for CalWORKs Welfare-to-Work Implementation November,1998 The infrastructure necessary to implement CalWORKs and the new Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Service Delivery Model is complex. Staff at all levels in the Employment and Supportive Services Bureau have been required to take on new and different sets of duties, in some cases blending functions that were previously separate. Because of the extensive nature of the organizational and procedural changes, it has taken more time than anticipated to begin fully implementing the new processes. Some staff have experienced significant changes in workload during this period. Staff have taken on extra duties and assignments to get the implementation underway and work through the initial activities for an estimated 8,200 mandatory, current CalWORKs participants. .Most staff attended some type of training during this time, further reducing time spent at their desks. Employment and Supportive Services Bureau line staff, supervisors, managers and support staff are to be commended for their hard work during this time, not only implementing a new program but continuing to process casework and actions for families in a timely and accurate manner as the new programs and services are introduced. This document addresses WTW implementation activities and plans as follows: Activities that took place from January, 1998-October, 1998 (Phase 1) Activities planned from November, 1998-February, 1999 (Phase II) Plans for March, 1999- (Phase III) Cal tlrpRKs/Welfare-to-Work Services Implementation Phase I Phase I of the transition to CalWORKs Welfare-to-Work(WTW)began in January, 1998, and included the following activities: ♦ The new service model was operationalized by an ad hoc line staff/administrative staff committee. ♦ 174 staff'have now been appointed to permanent and acting positions as Social Service Program Assistant. Approximately 146 of these staff were assigned to Employment Services, experiencing significant change in their duties. Ca1WORKs Welfare-to-Work Transition Plan-11198 j Attachment A # An extensive Welfare-to-Work training program, averaging 12 sessions and 62 classroom hours, was developed and delivered to staff appointed as Social Service Program Assistant (Employment Specialists) (supervisors and managers also attended this training). ♦ New Employment Specialists (including those needing initial CaIWORKs program training), and Benefit Specialists transferred to other programs received CaIWORKs, GIS, Medi-Cal and Food Stamp program training. ♦ CaIWORKs WTW participants were identified through individual caseload reviews. CaIWORKs caseloads were reconfigured to reflect the new service model. ♦ Saturday Orientation and Appraisal sessions began, accommodating the large numbers of current participants with work requirements and offering increased access to those with weekday work and other commitments. ♦ EW fi (Benefit Specialist R) caseloads were briefly increased to 180 for the period of approximately 45 days per person in order to ease workload strains on Benefit and Employment Specialists. These have now been reduced back to '142 as our expected workload target, but may need to be increased again if circumstances warrant. Job Retention Services development was begun by an ad hoc committee consisting of line staff from each of the CaIWORKs Employment Services offices. ♦ Goals and Expectations for WTW staff'were developed and reviewed with staff. Meet and confer discussions are continuing with SEW Local 535. +� Substance Abuse/Mental Health staff' were collocated in Social Services Employment Services offices. i A Forams Simplification Committee was created to recommend reduction of paperwork by elimination and revision of forms. ! An Evening Services (Thursday)pilot was established in the Antioch office. ♦ Partnerships and agreements with Adult Schools/Community Colleges for the provision of additional CaIWORKs Job Club/Job Search workshops were developed. CaIWORKs We4fare-to-Work Transr't on Ptah-11198 2 Attachment A # SSD and Adult School/ROP, Richmond and Contra Costa Private Industry Council, EDD, Community Colleges and other partners conducted a variety of activities to implement the provisions of AB 1542 (state welfare reform) and develop a more comprehensive workforce preparation, economic development and job creation system. ♦ Director's local office meetings were conducted to keep staff informed about Department progress toward each Bureau's short- and long-term goals and provide an opportunity to discuss issues and concerns. ♦ A short term function of"Expediter" has been created to assist clients/participants in moving their case more quickly from Intake to Job Club. During this time, Benefit Specialist staff in the Ca1WORKs non-WTW, Medi-Cal and Food Stamp programs experienced increased workloads due to temporary understaffing and reallocation of smaller caseloads to Employment Specialists. The following measures were undertaken to mitigate the negative impact on all Benefit Specialist and Employment Specialist staff during the transition period (see Appendix 1): ♦ The Social Service Department and Service Employees International Union, Local 535, as directed by the Board of Supervisors, met and mutually developed a plan to provide transition relief; # 15 Acting-status Social Service Program Assistants (SSPAs) were appointed as Employment Specialists to assist in processing Pre-Assessment cases, conduct Orientation and Appraisal, join Child Care Units, and for other assignments as needed. Those positions have now been converted to permanent, and an additional 15 Acting assignments will be made this month. ♦ 28 temporary Clerks were hired to aid in paper processing and other duties that serve the needs of line staff; ♦ 15 Eligibility Worker I's were trained in the Eligibility Worker Training Unit and assigned as Benefit Specialists to local CalWORKs offices on 8/31/98; ♦ Offsite Job Club/Job Search workshop agreements with Adult School partners were implemented; ♦ 12 Eligibility Worker IUSpecialists were appointed from the open lists; CaMORKs Welfare-to-Work Transition Plan--11198 3 ,.. Attachment A ♦ In January 1998, 55 Personal Computers were installed to provide each supervisor with desktop automation. In August, 48 Personal Computers were installed on the desks of line staff. An additional 94 Personal Computers will begin arriving during the first week of November and should be installed on the desks of line staffby the end of December. This is a total of 197 Personal Computers purchased for staff: This equipment has freed up approximately 45 terminals that are distributed to remaining line staff. The goal is to come as close as possible to a l:1 ratio for ESSB staff. ♦ An expanded Eligibility Worker Training Unit began their three-month training program on October 6 and will be assigned to district offices January 4, 1999. Discussions continue between the Department and SEIU Local 535 on longer-term activities for full CaIWORKs implementation and to monitor and address continued workload concerns. A recent agreement reached with Local 535 resulted in staffing and operational adjustments which is hoped to'alleviate the workload situation as we enter Phase II of the transition to full implementation of the CaIWORKs WTW Programs. CalWC1A.1 AlWelfare-to-Work Services Implementation--Phase II The goal of Phase II, which is expected to last through February, 1999, is to complete the enrollment of all current, mandatory WTW participants into the program by scheduling each participant for an Orientation and Appraisal, followed by (in Phase;II and into Phase III) assignment to Job Club/Job Search, Assessment or other status as appropriate. The current transition to Welfare-to-Work consists of enrolling all mandatory participants in the new program by December, 1998. To that end, local Employment Services office staff have developed strategies to invite large numbers of participants to Welfare-to-Work Orientation and Appraisal, and to follow up with assignment to Job 'Club/Job Search, Assessment or other status as appropriate. Each office has devised a Phase II plan for these O & A and Job Club activities. A narrative of activities to date and through the Phase II period is listed below. Staff are working on a matrix that more clearly documents these plans. The plans are all based on some common guidelines and assumptions, including: ♦ Workload and operational processes in both Pre- and Post-Assessment will continue to be addressed to fully implement the new service model. Ca1WORKs Welfare-to-Work Transition.Plan--11198 4 ...................................... ........ ......... ......... ......................................................................... Attachment A ♦ The primary goals of Pre-Assessment are: the diversion or employment of every appropriate WTW participant; and accurate and timely processing of applications for assistance. ♦ The goal for new applicants is that they be assigned to Job Club (as appropriate) as soon as possible upon granting of cash aid supportive services in order to quickly move them from welfare to work. ! Clerical staff will be utilized as much as possible to assist with the processing of paperwork related to work activities, such as the notification and scheduling of Orientation and Appraisal; ♦ It appears that about 100 Orientation/Appraisal invitations must be sent to current participants to fill one Job Club of 25 (50% no show to O & A and another 50% Appraised out of Job Club or noncompliant). .Local Office Activities to Date and Plans for Phase II o f CaIWORKs Implementation Martinez This Employment Services office has a significant number of WTW-eligible cases being carried in non-WTW Units, awaiting invitation to the WTW program. Those participants will not be transferred to WTW Post Assessment units until after they appear for Job Club (or sooner if more staff are hired). In addition, those participants who need services (such as SIPs) will be transferred to Post Assessment units as soon as their status becomes known. During the month of October, in addition to the usual Orientation and Appraisal schedule, staff'held Saturday sessions. The total number of participants scheduled for Orientation in October rose to 356 with 140 attending. Staff expect to offer enrollment to all of the approximately 1,050 CaIWORKs participants in the district by December 31, 1998. In November this office is piloting a condensed, one-week Job Club which will also serve General Assistant recipients. Three weeks of supervised Job Search will follow.. The addition of the one-week Job Club will allow the Martinez District to hold all of its sessions onsite. Richmond This office has completed its initial enrollment phase. All current WTW participants have been invited to Orientation, sanctioned, exemption verified or left the welfare rolls Ca1WORSs Welfare-to-Work Transition Plan-11/98 5 .... :.:.: :«N........ Attachment A in &.is county. This was accomplished by holding three Orientations during the week and two on Saturdays through September. There were also three Spanish-speaking Orientations provided. From June l to October 31, a total of 2,617participants were invited to Orientations and 1,410 attended (54% attendance rate - 46% "no shows"). Appraisals for participants with Employment Specialists have had their appraisals done in conjunction with their Orientation. Those without workers are having their Appraisals done by Jab Club Leaders during their "off' rotation" time and the Senior Employment Specialists are doing the Appraisals and Assessments at the same time for the working and potential SIF participants. The conciliation and sanction process has been used as an effective tool to encourage participants to enroll. Of 137 participants sanctioned for 10/31/98, 86 have now cooperated and been restored to CalWORKs. This is a 63% show rate Of the 37% (51 participants) sanctioned, approximately 25 have left the welfare rolls through CA-7 discontinuance and/or relocation to other counties. The office held 10 Job Clubs for 268 participants from June to October'.. There were 161 participants who attended and 115 of those completed. The attendance rate is 60%, the completion rate is 71%. On site Job Clubs continue with West Contra Costa Adult School from Serra School staff'assisting. Hercules There are approximately 1,850 families with WTW requirements. On July 13, 1998, daily Orientations and Appraisals began to invite all these participants into the WTW Program. The schedule is adjusted from time to time to accommodate workload pressures, but basically consists of conducting six Orientation and Appraisal sessions per week, to which 80 to 100 people are invited. Two sessions per week serve Southeast Asian participants and one a month serves Spanish-speaking participants. As of October 12, 1,151 current participants had been invited to Orientation and Appraisal, with about 699 still to invite. These participants can be accommodated in the existing schedule (i.e., invited by the end of December, 1998). Saturday sessions will continue in November and December (100 per session). These sessions'will also include invitations to Southeast Asian language participants, who will be accommodated in a separate room using appropriate staff. WTW cases will be carried by Employment Specialists (current capacity about 800 at 75 per ES) and Senior Employment Specialists (current capacity about 700 at 75 per SES). It is expected that there will be a flow of cases into and out of these case loads because of sanctions and discontinuances. Approximately 50 percent of the invitees fail to appear, and are either reinvited (some CaIWORKs Wetrare-to-Work Transition Flan-.11.98 6 _ ... ..........._......_ .............._ ..... . ......... ......._. .........................................__. Attachment A several times) or wind up being sanctioned. Some of the 1,151 invitee number reflects repeated invitations to participants. Senior Employment Specialists are currently assisting with Appraisals, Job Clubs, liaison to Serra Adult School for offsiteJob Clubs, handling the approximately 260 current "GAIN" cases, and Assessments (which are just beginning). There are currently few, if any, Intensive Services cases, this is expected to increase as current participants enroll and progress into the WTW program. New applicants are also being enrolled into the WTW Program. Since July 13, 1998, 531 applicants have been invited to Orientation and Appraisal. The total number of applicants and current participants invited to Orientation and Appraisal from July 13 to October 12, is 1,682. 326 of the applicants and 494 current participants have completed Orientation and Appraisal. Of the 820 who have completed the enrollment phase of the WTW Program, 309 have been scheduled for Job Club. Participants are not scheduled for Job Club for a variety of reasons--they may have a temporary "good cause" situation, may already be employed or may be in a Self-Initiated education or training program (SIP) The current Job Club schedule calls for starting one Job Club/Job Search onsite every two weeks, in a "team" format with the help of Serra Adult School. Serra will conduct both Spanish language and Southeast Asian language Job Club/Job Search once a month. SSD staff work closely with Serra staff for liaison purposes. Richmond office also sends participants to Serra and has the help of Serra staff. As of late October there are two EDD employment counselors collocated in the Hercules building. Their offices will be set up in the Resource room. They will have their own Personal Computers and have access to the CAL JOBS network. Antioch 2,850 WTW participants were ident'if'ied as needing Orientation and Appraisal. To date 2,044 have been scheduled and 1,218 have shown. Antioch has a two-part plan to enroll current participants into the WTW Program. In late July, Employment Specialists began scheduling WTW participants into Orientation and Appraisal. There were two sessions held per week, inviting 60 participants per orientation, totaling 120 per week. Participants appropriate for Job Club were scheduled for on-site sessions or they were put on a holding list until the offsite (Antioch Adult School) Job Clubs began on September, 8, 1998. Ca1WOR%s Welfare-ta-Work Transition Plan-11198 7 Attachment A The two Welfare-to-Work Post-Assessment Units serve 975 approximately current participants. The goal is to have the majority of these participants through this process prior to beginning part 2 of the plan. Beginning the week of September 28, effort to bring current participants into the WTW program significantly increased with Orientations and Appraisal sessions being held three times per week, inviting 100 participants per session (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings). Due to the limitation of space, the Resource Room will be closed these three mornings for approximately 6 to 8 weeks until everyone is scheduled. The Resource Room will be opened for general use the other two mornings of each week and no changes to the afternoon scheduling of Job Search activities will be made. In addition to the above-mentioned 975 WTW participants, approximately 1,875 participants currently identified as WTW are assigned to Benefit Specialists. The 1,875 participants will be scheduled during part II. During this period of time the CaIWORKS supportive services (cash aid) folder will remain with the Benefit Specialist. Benefit Specialists will be given instructions to refer participants to designated Employment Services staff for questions or issues relating to the Orientation and Appraisal requirements and a phone number will be provided for rescheduling appointments. Clerical staff will request the Orientation and Appraisal notices to participants. All participants who have attended the Bubble orientation have also had appraisals completed at the same time. Currently, plans are being developed to conduct a Saturday Orientation and Appraisal session to accommodate participants that are currently working and have previously indicated they could not attend the session originally invited to. It is expected we will invite approximately 100 participants to this Saturday session. Also plans are being developed to begin addressing the non-compliance process. A temporary clerk will be assigned full time to this process, reporting to an Eligibility Work Supervisor. This clerk will issue the non-compliance notices to all participants failing to show for their scheduled orientation and appraisal. The clerk will handle any rescheduling and an Employment Specialist will be identified to address any good cause issues. Staff will also be developing plans to conduct non-English orientation and appraisals, which we anticipate will be held by the end of November. We have approximately 100 participants that we will invite to these sessions. CaIW©'Rgs Welfare-to-Work Transition Plan-11M 8 Attachment A An "ad hoc" report was run to give clerical staff lists to invite approximately 8 pa:ficipwills per caseload to each session and open GIS folders on all those that are scheduled. The WTW Pre-Assessment Unit will conduct these Orientations and will also assist with the Appraisals. Sr. Employment Specialists may also assist with Appraisals. Volunteers from Post Assessment are being solicited on a rotation basis to also help. Using these resources, up to 15 staff will be available to do Appraisals each day. Participants who complete Appraisal will be assigned to the next available Job Club. During October and November (approximately 6 to 8 weeks there will be one Job Club/JobSearch per month onsite; the goal is two Job Clubs if space is available. Antioch Adult School will hold two Job Clubs/Job Search per month. There are still some important issues to resolve (ex: noncompliance process) and local office staff will continue to meet. Clerical staff will be utilized in carrying out the plan as much as possible and appropriate. Sta to Key issues in successfully transitioning to full CaIWORKs WTW implementation include staffing, training, assignments and workloads. To address these issues, the following actions have been taken or are planned: ♦ New Benefit Specialists are being hired and trained to replace those promoted to Social Service Program Assistant and assigned as Employment Specialists and Child Care Specialists. An EW Training class of 24 began during the month of October 1998 with completion in January 1999. These' staff will be trained to CaIWORKs and Medi-Cal as appropriate. ♦ 34 Social Service Program Assistant positions were approved by the Board on 9/22/98. These have been filled and assigned as Employment Specialists and Child Care Specialists. 14 more SSPAs were approved by the Board on 11/3/98 to be placed in similar assignments. ♦ New Employment Specialists will require basic CaIWORKs program training (as needed) as well as Welfare-to-Work Services Program training; Benefit Specialists transferring between programs will also participate in basic program training as needed. New Supervisors, Clerks and other support staff' to these functions will be hired and trained as appropriate. CaIWORKs Welfare-to-Work Transition Pian-11/98 9 Attachment A A high priority is to ensure that initial applications are processed timely and that new applicants receive all the support they need to find jobs before exiting the pre- assessment phase. To this end, the Department goal is working with SEII J to maximize staff resources in this area of operations. The new Expediter assignment is intended to address that issue. There are difficulties in moving cases from Orientation and Appraisal to Job Club because of current workloads and assignments. These are being addressed by ongoing meet and confer activities between the Department and SEIU. Expediters will assist in this area also. It is important to recognize the admirable efforts of staff' at this time to deal with workload adjustments, apply newly-learned skills and carry out new procedures with new focus, often in new units, with new supervisors and coworkers. Other Phase Il Activities Many other activities that began with CalWORKs planning, and continue as the program is implemented, are in progress. These include: ♦ Outstationing of CaIWORKs and Noncustodial Parent Project (CO-OP) staff at One Stop Career Centers; ♦ Continuing to work with local PICS to better align CalW ORKs and WI`W service delivery operations; Outstationing CaIWORKs staff at one or more Community College Campuses; ♦ Expanding Job Retention Workshops and activities; ♦ Implementing the recommendations of the Child Welfare Services/CalWORKs task force to take advantage of opportunities to link services and communication for mutual participants, while preserving confidentiality; + Continuing the work of the Community Service Task Force, which is expected to draft the County Community Service Plan by November, 1998; ♦ Installing Computer-Based Training programming for Food Stamps in local offices with a Supervisor in each office acting as liaison with Staff Development. CaIWORKs Welfare-to-Work TransWon Plasm-11198 10 ......... ......... ......... ......... _ ..... ... ......................_.............._.. Attachment A Phase III Plan n ng Phase lll of Ca1WORKs implementation is scheduled to begin in March, 1999 (some activates begin in Phase 11 and carry on through Phase III). During Phase II a planning process will be coordinated by Pam Phillips who has just been appointed by the Assistant Director of the Employment and Supportive Services Bureau. In coordinating the continuing implementation Mrs. Phillips will help gather, analyze and report the collection of Welfare To Work data: serve as liaison to other Department Managers on Bureau-wide issues; communicate internally and externally on plans and progress related to Welfare To Work implementation; meet with other departments, agencies and counties to gather and share information on implementation and assist in the development of grant applications and demonstration projects as needed. The goals of Phase IIII include: ♦ Full participation of all compliant WTW Program participants, including Assessments, Welfare-to-Work Plans, assignment to work activities and assistance in achieving self-sufficiency goals; ♦ Expansion of Job Retention services; ♦ Identification and further development of strategies to address "hard to serve" participants and those with intensive service needs, including expansion of partnerships-with PIC WTW services; ♦ Development of outreach plans for discontinued cases to determine exits to employment more accurately; # Potential expansion of Resource Room sites and the Evening/Saturday Services pilot; Planned and coordinated outreach to noncompliant participants; ♦ Full participation in the One Stop Career Center system; ♦ Expansion of the partnerships developed with Community Colleges and Adult Schools, including outstationed staff at Community College campuses; Other activities as appropriate. CaIWORKs Welfare-to-Work Transition Plan-11/98 11 SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT CONTRACOSTA COUNTY TO ALL EMPLOYMENT AND SUPPORTIVE DATE July 6, 1998 SERVICES BUREAU STAFF FROM Bob Hofinanne._ c Executive Team SUBJ Acknowledgment of Present Workload This is to let you know that I am aware of the considerable pressures that many of you are currently facie_ g as we continue with our implementation of our CalWOR.Ks Welfare to Work service delivery system and make changes in almost all of our other programs. Many of you have been attending training in addition to being responsible for your ongoing workload (in many cases in a new assignment). As we work our way t1kough these program changes, we are making adjustments to our initial plans based on our actual experience and your suggestions for.improvement. I encourage you to continue to make such suggestions through your supervisor or manager and your program committee representatives. I also want to let you know of some of the steps we are taking to try to support staff in coping with the current situation: • The oral exams for EW IIs and EW Specialists was completed on June 17tH. We have now received an eligible list and will schedule interviews within the next week or so. We expect to have staff with various program experience available on the list. These classifications are subject to continuous testing, and we will conduct another examination as soon as we have a sufficient number of applications. • A new Eligibility Work Training Unit began on June 15th. Staff will complete either Fedi-Cal or CalWORKs training the end of August and then be assigned to district positions. We will be continuing to schedule EWTUs on an ongoing basis and plan to graduate another class before the end of this calendar year. • We will be increasing the caseloads of EW 11's in CaIWORK.s from 142 to 180 for up to 45 days. • We are working with our partners, the adult schools and community colleges, to cooperate in the provision of Job Club-Job Search services to our current participants, who must be enrolled in Welfare to Work by the end of this calendar year. • The Board of Supervisors has authorized four additional permanent I_rnploymerlt Specialists for Child Care Units, and we are in the process of hiring;them, along with four Al Employment Specialists, also for child care. Two additional supervisory positions have been requested in the department's budget for child care and we are filling them now on an Al basis so that there will be a unit and supervisor in each of the four district offices. • A significant number of additional personal computers are on order and more have recently been approved. Installation of the first of these PCs for SPA's (Employment Specialists) and other staff will begin this month and will enable us to relocate terminals for use by Benefit Specialists (Eligibility Workers) in Medi- Cal, Food Stamps and CaIWORKs units. • The CaIWORKs Forms Simplification Committee has begun its work and will be reviewing all department-generated forms to eliminate duplication and overlap. • Additional line positions have been requested in the department's 98199 budget which should be adopted by the Board of Supervisors in August and then be available to be filled. • In meeting with employee organizations to develop additional collaborative approaches to help us cope with the present workload we agreed to filling an additional 15 Employment Specialists on an Al basis over the next four to five weeks. We also agreed we would hire one temporary clerk for each Continuing CaIWORKs Unit which does not already have a temporary clerk, and one temporary clerk for each two Medi-Cal Continuing Units so as to free up eligibility staff from clerical tasks. I recognize that some of these actions will require time to put in place and ask for your continuing.understanding-and additional effort necessary for us to continue to provide the services needed by our clients and participants. Please let your supervisor know of ideas for workload reduction or of additional resources that can help us do our job. These are bath exciting and sometimes tying times, and I appreciate all the additional effort that you are making. Crab 15 v4U&doc a.ch��? � Ik `fo a series cfy,ob Reten:tioti Workshops sponsored by your community leaifew Corrie an . in us in A�crossionc that iff improve your rkilts in k-eepin�g ryourse�f motivated, tips on how to handle difficuft people in the workpCxe,' childcare problems and transportation. ,49f4 of 1.3a Frac 'eda714 wat4#o t- r�itdgiuc yo c 4aucafia« orc toe'#'V'A a'Tf!lest w. 1�u�t,utY c"G Yfc 8rca irsy da K C>aa1icaa, 71"44t 14'rt 4—U et,' aKd l49Z' to l er)d. f4e4w-jrart: ixtttjcuxp oak' 7iacr; 6,100 Yo Y.-OO)fes: _ foal t4gf4jY f ZG'azluKrr tK t r 'cal 7i4 r: 6.010 to Y.t00 A,* 'WOW"d 44Kdtc f7AIeC4X :446co-1--614414 a-xd V"I fasa.. eoa�Uct isc tlr t'la fsLcfcc a`'cifYuKr cx llyt� dfasur 71raKxpr rHc r rtx< to k.z`ytt taut acaKrf. 4%K4"46&, erelt to fare c4.a'jeIez4.to 7iwc: 6.-00 to d',�Qtd A� WHERE. E&- 4545 Cella Fair Blvd Antioch, Via. CALL 7016-4572 TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT/ v FREE! Child Supervision and -` refreshments provided. 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How do we cope with these problems?(Chart responses) 7:45-8:00 Close(poem), evaluation, and handouts(pens, calendars, survival guide) 13 HERE ISA LISTOF SOME OF 'rim, SERVICES ' VE IJOJ> � TO OFFER, AND REI<I{ERALS WE HOPE, TO BE A.BLF To MAKE FOR JOB RETENTION Child Care (affordable, convenient, emergency plans for ill child or ill provider) •: Transportation (vehicle repairs, one time registration, insurance down payments, carp ooL/rideshare information, public transportation) ';• Work-Related Expenses (one time only uniform, repair of business equipment for the self-employed such as vehicle, alarm clock) «• Union dues (initiation feeNr reimbursement for fees newly employed) •«• Housing(monitor shut off/eviction potential, roommates) • Resource room ( computers,job leads, internet resume and job access) «• Assistance in writing resume for promotional opportunities °.• Education (referrals for certifications or special classes needed for advancement) •«i Help for substance abuse (county outpatient mental health counseling, local support groups) •«• Getting help for domestic violence (county mental health counseling, local support groups) •«• Money management (budgeting classes, needs vs. wants) «* Knowledge of professional conduct (proper way to deal with grievances, chain of command) Other(SSA/SSI referrals, DA referral, educational assistance, Season of Sharing) 13 � rr Men re"IrCc� tat :�►u c<31vr1, L43 lacy "Iten tx41111 'W' IItt,rr 14e Ltd you are jiy4Cirl y i3 al uplli.l�l; Men ltle juriJ3 caret lou, and lite 4416 are bV t, "w/ten you are lau.ybtty, a114oug4 you ct. ralfter cry; "WItert you tti6[.over yuur3eI13+Gi')u+i.rtty down a (ill, Slop and tale u Bleep l reallt, 4u1 etort 'l you rl.ttil. / r _Atlwucy4 you r ve worleeel 3o hard just to yet 11ti3 /tr, You in u.41 3lsucl y tyour puce, lu3l to Slaty urltere you are. you It need luri.ce lite eilrrl 10 rrtalze your wary, _foinorrow Wort t Coale, Ltrtltt you t1"Cle conquered iImlay._,4tt k i/you. jj,3e,over your3efi Jowitt y down a kik O / f - lop and real i you rnu3l, lu1 clipn 1 you cluil. _1#"/Uy3 ele, lite 4e31 lltul YOU curt pt,33ibIt'? clef, ./reet3ure bite irien'14 wlto are jar a.nel/ew r j ilever rytve up, w talever llte Lrdert you Bear, Ju 31 e►rte rrttrre 31ep rnig4l yet you Mere; 01ten lite Ltd, llutl i3 proceeding 31oty, rUtJtC c<trtc utte etllruplly., w eft dealt artollter 410441. Succeed in behetlittly 1/1"1 you tutu' rtul 11th, 714e? cli igerice ald delerr#llrtultefrt 113 3e1 your 311tt.. "Wile. ik tveallter t3 jiorrrl y aid Me tvaler3 are 1.0 it 6 4, Al r Me rtornett.l 01 periMe 3lro,t y yet 11rut{ k U/1t.ene ver life 1rre33V3 you ttouat it l i1. �} _Martel u1, aitd I t1, i Y tuiff flol quit �t l� Job Retention Wqrk5h, yaltrlati011 We Nvant to help you by providing the information and resources that are important to YOU. Please help us to help you by giving us your honest comments on our retention workshops, Was the time we scheduled the workshop convenient for you? If not, what would be a better-time? What do you think of the length of the workshop? What did you like most about the workshop? What did you like least? Be honest! Where the presenters knowledgeable and helpful? What topic(s) would you lake to see in other workshops? Any other comments? F3 HELP CZE HELP YOU Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a lot of different things help us to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. 'What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. tp l� .�.��"''' ��d7�..�.�,-- .� , c.�.. n'vy..f?. fyvl,d�- .,t� mow• YY�'�"`` Olt- � - 6L ................................................................................... ......................................-............... HELP ME HELP YOU Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a lot of different things help us to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly ap reciated. Thank you. Yd 0� OS tA-00) Ourld " c, � ,� � 0 (D roo �trl" (5 um- Art or a jylt/h (&odld �.�,�X-.......... ........... ................... ----------------- ..... ................... HI,P ME HEAP Y 0 U Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a lot of different things help us to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. -T (IcZJQ..r, C - h0-4- 4 41a 6U'S t c(oo '�' HE LP ME HELP YOU Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a tot of different things help us to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 0 �J/ ` r HELP ME 14 [ ,P yotj Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a lot of different things help us,to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 04 vio c� nye 'be a�A -4c - 1 1 �. h eo Oe' HELP ME HELP YOU Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a lot of different things help us to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. I(Z-D 0 q_A7CA� Y HELP ME DELI' YOU Job retention is about holding on to your job. And that covers a tot of different things help us to identify the things that you feet are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could offer more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. ............................................. ............................................ ......................................... HELP ME HELP YOU Job retention is about holding on.to your job. And that covers a lot of different things help us to identify the things that you feel are the biggest concerns about getting and keeping your new jobs. What is it that we could over more information or services on that would help you stay employed? Anything that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. RAC) V off~ l� _____ cr� 1 vrvL vv)�-O �C) a aroup u)AV) ......................... ach , co r r r Cr? 0 r U.: tw. 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N r I- Q C 7 fl 'St X IN Goo 00 QD m ClCV CL m ) to°° ON 44 # o 40 . tz LO t'- Uat •- z cm �. 40 0 a zt c to a c ca s� c3 chi EL 0H OJO r l t What Welfare Work 1 and what i ..... .... ..... .... _. i11t; will dcci��;, The W h �� u t nrrrst 1 'c1P t'e participate? wclfafvc to IvoYk w purpose 1'r>u'�rl>pl�� fi>t �iri; Mandatoj ly Participants JWelfarefritrr c ligilrility is rcxictcrt�ii,1ed,' Youtr<rve a change in yoIrr Ifyou are a California Work exemption status. toWork Opportunity and Responsibility to is to help you prepare for work Kids (CalWORKs) recipient, and Volunteers and find a,job. Finding a job will you are not exempt, you must help you become self-supporting, participate in Welfare to Work. liven if you are not required to and your family will enjoy a better You are called a "mandatory parti participate in Welfare to Work wayof life. After you eta job, cipant." If you are a mandatory p You Y g j can ask to take part. You would be you will have more money for participant, you must: called a "volunteer." Ask your your family, serve as_a role model worker how you can get into for your child(ren), increase your Welfare to Work. self-confidence, and build a future. Welfare to Work was designed Demonstration with you in mind. It's not just projects another government program. It's much more than that. f' Some counties are part o Welfare to Work staff are with demonstration projects. These you every step of the way, providing projects test different rules to see you with such important supportive what works best. Your employ- services as child care, transportation, . Keep appointments made by ment worker will explain to you if and work or training-related expenses. your employment worker; Contra Costa County is part of a demonstration project and if any Welfare to Work can help you • Sign a Welfare to Work Plan; rules that are different from what get the job that you need to be is in this Welfare to Work self-sufficient. If needed, you'll . Meet all Welfare to Work Participant Handbook apply to you. learn skills that will help you get requirements, including the a job in today's work force. requirements in your Welfare to Work Plan; Welfare to Work can help you improve your chances of getting a . Not quit your job or lower your job with private industries, businesses, earnings; or public employers in your area. Provide proof of satisfactory Through Welfare to Work, progress in your assigned activity everyone wins. You gain a job and when your employment worker a future. Employers gain skilled asks. employees. l You ar{: tlrc non-p�rrcnt rr.l,rtivc leo c,iwtakcr of It child who is ;t dcl�cn E��pl��y ��e � t dent or „<rrd oI the court, or of a child at risk of does not card and we decide. that taking#iclaw services of the child keeps you #turn working have to or participating in a Weli<rrc to Work There zinc many paths operr to ar.tivity; Welfare to Work participants. Youl path may not involve every activity • • You must stay at home.; to take. in Welfare to Work. participate? care of someone in the household who is unable to care for himself Much depends on your educa- or herself if it keeps you from tion andjob history. The activities working or participating in a Exemptions that Welfare to Work offers are Welfare to Work activity. This described below. Remember: the exemption does not apply ifyou purpose of Welfare to Work is to You are exempt and da not are a teen parent required to par- HELY YOU PREPARE FOR WORK have to participate in Welfare to tici ate in the Cal-Learn program;Work if: p p g AND FIND A JO13 so that you can support yourself and your family. • You are the parent or other You are under 16 years old and ` relative caretaker of a child six not a custodial parent, or 60 years months old or younger, and are Appraisal or older; personally providing care for the + You are 16, 17, or 18 years old child, with the following restrictions: When you start participating in and go to school (not college) - You may be exempt for this Welfare to Work, you will go to full time, unless you are in school reason only one time during a Appraisal. During Appraisal, your as one of your Welfare to Workemployment worker will look over period of continuous stay on aid your work history and your educa- activities or you are a custodial under the CalWORKs program; parent; tion, need for supportive services, and other information to help the • You have a disability that is - If you received this exemp- county decide what your Welfare to tion before and you give birth to or Work activity or activities will be. expected to last at least 30 days and adopt another child six months old that would keep you from working or under, you may be exempt for or participating in a Welfare to12 weeks. This may be extended ,job Search Work activity, and you are either on a case by case basis, depending getting or trying to get the medical on the availability of child care; Following Appraisal, most help you need. This exemption participants will be assigned up to does not apply if you are a teen par- - If you are a teen parent four weeks of Job Search activities. ent required to participate in the required to participate in the Cal- However, the Job Search activities Cal-Learn program; Learn program, this exemption may be longer or shorter if the does not apply. county and you agree that it would • You are pregnant and your be beneficial to you. doctor states that you cannot work We may ask for proof when you or participate in Welfare to Work claim any of the above exemptions. activities. This exemption does Your employment worker can not apply if you are a teen parent review your situation at any time. required to participate in the Cal- Learn program; job Scar(.h Who, l()llmving partic:ip;tnts vgill I,i�f tlic s{�rvic ��s ;ivaiiahl<° :w�> not he n'(111ircd to partic:ipatt. in ih<it vfnt ("m hitisli vnrir \,vclf;iri, t() actIUItIcs include: 1,>1> tictn'�:h ;I(tivilws ;iftcr A mkI 11;111. Apprais;il, but ni<iv ask to cic> sO + JOb Club, when. you will learn 11 juru ;ire in a Scll�lnitiatal how to uncover tile: "hide€eir joh • A person who is working in an Program, your Welfare to Work rnarkct, disc mcr what joh skills unsuhsidiicd joh OF is participatiizg flan lilay� hc sct-up hascd ori VcrUr you have, write a resuinc;, and in an approved self=initiatcd pro- Appralsal. understand how to present your- gram (SIP) if'tile''job search sched- self,in all interview; ule would keep him or her from I lc wevcr, You nlay be sent frrr working or participating in that an Assessment if we need to send • Supervised Job Search, where SIP; you to another activity at tli(, sonic you will have the help of'all time sty that you arc participating experienced employment coun- • A teen parent required to par- in Welfare to Work activities for selor to find the job that will start ticipate in the Cal-Learn program the number of hours that is you on the; way to a-career. You or a custodial parent, age 19, with- required of you. will have access to telephones, job out a high school diploma or GED. orders, and referrals to employers; Assessment You will be sent to Assessment if: Welfare to + You do not get an unsubsidized Work job during your participation in Job Search; Activities • We decide that sending you to Job Search as your first activity would not help you; Unsubsidized' • Unsupervised Job Search, We decide to shorten your timeYYtpZf? I?2>in�tt where you will independently in Job Search because it is not search for a job and report your likely to lead to you getting a job; progress to your employment This activity is a job in which only worker; The purpose of Assessment is to your employer pays your salary. put together a WELFARE TO * Job Placement, where you WORK PLAN to help you get a job. Subsidized private will receive referrals to jobs listed Tb do this, the assessor will. by employers with the sector employment Employment Development Look at your abilities, interests, Department (EDD), among work history and education; This activity is a job with a private, others; emplover when the employer gets • Assess your need for supportive money to help pay your salary. • Job Development, where you services to get the most out of job will look for a job by working one- and training services offered under on-one with an experienced CalWORKs; Subsidizedpublic employment counselor; sector employment • Estimate your chancres of'get- * Employment Counseling, ting a job, given your skills and the This activity is a job with a public: where an employment counselor jobs available in your area; will help you decide what your job agency employer when the goals should be, based on your • Evaluate an physical or mental employer gets money to help pay Y P Y� your salary, skills and abilities. problems you may have that limit your ability to work or to partici- ..-•+. rlAln}F,.-. .. Ulirrr ., t; rifinc Wosrk crperic;trcc Self-initiated Education programs directly rclat��cl This activity in ;1 r��pprk setting ,��ill to cinploynient cnablc you to stain kp7nwledgc and '['his ;pctivity is a uairpin4, or r,dup:<p experiencc to help you get a pay- tion program you began on yotpr ing 1017, This is a school �;{aivity in which before your appraisal. Your employment worker prmst approve, yelp will learn job shills t1�at will your program br,forc it is consiel_ help you get a job. Gornrunity service tared acceptable as a welfare to Work activity. SecondarlJ. education This activity in a work setting or GED instruction will enable you to gain knowledge Adult basic education and experience to help you get a for recipients paying Job, while providing a without a diploma service to others. This activity includes education that will help you improve your or certificate On-the-job training reading and math skills, and, perhaps get a GED or high school diploma. T� This activity is short term school C0j 1 to help you get a high school job skills training diploma or GED. This activity is work in a job directlu related to where your salary is paid by Mental health, another agency. employment substance abuse and This activity will help you gain domestic violence job skills in a work setting. eiee , Vocational training This activity provides you with counseling to get through a difficult This activity is short term training situation in your life and help you f designed to teach you a job that get yourself on the road to finding you can do for a private employer. work. job Search and job Readiness Assistance This activity teaches you how to Work study find work and gives you a chance to look for work with the help of employment counselors. This activity is work in a college setting while you take college courses. Your Recappraiscal """)-lJorew- (( I( you are =triadult in it two- ti,,..1� 1 Id' s 11�yoll ljavc finishc d the �Icti i- parciit C aIWt)RK,; casc, rind i<<ttt tics ill void- Welf irc, to Work flan an, not exempt, You anchor the rl1 less thilri 18; to 2A Illonths !Flit► other parc'.nt ill yollr elssistance school you have not g0ttcll a jcib, YOU "ill 1111it will have to participate ill go to Reappraisal, In Rcapprais<ll, four arsignc:d Welfare to Work we will decide; ifs there were spc_ activity for at least 35 flours ?l attendance cial circurnstances that kept you «neck. from getting a joh. If we decide All school age children must that you did have special circum- NOTE: Both parents may partici- regularly attend school. If he or stances, you will be sent to anoth- pate toltneet the 35-hour- requirc- she does not do so regularly, er activity. If we decide that you merit, but one of you must partici- do not have special circumstances, pate for at least 20 hours a week, you will have to participate in one Also, to receive CaIWt3RKs child of the following activities: care paid for with federal money, ` you and the other parent will,have Unsubsidized work to participate for at least 55 hours a week., unless one of you is dis- t • Work experience abled or has to care for a severely disabled child. Job skills training directly related to employment Self-initiated Progr,anis Mental health substance If you are in a Self-Initiated abuse, and/or domestic vie- Program, you must participate at fence services least 32 hours per week, (unless he or she is eligible to par- ticipate in the Cal-Learn Program) Participating in more your family's cash aid will be law- ` erect: You must show proof that Hours of than one activity your child is attending school reg- at a time Participation 1 articipation We may require you to partici- pate in more than one activity at One-Parent Families the same time to bring you up to your required hours of participa- tion. if you are the adult in a one- parent CaIWQRKs case, and you are not exempt, you will have to participate in your assigned Welfare to Work activity or activi- ties for at least 26 hours per week until July 1, 1999, when you will have to participate a total of 32 hours per week. The hours of participation do not apply if,you are participating in the Cal-Learn Program, . ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... _.. ......... ......... ......... ......... ..........._..._.... ............................................................................ �'c1tl � �c� ( t()Y' supportive ,�rr}��r»-tivr� ,�;r�f^tlir,r„s lacaryrlir,iitt.y rlic,ludr, ter "t 1 C;1ptlO 11Services tlrr; following: • CBild care• r.{rsts, ifthe child Attel'tdt ucc,, Wr; ulldcrst<uld drift Vali 111,1y C,nc P. ncccssary for You for Irrrrti lwc;d rnorc than just training and cip;lw In Wc;lkuc' to Work ar,tiviiics Job counsc ling to take hart nuc cess- You coin s;ct child care ii>r e lch Whcii You sign your Welfitre, to full i i Wcafitre to Work. 'That is Work Nlau, Vol, igrce to go to your y child in your € alWOKKs assistance why we, will help you arrange unit who is 10 yc!ars old or activity(ics) and <:oinl�l{rte it and/or :iy for our c'�rild care, (then r). If you arc unable to be, l Y younger lout 11 or I Z yc�<rr old transportation, and work or trainiiig child m iy get child care if mmim, tlw.rc due to illnc ss, etc_, you must related ex cases. call both the activity provider and p is available. Also, you imiy get Your employnient worker as soon child care; for a child who lives us you know tJou will not be gomig with you but is not in your in. If�you are in training or educ;a CaIWORKs assistance unit, if not tion, you must attend according to having child care would keep you the standards of the training or from participating or getting a job. education provider. You may be �'' You can choose the kind of child expected to provide weekly or , ,. care you want, like child care cen- monthly proof'of attendance. tern, relatives, friends, or neighbors. Satisfactory progress We cannot pay for child care . _ if you choose somebody in your All Welfare to Work partici- 11` CalWORKs assistance unit, the pants are required to make satin- child's legal guardian, the parent, factory progress toward completing �i� II or nom body>undar 18 years old as their assigned activities. the care giver. Payments can be, „Satisfactory Progress" means that made to licensed child rare you will meet the expectations! '”. 'providers and, in some cases, to spersons who don't need to be standards of the employer or education/training provider. You licensed. If your provider is not may be required to provide proof licensed, he or she must be of your progress on a regular basis. fingerprinted and apply for If other funding sources are not Trustline registration, unless your available to pay for all of your sup- provider is your child's aunt, Completion of portive services expenses, we will uncle, or grandparent. The most pay for the supportive services as we can pay is the rate based on assignment pay below. what is normally charged for child care in the, area. You will be expected to c;om- UtEYIGe ,'a -meats plete each assignment you have • IYarlsportation costs up to a agreed to do. If you have a prob- certain amount for travel to and lem and find you will not be able If you qualify for Welfare to Work From your Welfare to Work activity. to complete the activity you agreed supportive services payments, and to do, you must call your employ- You need your supportive service; . Work or training related costs ment worker right uwa,y. payment before you begin your for books, tools, and special cloth- activity, you may qualify for an ing you need as a part of'your If you are in an education/ advance payment. Welfiirc to Work activity. training program, you are expected to earn a license, certificate, or NOTE: As of'January, 1998, pay- ff you need personal counscl- degree that will lead dirr.ctly to ments for child care go directly to ins; to help you participate in crnploymertt. the provider. We won't be able. to Welfare to Work, and services ares sive tlxi paviiwnt to you. av<iil<rblc, we will refer you to (:o111iIc'II(II No,ivie.<�s, ��'hu ru,rv, I11c. i\lt{°r1111tivc l'lv'111 'ut 1'�,ur <,nrlrlurui�_111 ,t{,r€ u1 t,'ilI rcfer yor1 to thinc p kl(1 c:s ill Clic I lm"r<1nr will use r1 5lidim,, tco' S( '11c Iwip,yore rcvicw c:tr 11 of 01(' tollow cmilirrtrititt' that 1111v lir, ,1hic w to dccidc how much ofyour child ilig 1-r,11(" r,l v'wll Wt'11111r' ;z, 1ti4rri: hcip y()11. r <1rc costw you will p<1y ;111(1 lww nruch will be paid for yot1. We m N(YI'1': II We iliirc to Work p�ilvs thc: Altcrnativc Paynicilt IT091-am I. The Wo kit 11lorc child can", ti-Allsport;.ttiora will pay your c;lrc giver directk! I'Li1,N ItIGI ITS ANI) ItI,;SI'ONSi costs, or work or training rcl;acld lit 1 'I'II;S tc"lls yolr ghoul Welfm-(' costs th;111 yolr lwcd to pru-ticipaic, Sec, your Child C:ID, Spr,ci<1list to Work, ()ill- responsibilitics, rind you will hav<; to pay Welfare to for more infiormation on having your your; riI hts and re.; {�carrsibilitic�s as �i Work back. But, you may not have. child care paid. participant. This agreement applies to pay Welfare to Work back while, as lens;as you arc ill Wc:lf;rrc to Work, you are in Welfare to Work if doing ,gyp'. t`,r� SO would keep you from participat- - 2. This WEL,FAIU,"I'O WO121< ing in tine pro'g'ram. t PARTICIPANT I-IANDBOOK. jobs Retention 3. The CALWORKS AGREEMENT - ACTIVITY ASSIGNMENT tells cStCpOYttle SeI"tli+CS you about the Welfare to Work activity in which you are partici- We may provide case manage- pating. You will sign a new activity assignment each time you begin a went and supportive services fora g y gt time after you have started a job new Welfare to Work activity. and for tip to 12 months after you 4. The WELFARE TO WORK go off aid Clue to your job. There are some supportive services we PLAN - ACTIVITY ASSIGNMENT will pay for only if you need them tells you about the activities you to keep your jab and you cannot ° II' � � agreed to da as your Welfare to get the services casts from sc7me- Work Plan. This plan will be in effect for 18 to 24 months. where else. Read all of the parts of your A.ltm-lative Your Welfare to Work Plan, including pGii'yl'y ent program this Welfare to Work Participant r Handbook, carefully. If you have Welfare to any questions, be sure to ask your Once your situation becomes Work j + employment worker. Both you steady or you leave aid, we will 1 and your employment worker will transfer your child care reimburse sign each assignment. ment to the local Alternative Payment Program. This may be Your Welfare; to Work Plan You must continue to partici- the Social Service Department or . important. It tells you how we pate in Welfare to Work, moving an outside program. Your child from one.; activity to another, until care provider does riot have to will ware together so that you carp you get a job and become self= change ante you go to work or compete for and find a job. The.; sufficient. transition off aid. If you still need receive will make sure that you help with your child care- costs re. t;eivc; the agreed-upon after you have.been off aid for two services and training for as long as years, you may ht' eligible, Work are taking part in Welfare, to depending on the amount ofyour Work and receiving cash aid. Your income, to continue to get. help plan tells yarn what you must do, fi73m the Alternative.; Payment Welfare what we, must do, to rnakt; Weafare to Work work floc }you. Program. ................................................................ ............................................................. ....................................................... Good reasons Reasons related What happetis to activity assigninent for not or job.. if, you do not ruination at thcJob or participate? participating ofagc, sex, race, color, religion, national or ethnic, origin, physical or mental disabili- As you know, participation in We recognize that you may- ty, political affiliation or marital Welfare to Work is mandatory for have a good reason for not signing status. all able-bodied CalWORKs appli- your Welfare to Work Plan, for not cants and recipients. Exemptions taking part in one. of the Welfare, to Travel to work or training are listed in the section titled, Work activities that you agreed to from your home is more than two "Who Doesn't Have to Participate.,, in your activity assignment, for not hours round trip by car, bus or accepting a job offer or job referral, other transportation, or more than , you do not for quitting a job, or for reducing two miles round trip If' for any reason if you have I your earnings. Some of the reasons to walk b I ecause other transporta- do what welfare to Work requires, are related to you personally, and tion is not available. The limit on the following steps will be taken: some are related to the assignment. travel and mileage does not include transportation time or Cause determination Reasons mileage to take family members to and from school or to and from If you do not meet Welfare to related to you: other rare providers. Work requirements, you have the right to explain why. The county You need transportation or NoTE. if you do not take a job or will decide if it is a good reason. •work or training related expenses participate in an assigned activity (See the section titled, "Good paid to participate, and these have because of this reason, you will Reasons for Not Participating.") not been provided. have to participate in Community Service. If you have a good reason for • You are the victim of domes- not doing what Welfare to Work tic violence and participating The job requires more daily requires, your employment worker or weekly hours than is normal or would be harmful to you or your will try to help you so that you can family. customary. meet Welfare to Work require- ments. if changes can't be made Licensed or exempt child care Conditions at your job or so that you are able to meet the •is not reasonably available during training violate health and safetyWelfare to Work requirements, you d cause you scrir could ds d t sanarol your training, employment, or will not be required to participate travel time for: ous injury or death. in Welfare to Work temporarily. The job or work activity does A child 10 years old or Compliance younger not provide Worker's Compensation Insurance. If you do not meet Welfare to A child who is in foster Accepting a job or work activi- Work requirements, we will send care or is an SSI recipient, but •ty would interrupt or interfere with you a notice. you will have 20 cal- who is not included in the assis- day endar s after the date of the tante unit an approved education or training notice to meet with or call your assignment, except Work Experience or Community Service. employment worker to give a good • Any substantial or compelling reason for not doing what is reason as determined by the • Accepting a job or work activi- required or to agree to sign a com- county. ty would cause you to violate the pliance plan to do what you are terms of your union membership. required to do, if you do not have a good reason. If you meet the ..................... ......................... I'tl' anctal Sanctions Penalties Yo Ur r.rnploynicnt worker will i1p yon Iilc Ii7r a stat(: hcarittg if OY Volunteers you want onc. You can request a If you are a mandatory partici rehearing if you do not agree will pant (Scc the, section titled, "Who the state hearin s-,r decision. Must Participate"), your family's Individuals who are exempt crash aid will be lowered if you fail from participation (see the section titled, "Who Docsn't Dave to • If''you file for a state hearing or refuse to meet Welfare to Work before the penalties start, e naltics requirements without a good rea- Participate") may choose to volun- p� p' Leer to participate in Welfare to will not he applied while the hear- son and do not resolve the prob Work. If you volunteer for the ing is being decided. lem by signing and completing a compliance plan. Welfare to Work program, but fail to meet Welfare to Work require- • I€you file for a state hearing pa ments without a goon reason you for any other county action, differ- Your family's cash aid will may not be allowed to participate ent rules apply. The Welfare; to lowered if anybody who must par- in Welfare to Work for a period of Work hearing rights form explains ticipate does not meet Welfare to time those rules. You can ask for copies Work requirements, This financial of the form at any time. sanction will happen only if the Call your employment person does not have a good rea- worker if you have questions son, or they fail to sign or corn- regarding these requirements. plete a compliance plan. The per- 2. Independent son who gets a financial sanction Assessment not receive cash aid for a period of time. What you do not agree with the If your family is a two-parent What you results of your Assessment or family getting cash aid because of Welfare to Work Plan, someone unemployment, there are specialrtl l i who is not a county representative rules for financial sanctions. If a will review your Assessment and parent who must participate in ,, do another one, if necessary. The Welfare to Work causes a financial if you results of this independent sanction, both parents will lose J Assessment will be used to set up their cash aid. But the parent who your Welfare to Work Plan. did not cause the sanction can disagree keep his or her cash aid if he or • If you have an independent she participates in Welfare to Assessment done, penalties will Work, or is exempt, or has good 1. State Hearing not be applied while you await the cause for not participating. results of the review. The first time you are If you disagree with any county sanctioned, your family's aid will decision regarding a Welfare to be lowered until you do what Work penalty (See the section Welfare to Work requires and apply titled, "Good Reasons for Not x again for cash aid. The second Participating"), your status (stand- time, your family's cash aid will be ing) in Welfare to Work, your lowered for at least three months. Welfare to Work activity, or your After three months, the sanction Welfare to Work supportive ser- will stop if you apply again for vices, you can ask for a state hear- cash aid and do what Welfare to ing. For Welfare to Work financial Work requires. The third or addi- sanctions, you can use the same tional time, your family's aid will process you use when you dis- be lowered for at least six months. agree with the action we take on After six months, the sanction will your cash aid. stop if you apply again for cash aid and do what Welfare to Work A final word we wrote this handbook to tell you how Welfare to work can work for you so you can get the most out of the program. The handbook should answer many of the questions you have about your rights and responsibilities, your Welfare to Work Plan, what activities are available to you, and what you can do if you disagree with any action taken, if you still have questions, please be sure to ask your employment worker. County CaIWORKs staff is here to help you and your family become self-sufficient. REMEMBER! The goal of Welfare to Work is to help you prepare for work and find a job so you can support yourself and your family. 1 I i' i S 4> t i You can do it! We can help . .... .... � ut.:... In partnership with the community, use provide services that support and protect families, individuals and children in need, promote personal• responsibility, independence and self-sufficiency. { Contra Costa County SOCIAL 'SERVICE DEPARTMENT irr 4. + e t ; z! v-- ,y f T'y# �E�A �J rr� t�� •# 4 $ kr."" �{'4 f y, t i -'�, ,`• s F �'w p r ht �r ,� 's r; �� ?+• .s .� ft n rw s �� S '.t,Y.n'`�! t4w>�+al:b �'"i;� �;. Sy firth d ..�. `:j t ,.fd � Y!Fr�xF 4 'a •-s-1 tib' t n b r/ R 1 fi S: x v r ri'T. i k { b to � R ttoe1V`, 71 -.71"t 71TW777,77 IT } •.....AAAA""' ,..iN .t a M1 S.. `r ,��r �br �� bs x,�;t�� tt�3 ° ` ,�i f'f�,,rc•+ ro > >_�.t� ��'< t Distribution: CalWORKs Sr. Employment Specialists; fate: September 14, 1998 Sr. Employment Specialist Supr.; Work Programs Social Workers. . .., and Supr.;Employment and Supportive Services and G.A. Division Managers;Elaine Grothmann; Judy Olcott;Chris Linville; Non-Custodial Parent Project staff, Executive Team and Nina Goldman WTW Contra Costa County Social Service Department Senior Employment Specialist Core Knowledge and. Sill Building Training Plan Prepared by: Lynne Hofmann Kerry Welch Staff'Development Division In conjunction with. Renee Carter SolutionsWest and California State University, Sacramento Contra Costa County Social Service Department Senior Employment Specialist "Training Plan Introduction This document describes the skill and knowledge building and reinforcement training being offered to the Senior Employment Specialists and their supervisors to support the successful delivery of Welfare-to-Work services. Many of the Senior Employment Specialists and Supervisors are farmer GAIN staff with experience in employment services. Most of the training will be provided by SolutionsWest through a contract with California State University, Sacramento. Training Needs Assessment SolutionsWest staff developed a training needs'survey based on the Goals and Expectations document for Sr. Employment Specialist staff. Lynne Hofmann of our Staff Development Division met with many of the Sr. Employment Specialists in each district office to introduce the survey and elicit their responses to the following four questions: What do you perceive as the biggest changes in your jobs due to the CalWORKs program? • In working with participants in CalWORK.s,what do you believe will be the biggest challenges for Sr. Employment Specialists? ■ What general areas of focus would you like to see for training related to CalWORK.s? • What specific training would be helpful to you in meeting goals and expectations as they have been defined in CalWOR.Ks? The written surveys and charted responses to the above questions were sent to SolutionsWest for analysis. The results were sharedwith the managers in the Employment and Supportive Service Bureau. Anyone else wishing to obtain a copy can do so by contacting Lynne Hofmann. Training needs for the Sr. Employment Specialist group will be continually assessed and additional courses offered to meet these needs as they are identified. Evaluation Staff Development and SolutionsWest will elicit participant evaluations at the conclusion of.each session. SolutionsWest with submit a full assessment and written report at the end of the series.' Staff Development will continue to work closely with Employment and Supportive Services Bureau managers and supervisors to ensure the participants are successfully transferring the learning from the classroom to the work environment. 1' Enrollment Senior Employment Specialist Supervisors are asked to complete the enrollment form at the back of this packet and forward it to Staff Development as soon as possible. Location: Our hope is to provide this training at the Social Service Training Center, 1465 Enea Circle, Building D, Concord. The concurrent new Eligibility Worker Training Unit may displace our sessions. Participants should pay particular attention to the confirmation memos for each session. Any change in venue will be announced there. If you have questions or concerns about the training plan, please contact Lynne Hofmann at 313-1965. 2 ........................................... ................................... .......................................... ...................................... .............. Senior Employment Specialists Welfare-to-Work Program Knowledge and Skill Building Training Course 1: Welfare-to-Work— Where Are We Now? Course Content: This is the first in a series of knowledge and skill-building workshops designed specifically for the Senior Employment Specialist, based on the recent needs assessment survey and focus group meetings in the district offices. This workshop deals with WTW requirements and in-house procedures including roles and responsibilities. Objectives. a To apply WTW time limits, exemptions,participation requirements, Good Cause and reasonable cause" to case examples. a Define the criteria for an "intensive"or"hard to serve" case. a Explore the roles and responsibilities under the current WTW Service Delivery Plan and identify components required to ensure success. a To explore the dynamics of change and develop strategies to deal with ongoing change. a Review the referral process for domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health issues. n Introduce the Senior Employment Specialist Knowledge and Skill Building Plan. Presenters: Lynne Hofmann and Dale Biggs from Solutions West Date and time: Wednesday, October 7, 1998 9:00 am 4:00pm PLEASE NOTE: Sr. Employment Specialists are requested to bring their WTW Handbooks to this session. We will be using them for reference as we move through the day's content. 3 Course 2: Developing a Comprehensive Welfare-to-Work Plan Course Content: The 2-day course addresses the use of comprehensive lemployability assessments. In this course participants will examine and define what snakes an individual or family "hard to serve" in Contra Costa County. Participants will learn and practice developing comprehensive action plans using a strength-based model to address participant needs and barriers to employment. Elements of an action plan are identified and the concept of action planning is applied to case scenarios. Objectives: - To develop criteria to define "hard to serve" in Contra Costa County. ' To examine the appropriate use of needs assessments in a"Work First" environment. - To examine the elements of comprehensive needs assessment for hard-to-serve CaIWORKs participants. - To examine what a comprehensive welfare-to-work plan would address. - To discuss time limits and prioritizing action plans that addresses multiple barriers to employment. - To discuss how to create action plans that address the entire family's needs in partnership with participants. - To explore methods to empower participants and help them overcome their reluctance to participate. - To determine which types of activities are most-effective for participants in various stages of job readiness. - To develop strategies for bringing participants formerly deferred under GAIN back into the welfare-to-work activity flow. Presenter: Dale Biggs, SolutionsWest Dates and time: Monday and Tuesday November 2 and 3, 1998 OR Thursday and Friday November 12 acrd 13, 1998 9:Olt am _ 4:OO pm ....._... ................................... ....................................... ......... ......... ........................................................._.........__. ................ .............._. Course 3: Working with Specific Barriers Presented by Participants Who are "Hard to Serve" Course Content: This full day course addresses the strategies to use in action planning around specific issues identified as barriers to employment. Course participants will identify potential issues or problems, then develop options and methods to overcome them. Consideration will be given to what kinds of issues or problems can be addressed concurrently with participants in a welfare-to-work activity and which issues cannot. Objectives: ■ To explore methods to identify and assist clients to overcome the effects of drug and alcohol abuse barriers to employment. ■ To explore the affects that mental health has on employment, and methods to address the issues. ■ To explore the many forms of domestic abuse and identify ways to assist clients, especially in relation to barriers to employment. ■ To explore methods to identify and assist clients in overcoming the effects of legal problems, in order to prevent them from becoming barriers to employment. • To explore physical health and methods to address these issues so that clients can be assisted with obtaining appropriate employment. To explore language barriers as they relate to employment, and devise resources and methods to assist clients. ■ To identify which of these issues preclude success and need to be addressed prior to a work activity assignment. ■ To identify welfare-to-work activities that support the resolution of these issues. Presenter: Dale Biggs, Solutions West Dates and time: Tuesday, December 1, 1998 or Wednesday, December 2, 1998 9:00 am -- 4:00 pm ...: ,.. Course 4: Exploring the Availability of Community Resources Note: This is a half day course that will be presented in conjunction with a community resources fair. Course Content: In this course, Employment Specialists and Senior Employment Specialists within a region work in teams to share information concerning their current knowledge of available community resources to'meet specific needs. Resource lists will be developed and as a result of this class, gaps in knowledge about resources and their availability will be identified. Objectives: • To identify resources already available and in use to address the typical barriers presented by clients. * To explore case management techniques to "fill in the gaps" for participants and their families in obtaining resources. I • To explore techniques to identify community education and training programs that address specific area of need. Presenter: hale Biggs, SolutionsWest Dates and times: To Be Announced Course 5. Using Teamwork to Create Common Gods with the CalWORKs Participants Course Content: Employment Specialists and Senior Employment Specialists within their region will examine their roles as members of multi-disciplinary teams serving the same clients in this half day course. Methods for developing teamwork in managing cases and the specific needs of clients will be explored. Course participants will examine and practice a style of"round table"meetings as a technique to assist clients in addressing multiple issues and barriers. Objectives: ■ To explore various methods of conducting case consultations with other Ca1WORKs staff members for effective case management. • To explore various methods of conducting case consultations with professionals outside of Cal WORKS who are working with Cal WORKS participants. * To learn methods of creating systems to share information and resources for the benefit of assisting clients in the common goals of welfare-to-work. • To learn strategies for addressing conflict as it arises in multi-disciplinary teams. ■ To practice'methods of establishing commonality and collaborations by identifying mutual and differing goals and negotiating methods of working together to achieve those goals. Presenter: bale Biggs, SolutionsWest Dates and times: To Be Announced 6 Overview of Sr. Employment Specialist Trainin Class Dates and Time Course I --Welfare-to-Work : Where Are We Now? October 7, 1998 9:00 to 4:00 Course 2 —Developing a Comprehensive WTW Plan November 2 & 3, 1998 or November 12 & 13, 1998 9:00 to 4:00 Course 3 — Working with Specific B arriers,Presented December 1, 1998 by Participants Who are Hard to Serve or December 2, 1998 9:00—4:00 Course 4 —Exploring the Availability of Community To Be Announced Resources Course 5 — Using Teamwork to Create Common To Be Announced Goals with the CaIWOR.K.s Participants 7 Distribution: All G.A. and Employment and Supportive Services Distributed on: October 14, 1998 Division Managers; All Employment Specialist,G.A. and Sr. Employment Specialist Supervisors; Elaine Grothmann, Pat Nash,Joyce Lawrence, Nina Goldman, Judy Campbell, Executive Team Contra Costa County' Social Service Department Core Knowledge and Skill-Building g Welfare-to-Work Training Series For Employment Specialists Prepared by the Staff Development Division. Lynne Hofmann—WTW Staff Development Specialist Kerry L. Welch—Staff Development Manager Introduction This document describes the ten session series of basic skill and knowledge building workshops for new Employment Specialists. The series has been modified to address the issues identified by participants of the original Employment Specialist training series. We are also incorporating information and skill building activities that prepare the new Employment Specialist to be successful in meeting the supervisor's Goals and Expectations for Employment Specialists: The first part of this document provides a description of each WTW workshop and the course objectives. An overview calendar for the Welfare-to-Work program workshops follows the descriptions. Participants: Newly appointed Employment Specialists are expected to attend the entire series. At this time, there are;no make-up or additional sessions of these workshops scheduled. Senior Employment Specialists and Employment Specialists who want to attend or missed a workshop during the original training are welcome to attend on a space available basis. Supervisors are requested to complete the enrollment form at the end of this packet and fax it to Staff Development at 313-1970 as soon as possible. A copy of this training announcement will be sent to each Employment Specialist enrolled in the series. Staff Development is happy to make special accommodations in compliance with ADA. Please notify us two days in advance if you have any special needs. Location: At this time, we expect all classes to be held at the Staff Development Training,Center, 1465 Enea Circle, Bldg D, Diablo Room, Concord. The main phone number for messages or general information is 313-1960. The date and time for each workshop is noted by the workshop description. If you havequestions about individual workshops or the series, please call Lynne Hofmann at 313-1965, Workshop Descriptions I. The Welfare-to-Work Appraisal Process (7 hours) This session introduces the new Employment Specialists to their new rale as motivator,coach and evaluator of progress for participants in the Welfare-to- Work Program. We will review many of the components of the WTW program that are important to conducting an effective Appraisal Interview. This information is relevant to both Pre and Post Assessment assignments. Participants will receive a copy of the Welfare-to-Work.Handbook. Objectives: ♦ Discuss specific behaviors that support the Department's CaIWDRs goals and values as well as the supervisor's goals and expectations for Employment Specialists. ♦ Review the TANF participation requirements in relation to the role of the Employment Specialist. ♦ Review the content of the CaIWORKs and Welfare-to-Werk orientation. s Identify the criteria and verification required to apply an exemption from participation in WTW activities. ♦ Differentiate between applying an exemption and establishing good cause for non- participation. ♦ identify the eligibility criteria and participation requirements for a Self Initiated Program. Introduce the Non-compliance process described in WTW Handbook 42-745. Presenter: Lynne Hofmann Date ancl<Time: Monday, October 26, 1998—8:30 to 4:30 pm ....... ......... .. ..... ......... ....._.. .._ ...... ......... ........ ......... ...._ .................................................................... ......................... lI. Client Motivation (3.5 hours) This workshop explores the basics of motivating and how we can best assist our participants in overcoming fears. The Employment Specialist will better j understand and build skills for their role as catalyst for positive change in participant's lives. j Objectives. i ♦ Identify factors that motivate participants to make life changes for themselves and their families. 1 ♦ Build skills to help participants overcome fears. 1 a ♦ Model successful workplace behavior. ♦ Encouraging participant self-esteem through coaching, praising and celebrating successes. Presenter: Bridget Skillman, Center for Human Services Training and Development Date and Time: Wednesday,November 4, 1998— 8:30— 12:00 pm III. Introduction to GIS (3.5 hours) This session introduces the Employment Specialist to the GAIN Information System and related resource tools. Objectives: Identify the role of the GAIN Information System in relation to the Case Data System. + Introduce the GIS Handbook and other resources as learning and reference tools ♦ Review the purpose and role of each screen in the GIS. Presenter: Rob Barnard Date and Time: Wednesday,November 4, 1998 — 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm IV. Supportive Services Payments (3.5 hours) This session covers the role of the Employment Specialist in identifying, and helping remove barriers to employment. We will explore the expensess that can be paid through supportive services payments to enable the WTW participant to successfully participate in their WTW activity. Objectives: + Referring the participant to the Child Care Unit for child care plans and expenses. i Calculating and issuing a transportation payment. * Identifying expenses allowable under the umbrella of ancillary expenses. + Calculating and issuing ancillary expenses. Presenter: Lynne Hofmann Date and Time: Thursday, November 5, 1998 '— 1:00 pm to 4:34 prn . ............................................. . ....................................................... ............. ............................... ....... .. .... V. GIS Lab I & 11 (7 hours total) This session will cover how information is entered onto the GIS screens and how the flow of information tracks participants through the system. Objectives: ■ Review the VSD codes and CDS entries necessary to create GIS records. • Practice locating the correct codes in the GIS Handbook. ■ Identify the importance and use of GIS "ticklers". ■ Practice making entries for a typical participant in GIS. Presenter: Rob Barnard Dates and Times: Tuesday, November 10, 1998 —8:30 am — 12:00 pm Thursday, November 12, 1998 — 8:30 am— 12:00 pm VI. Identifying WTW Participant Strengths and Challenges (3.5 hours) This workshop helps the Employment Specialist develop skills necessary to identify WTW participant strengths as well as barriers that need to be addressed to ensure success as the participant moves into the WTW process. We will also follow-up with any pieces that are left over from the WTW Appraisal Process workshop. Objectives: ♦ Explore the purpose and components of the Appraisal and Reappraisal interview. 4 Practice identifying participant employment related strengths and challenges as well as identifying potential resources for removing barriers to employment. Presenters: Lynne Hofmann and subject matter expert Date and Time: Thursday,November 12, 1998— 1:00 to 4:30 pm .......... .................................