HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05031994 - 2.2 dw
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Perfecto Villarreal, Director 11 Contra
FROM: Social Service Department Costa
April 13, 19,94
County
DATE: ��SrA couN�c4
GREATER AVENUES FOR INDEPENDENCE (GAIN)
SUBJECT: COUNTY PLAN UPDATE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1993/94
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the amended Contra Costa County GAIN Plan for FY 1993/94.
BACKGROUND:
GAIN is the employment/training program serving employable adults
who are recipients of AFDC. Because of an increase in funding
along with a State mandate that more individuals must be served in
GAIN and helped to enter jobs quickly, the program design this year
differs markedly from previous plans which emphasized delayed job
entry in favor of sponsoring longer-term training and education
courses for program participants.
GAIN has been operating in Contra Costa County since May, 1988. In
1989, the federal JOBS Program was incorporated into the California
GAIN Program. While being generously funded through FY 1989/90,
GAIN funding declined from 1990 - 1992 because of State Budget
shortages and problems with program realignment. The 1993/94
Governor's Comprehensive Reform Budget reversed this trend and the
legislature made sweeping changes in California's welfare system.
The State implemented a 5-year demonstration project entitled "Work
Pays". The philosophy underlying "Work Pays" assumes that by
increasing job services and eliminating work disincentives from
welfare programs, more public assistance recipients will go to
work, thereby improving their standard of living, and in the
process, reduce costs for tax payers.
Included in the "Work Pays" legislative package was an increase in
GAIN funding of approximately 56%. After almost 9 years experience
with GAIN programs (the pilot counties started in 1985) , research
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: RYES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMM EE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S):
ACTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
CC: Social Services ATTESTED / "OFTHE9BO�A*IRDOF CAO PHIL BATCHELO LE
Auditor-Controller SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
M382 (10/88) BY �"' \ Aw4 0 DEPUTY
in 6 test counties has shown that programs which emphasize early
job entry (such as Riverside County's program) show better results
and are more cost effective than programs which emphasize delayed
job entry and longer term education and training programs.
with the increased allocation in ,GAIN funding, counties were
directed to serve more clients and refocus GAIN programs on
employment related services to help clients find jobs quickly. At
the same time, counties were put on notice that future funding
levels would be tied to key performance indicators such as numbers
served, job entry rates and AFDC cost reductions.
Following this state mandate, we redesigned our GAIN program and
made significant changes to enable us to serve more clients more
effectively, and transition them more quickly into the job market.
The attached plan describes in detail what we have done so far and
what we. intend to do for the balance of the fiscal year to achieve
our goals.
Federal/State laws and regulations governing the JOBS/GAIN program
are very prescriptive regarding who to serve in GAIN if a county is
not able to serve everyone who is eligible for GAIN. Even with the
increased funding, we are not able to serve the entire AFDC
caseload and therefore, must serve the following target groups in
GAIN:
♦ Custodial Teen Parents between the ages of 16 and 19 who do
not have a high school diploma or it's equivalent, and who are
not enrolled in school full time.
♦ Custodial parents age 20 through 23 who have had little or no
work experience in the preceding year, or who have not
completed high school, and are not enrolled in a high school
program, and whose youngest child is age 3 or over.
♦ Recipients of AFDC who have received AFDC for at least 36 out
of the last 60 months, whose youngest child is age 3 or over.
Recipients of AFDC whose youngest child is within two years of
becoming ineligible for AFDC - (is age 16 or over)
+ Refugees who are recipients of AFDC who have resided in the
U.S. less than 3 years and whose youngest child is age 3 or
over.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The GAIN. allocation for FY 1993/94 is $6,077,450 of which
$3 , 343 , 169 are Federal funds, $2,228, 348 are State funds. The
County required share is $506,933. This is the same MOE as in FY
1992/93 as the state agreed to increase the GAIN allocation
without increasing the county's MOE expenditure level.
DATE: /7
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CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
GAIN PLAN UPDATE
APRIL, 1994
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT
PERFECTO VILLARREAL
DIRECTOR
TERRY SALTER
DIVISION MANAGER
JANET TOMPKINS
GAIN PROGRAM COORDINATOR
GAIN COUNTY PLAN - PY 1993/94
INTRODUCTION:
Since its implementation in May, 1988, the Contra Costa County GAIN
program has been subject to fluctuating yearly allocations making
the program extremely difficult to administer. During FY 89/90,
at the peak of the GAIN funding, the County served 6, 002
participants. However, the County then suffered two years of
funding cuts and went through the process of program realignment.
GAIN was scaled back to the extent that only 2, 010 participants
were served in FY 1992/93 . Intake was closed to new participants
from August 1990 until January, 1992 because of budget shortages.
In January, 1992, responding to the state's appeal to serve teen
parents in GAIN, we implemented an intensive services program to
serve that group. After enrolling approximately 100 teens into our
GAIN program, we were forced to curtail intake again by October,
1992 because of overexpenditures in child care.
All County Letter No. 93-58, dated August 11, 1993 brought welcome
news that funding was on the upswing again. On September 22, 1993,
we sent you our 1993/94 GAIN Preliminary Plan Update in which we
described how we would use the additional funds to profoundly
change our GAIN program. We described planned actions which would
take our GAIN program in a new direction, improve and expand it,
and make it more cost effective and employment focused. To date,
we have not received official approval of the Preliminary Plan
other than this telephone message from Rafael Rodriguez on October
12, 1993 "I think you nailed it this time---I can't find anything
in the plan to object to. "
In the Preliminary Plan, we described our considerable, yet
fruitless efforts to recruit sufficient volunteers from target
groups to participate in GAIN. We explained that we were therefore
returning to a mandatory system of enrolling individuals from the
four federal target groups plus a fifth target population, refugee
recipients who have less than 36 months residence in the United
States. The latter are a designated target group because Contra
Costa County is refugee-impacted and operates a Supplementary
Refugee Services (SRS) component funded by grants from the Federal
Office of Refugee Resettlement.
In addition, we indicated our intention to transfer all eligible
NET recipients into GAIN and to enroll AFDC-U parents as a special
priority. We also described staffing and systems changes which we
were considering, namely: Installing the GAIN Information System
1
(GIS) , hiring an additional Lao- speaking Case Manager, "banking"
deferred cases and hiring three Social Services Program Assistant
(SSPAs) to manage the deferral bank, hiring three Job Developers,.
and purchasing training and materials from Curtis and Associates to
enhance our Job Club Program.
Now, 7 months after submitting this Preliminary Plan, we are
pleased to report that we have made considerable progress in the
redesign of our GAIN program. Many of our objectives have been
accomplished as explained below.
STEPS TAKEN TO ALLOW COUNTY TO SERVE ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS
For reasons previously explained, the county returned to a
mandatory enrollment process in October, 1993. To assure an
orderly and manageable flow of new enrollees, AFDC recipients in
the five designated GAIN target groups are brought into GAIN at the
time of their annual AFDC eligibility reinvestigation. An
additional Lao-speaking Case Manager was hired (in March) to serve
a backlog of refugee participants in West County. The "deferral
bank" was established in all district offices in January, 1994,
with the hiring of three Social Service Program Assistants (SSPAs)
to manage the bank. Case Managers transferred inactive (deferred)
cases out of their caseloads, freeing them to serve more active
participants. Installation of the GAIN Information System (GIS)
is underway and hopefully, it will be fully operational by June,
1994. GIS will further improve staff efficiency because the system
automatically performs many tasks and generates statistical records
which are done manually at the present time.
PROJECTIONS -- NUMBERS OF ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS SERVED IN THE
CURRENT AND IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS
On July 1, 1993 , the total GAIN caseload was 1338. By March 1,
1994, the caseload count was 1932, an increase of 594 . During the
balance of the fiscal year, we anticipate enrolling an additional
406 participants, bringing the total caseload to 2338 by June 30,
1994. This is a caseload increase of 1, 000 from the previous year
end total.
Caseload numbers in subsequent years will depend upon future
funding levels which are unknown at this time.
COUNTY'S ABILITY TO ABSORB NET PARTICIPANTS IN GAIN
Transfer of NET participants into GAIN was one of the first actions
taken in our GAIN redesign. Since we are still in a cost reduction
situation and are limited to serving target groups in GAIN, we were
unable to absorb the entire NET caseload. However, as the chart
below indicates, we have made considerable progress. Approximately
2
two thirds of the NET caseload has been transferred to GAIN and
ongoing transfers are occurring as NET recipients become target
group members.
NON-GAIN EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAM STATISTICS
July, 1993 to January, 1994.
MONTH CASELOAD EXPENDITURES
JULY, 1993 111 $ 42,210
AUGUST 104 $ 46, 256
SEPTEMBER 123 $ 44,963
OCTOBER 141 $ 60,709
NOVEMBER * 85 $ 36,463
DECEMBER 66 $ 28, 152
JANUARY, 1994 37 $ 12,200
7 - MONTH TOTAL $270,957
* Started transferring target group NET cases to GAIN
GOALS/PROJECTIONS FOR JOB PLACEMENTS
By February 28, 1994, 190 GAIN participants had found jobs in
unsubsidized employment. By the same month the previous year, only
161 GAIN participants had found jobs in unsubsidized employment. We
anticipate that more gains will be realized in the last months of
FY 93/94. By fiscal year end, we expect job entries will total at
least 400. If this goal is achieved, it will be a 92% increase
over the job entry total in FY 92/93 which was 209.
ACTIONS TAKEN TO INCREASE JOB PLACEMENTS
1. As of February, 1994, through an interagency agreement
with our County Private Industry Council (PIC) , three
full time, experienced Job Developers joined our staff.
A Job Developer is available to serve clients at each of
our GAIN offices. These Job Developers meet clients
during Orientations and sign them up for an active period
of work search on the final day of the Job Search
Workshop.
2 . Through a recently finalized Memorandum of Understanding
with EDD, an additional Job Developer has been
3
outstationed three days per week at our West County
Office. This Job Developer is staffed to EDD Is Intensive
Services Program and has access to the Statewide Job
Match Information system. This means that two job experts
are now available to serve clients in our largest office.
3 . By adding a third Job Workshop leader, as of March, 1994,
we have workshops operating simultaneously in all three
GAIN offices. Previously, we had only two workshop
leaders with one of them conducting workshops in East and
Central County in alternate months. This action has
served to shorten the time lag between Orientation and
Job Workshop for participants in those two regions.
4. Our Orientation curriculum has been redesigned to
include "Work Pays" information and instill the
expectation that work will be the end result of the GAIN
experience. A visit by the Job Developer reinforces this
expectation.
5 Staff received training from Curtis and Associates in
October, 1993, and February, 1994. We consulted with them
in the redesign of our Job Search Workshop, making it
more job focused, faster paced, and shorter in duration
(two weeks rather than three) . We added an in- depth
appraisal process in the beginning of the workshop to
help participants establish a short term job goal. On
the final day of Job Workshop, the Job Developer takes
over the group to lead work search activities. In this
way, we are able to schedule two workshops per month
(rather than just one) in each region which gives us the
capacity to serve considerably more clients in job
services.
6. We changed the "GAIN Flow" (see attached chart) so that
all new participants, with the exception of those in
Self-Initiated Programs (SIPs) or in ABE/ESL, are routed
through Job Workshop and Job Search before undergoing
Assessment for education or training programs.
7. Separating Job Workshop and Job Search into two separate
components means that participants can seek work a full
8 weeks before reaching the federal limit.
LABOR MARKET INFORMATION
In an Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) publication
entitled "Projections 94, " Contra Costa County was described as a
"Growth powerhouse in the 19801s. " Between 1985 and 1987, 29, 600
new jobs were added to the economy. By 1990, however, the
"powerhouse" had lost steam as Contra Costa felt the effects of a
4
national recession. Defense related industries in neighboring
communities to which many county residents commute to work, began
downsizing. ABAG predicted a net loss of 8, 000 jobs between 1990
and 1995 and further predicted that recovery would not begin until
1994 and would not be completed until 1996.
State Employment Development Department (EDD) stated in their June,
1993 Annual Planning Information publication that the recession
would bottom out in 1993 and that the economy would steadily
improve through 1997. EDD predicts that by 1997, the County's
economy will likely have created more than 40, 000 jobs over the
1990 level. So far, EDD's predictions appear to be on target as
the unemployment rate peaked at 7% in June, 1993 and by February,
1994, it had dropped to 5.7%. "Help Wanted" signs are again being
seen in many shop windows.
According to EDD's report, services, the county's largest industry
division, will lead in employment growth. About 40 percent of the
gains in services will be in business services. This includes
temporary help agencies, computer programming and related services,
data processing, janitorial and security guard services.
Health services are expected to post the next largest gains within
the services division. Clinics, health maintenance organizations
and home health care providers will lead the way in this industry.
Retail trade, the second-largest industry division, will also be
second in the number of new jobs created through 1997. Restaurants
and bars are projected to gain nearly 40% of the added retail jobs.
Department and apparel stores will also gain sizeable numbers of
workers.
The cities of Richmond and Pittsburg are actively courting
businesses to locate within city limits offering in return, tax
advantages and expeditious processing of permits and licenses. A
manufacturer of train cars expects to begin production by the
second quarter of 1994 providing jobs for 300 assembly workers in
Pittsburg.
Over the past few years, Richmond has seen a renaissance in its
downtown blighted area and a reconstruction of its industrial base
in the city's outskirts. This has largely been due to the
extroardinary efforts the City of Richmond has put into its
"Enterprise Zone" and redevelopment programs. The "Richmond Works"
campaign is the cornerstone of the new mayor's administration.
This effort is beginning to pay big dividends with the recent
opening of a new shopping center in the downtown area. Several
very. large chain discount stores have opened already and several
more businesses are scheduled to open, all committed to selecting
employees from the local workforce. The school district, the local
PIC and EDD are all collaboring in the "Richmond Works" campaign.
5
Manufacturing is expected to add 2,400 jobs through 1997. The
county's major manufacturing industries are petroleum and
chemicals. These two industries, along with printing and
publishing, will contribute the majority of the new jobs.
Considering this labor market information, our redesigned GAIN
Program should be a substantial help to AFDC recipients in taking
advantage of these favorable economic trends.
CHILD CARE RESOURCE INFORMATION
As was discussed previously, the inclusion of Teen Parents into
the GAIN program caused a crisis in the fall of 1992 when we became
aware of a large projected deficit in our child care budget. At
that time, we were contracting with the local Child Care Resource
and Referral Agency to administer GAIN child care payments. The
contract with the R & R agency absorbed 20% of the available child
care funds in administrative costs. We did a cost study analysis
and determined that approximately $107, 000 could be saved if the
function were brought back in-house. Therefore, the contract with
the R & R agency was terminated August, 1993 . Since then, the
issuance of child care payments has been performed by our SSPA
staff and teen parent participation in GAIN is no longer a concern
with respect to the GAIN budget. We plan to implement Cal Learn in
July, 1994, which will further ease pressure on the GAIN budget
because teen parents under 19 will be thereafter served in the Cal
Learn Program.
DESCRIPTION OF CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT PROGRAM
Our plan for Concurrent Enrollment was submitted and approved by
your Department approximately two years ago. In that plan, persons
participating in ABE/GED could simultaneously participate in Job
Services, PREP or Vocational Training. With respect to the new
work requirements for AFDC-U parents, those who are participating
in a 16 hour/week work assignment (PREP, OJT, CWEP, unsubsidized
work, or if under 25, an educational activity) will be concurrently
enrolled in Job Search. They will be served by our Job Developers
and also by the EDD Counselor if they live in the West County area.
Concurrent activities will be scheduled to assure that AFDC-U
parents will participate in required activities for a minimum of 20
hours per week.
AFDC- U WORK REQUIREMENTS
As of February, 1994 , Contra Costa's AFDC Caseload totaled 17, 092
of which 2 , 293 are AFDC-U cases. Approximately 450 of those AFDC-U
cases are refugees, most of whom are monolingual in either Laotian
or Vietnamese. We now have two Lao and two Vietnamese speaking
case managers on staff. However, the situation is problematic in
6
that few of our PREP providers are capable of accommodating this
population. Therefore, we will require some time to develop
specialized PREP and Community Work Experience opportunities for
our non-English speaking participants. We have two proposals to
meet this challenge: 1) Coordinate with the Refugee Services
Program to explore the possibility of utilizing Targeted Assistance
Program funds to create a combination PREP Search/Job Search
component especially for refugees; and 2) request help from BASSO
Research Response Team. The latter is an organization affiliated
with four local university graduate schools. In the proposal, the
BASSO Team would identify local non-profit agencies willing to
provide CWEP slots for AFDC-U clients.
In the meantime, this is how we plan to serve AFDC-U parents in our
GAIN program:
As of January 1, 1994, we started enrolling non-exempt spouses of
AFDC-U parents who were already in our GAIN program. With new
AFDC-U cases, non-exempt spouses are enrolled simultaneously and
are assigned to the same Orientation sessions whenever possible.
In a remarkable number of the refugee cases, 15 hour work
exemptions are being claimed. However, aside from. that, it has
been observed by our staff that AFDC-U recipients in general are a
problematic group and many have serious barriers such as substance
abuse. Unemployed fathers have been historically resistant to
offers of services. Because of that and because we do not want to
put our PREP providers, many of whom are in sensitive businesses
such as child care and health services, in jeopardy, we have
decided upon the following course of action:
All new AFDC-U parents will go through Orientation and Appraisal in
the normal flow. Except for those under 25 without high school
diplomas who wish to enter education/training programs, all AFDC-U
participants will attend a 2-week Job Workshop Program. At the
conclusion of the workshop, they will be assigned to a Job
Developer and participate in an 8 week Job Search program. They
will seek work until they either get a job, or reach the 8 week
limit.
AFDC-U parents under 25 who complete education/training courses
will then be assigned to Job Workshop/Job Search following the same
steps as the older group.
Upon completing the 8 week job search program without securing
employment, U Parents will be referred to Assessment. During
Assessment, an Employment Plan will be written which will specify
which work experience component the individual will be assigned to
including PREP or CWEP. Concurrent activities will be scheduled so
that participation totals 20 or more hours per week.
See the GAIN Flow charts attached for an illustration of how
7
recipients will move through the system in either the AFDC-U or
regular GAIN Flows.
GAIN/PIC COORDINATION
Letters from County Private Industry Council and Richmond Private
Industry Council are attached. Please note in the GAIN Redesign,
collaboration is much closer with these agencies and with EDD
because of the outstationing of their staff in our offices.
ATTACHMENTS:
#1 GAIN Flow Chart - AFDC-U Parents
#2 GAIN Flow Chart - Regular Flow
#3 Coordination Letter from Richmond PIC
#4 Coordination Letter from County PIC
Gain disk 2 cty.pin
8
GAIN FLOW CHART(Regular Flow) Contra Costa County
ORIENTATION
SIP APPRAISAL ABE/GED/ESL
JOB CLUB
2 WEEKS
JOB SEARCH Yes Success
8 WEEKS Job?
No
ASSESSMENT
(EDP)
PREP JOB SEARCH EDUCATION TRAINING
90 DAYS
Job? No JOB SEARCH
90 DAYS
Yes
Success! Yes
Job?
No YEARLY 40 DAY
JOB SEARCH
Inactive
-GAIN FLOW CHART(AFDC-U Parents) Contra Costa County
ORIENTATION
L
N * Under25 APPRAISAL jL2
CLUB
S No HSD EKS
JOB SEARCH
8 WEEKS
ASSESSMENT No Yes
(EDP) Job? Success!
10
IF
IF
WORK* PREP* COM WK EXP* OJT*
* Minimum of 16 hours/week
(average) required in one of
JOB SEARCH these work activities.
90 DAYS
AFDC-U participant must be
assigned to non-work activity
concurrently for at least an
No additional 4 hours/week.
Job? Yes
Success!
UVATAM LAJUBTz
PRIVATE• INDUSTRY COUNCIL
2425 BISSO Imo, SITITE 100
CONCORD, CA 94520 646-5239
DATE' February 7, 1994 cc:
TO: Janet Tompkins, GAIN Program Manager
Cont Cosmo Cou ty�
Social Service Department
C �
�'FR
A ur C. Miner,E ecutive Director
Private Industry Council
SUBJECT:
COORDINATION/DEGREE OF PARTICIPATION BETWEEN DTPA AND SOCIAL
SERVICE
Pursuant to the requirements of the JOBS Program, this memorandum is written to
document/confirm the coordination and participation by the County's Private
Industry Council/DTPA program in the GAIN/JOBs program administered by the
County' Social Service Department.
The Private Industry Council is currently in contract negotiations with the Social
Service Department to provide Job Development Services to GAIN clients in the
following program components: three week job search, 90 Day Job Search and PREP.
The PIC also provides, using Title II-A 8% SECG funds, a. unique
"Assessment/Remediation Program: for GAIN participants who score below 200 on
the initial CASAS assessment in reading and/or math." This program component was
designed in coordination with the Social Service Department and utilized a Social
Service representative in the PIC's selection process for determining the program
provider.
Quarterly meetings are held with PIC administrative staff, PIC contractor staff,
Social Service administrative staff and GAIN Case Managers to review/coordinate Job
Search Services to welfare clients.
Also, the PIC Executive Director-is a member of the GAIN Advisory Committee which
meets periodically with Social Service Department staff and representatives of other
agencies, such as adult education, Employment Development Department and
Community Based Organizations to provide input to the on-going GAIN program.
It has been the practice of the Contra Costa County Private Industry Council to
coordinate and participate with the County Social Service Department in the planing
and implementation of the GAIN program.
ACM:baj
bj#2:GAIN
P.;
I
Cit\'Of
Employment and Training Department
Private Industry Council
330 - 25th Street
March 1, 1994
Ms. Janet Tompkins
GAIN Program Analyst
Contra Costa County
Social Services Department
40 Douglas Drive
Martinez, Ca 94553
Dear Ms . Tompkins:
The City of Richmond's Employment & Training Department/Private
Industry Council fully supports the goals of the Contra Costa
County GAIN program.
We utilize our allocated 80/50% JTPA monies to fund a very
successful dropout recovery program for GAIN clients who are teen
parents through the Richmond Adult School. This program was
selected by the Department of Education as an exemplary program
and is being used as a model site by other educational and
community based programs throughout the state.
Additionally, we have recently contracted with the Department of
Social Services, through the Contra Costa PIC, to provide job
development and job placement services for GAIN clients . We also
continue to contract directly with Social Services to provide
office and job club space and administrative support for the GAIN
Job Club coordinator.
Thank you for your assistance in facilitating coordination between
the Contra Costa GAIN program and the Richmond Employment and
Training Department . We look forward to continuing Richmond' s j
participation with GAIN in the coming program year.
\ncerely ,
Isiah Turner
Employment and Training Director
cc: files
City of Richmond California 94804 telephone: 510 307-8014
fax: 510 307-8061