Welfare Reform in California : State and County Implementation of Calworks in the First Year

Abstract

Abstract : This report describes the first two years of implementation of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program and the changes it has brought for welfare agencies and welfare recipients. The legislation changed the primary focus of California's welfare programs from providing cash aid to moving recipients promptly into the labor market and shortly thereafter off welfare. That change was to be accomplished through implementation of what we call the WTW (welfare-to-work) model, according to which immediately following the approval of the aid application, nearly all recipients search for jobs in the context of Job Club. For those who do not find employment through job search, there follows an intensive assessment and a sequence of WTW activities to identify and overcome barriers to employment. Those activities could include supported work assignments; education and training; and treatment for mental health, substance abuse, and domestic abuse problems. Although welfare agencies are making changes in goals and programs in response to CalWORKs, the late passage of the CalWORKs legislation delayed its implementation and compressed the time available for planning. The slow pace of implementation should have been expected, given the magnitude of the changes, but many had hoped for and expected a pace more responsive to recipients, whose lifelong clocks for welfare receipt tick away as welfare agencies incorporate the changes necessary to implement the CalWORKs WTW model.

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