CalWork!
JOB CREATION PACKAGE
This package reflects the job creation proposals adopted
by the Welfare Reform Conference Committee in June 1997
OUR COMMITMENT
Pursuant to Federal dictate, we are committed to moving every
able woman with children (and the few single men with children
and two-parent families) from welfare to work, in a smart,
effective, timely, enduring way.
FACTS INFORMING OUR PACKAGE
Our JOBS challenge in California`s `Welfare-to-Work' enterprise
is daunting:
- statewide, we need 500,000 NEW jobs within 5 years
(Appendix A);
- local needs are displayed, by county, in Appendix B.
The most reliable statistics predict that California's expected
rate of economic growth, even in these relatively good times, is
not sufficient to meet the jobs needs of these 500,000 women
without displacing current employees.
The development of sufficient new jobs to meet the needs of these
500,000 women moving from welfare to work will not happen
automatically, it requires a concentrated coherent strategic
effort to make it happen.
The good times we are experiencing in many regions of the state
provide us a promising window of opportunity during which we
must, design and adopt a comprehensive system which can deliver
on its promise of moving these 500,000 women from welfare to
work. If we succeed in putting such a comprehensive system into
place now, we'll be far better equipped to deal with future
inevitable down cycles in our economy.
Even though California operates today in a global economy,
economic development and job growth are largely local in
character, by region and industry clusters, even by counties, and
we must plan accordingly.
PRINCIPLES GUIDING OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Persons on welfare have a responsibility to get a job, a
right to have the opportunity to get a job, and the right to
be treated with dignity.
2. California's future economic prosperity will be strengthened
by an increasingly competent workforce, these women on
welfare could become valuable additions to "California's
Talent Bank."
3. It becomes an all-California civic responsibility,
especially incumbent upon the private sector, employer and
economic development communities, to participate in enabling
women on welfare to move to work.
4. Our effort to move these women from welfare-to-work must not
displace existing working poor Californians and push their
families onto welfare.
5. Our success in moving 500,000 women from welfare-to-work is
dependent upon recognizing our need to enhance California's
overall economic development.
6. Our program makes every effort to develop jobs in the
private sector.
7. We propose community service/public sector employment only
as the last resort, except counties have discretion to place
recipients in community service earlier to gain job
experience and skills.
8. All such community service/public sector work should be
wage-based REAL work designed to meet public needs
articulated by the public itself, likely to develop
capacities to empower participants and move on to REAL
private sector employment.
SUMMARY OF JOB CREATION PROPOSALS
(See Appendix C for a detailed description of each proposal)
Components of our job creation strategy include:
A. Early diversion of welfare recipients from dependency:
1. Provide one-time emergency assistance, child support
guaranteed payments as new methods to prevent welfare
payments;
2. Prepare a "Wellness Guide" to provide critical
information about their rights and responsibilities and
paths toward employment to persons applying for aid;
3. Locate One-Stop Career Centers in high welfare areas.
B. Better identification of currently available jobs:
4. Require the Employment Development Department to
localize its labor market information systems to facilitate
local planning.
5. Require EDD to survey employers to assure maximum use
of the CalJobs computer system listing jobs for welfare
recipients.
C. Stimulate the economy for local job growth:
6. Insure that every county immediately convenes all its
stakeholders to develop a smart strategic action plan for
job creation;
7. Local collaboratives for targeted job creation and
training based on agreements among public and private
agencies;
8. Establish a $25 million per year Job Creation
Investment Fund to finance local job creation efforts in
each county;
9. Fund the California Infrastructure Bank ($50 million
this year) to help finance needs for local economic
development;
10. Create the Linked Deposit Fund to direct up to $350
million of California's investment funds to target economic
growth and job creation.
D. Upgrade skills of current workers to free up entry level
jobs:
11. Direct the State's Employment Training Panel set
aside $20 million in training funds to assist businesses to
hire welfare recipients;
12. Provide $40 million for community colleges to
inventory their major employers for available higher level
jobs and then provide contract education to upgrade job
skills of current employees so welfare recipients could be
given opportunities for employment.
E. Create jobs for welfare recipients within reform itself:
13. Provide willing welfare recipients training to become
child care aides, teachers, directors and family day care
providers.
F. Promote use of nonprofits to help recipients transition to
work and to help employers address support services for persons
hired:
14. Use the Job Creation Investment Fund to finance
intermediary employers who can function as the "employer of
record";
15. Create a $5 million per year Microenterprise program
to enable welfare recipients to become self-employed.
G. Redesign local and state bureaucracies for this system of
welfare-to-work:
16. Reeducate welfare workers to maintain employment in
this new system;
17. Evaluate the feasibility of combining state agency
functions to operate their new welfare-to-work system.
H. Offer community service employment to recipients who have
cooperated, yet have been unable to find private
unsubsidized employment:
18. Only as a last resort, establish a Community Service
employment program.
I. Launch a state campaign to enlist employers and monitor
our success:
19. Create a statewide job creation clearinghouse in EDD;
20. Maintain a publicly visible thermometer of our
progress;
21. Create an advisory group of former CEOs to market the
hiring of welfare recipients to private employers, large and
small;
22. Enlist faith-based and civic leadership throughout
California to issue a call for wide scale personal
commitment in welfare-to-work.
Appendix A
THE SCOPE OF OUR JOBS PROBLEM IN WELFARE REFORM
I. Current Number of Persons to be Moved from Welfare to
Work:
Number of AFDC cases 835,000
Less Child Only cases <150,300>
Less Cases with Child under 12 months < 75,150>
Less 14% Exempt by State law <116,900>
Less 15% Diverted by New Reform Initiatives < 75,000>
New cases (6 mos of 97-98 Budget Year) 60,000
Number of Adults Subject to Work Requirements 478,000
II. Education/Training Resources to Address Preparation for Work:
Current 97-98 98-99
GAIN slots 150,000 211,000 425,000
JTPA Slots 10,000 10,000 10,000
Enrolled in higher education* 160,000 160,000 160,000
Number Unserved in GAIN 275,000 214,000 0
III. Support Services Essential to Enable Persons to go to Work:
A. Child care:
Number of AFDC children currently served 135,000
Net number of children needing care not served 460,000
Number not needing formal subsidized care** <230,000>
Number of new slots financed in budget 97-98 <120,000>
Net number child care slots needed 98-99 100,000 -
200,000
B. Persons Needing Treatment:
In Need of Mental Health Treatment (15%) 70,000
In Need of Substance Abuse Treatment (25%) 120,000
In Need of Domestic Violence Treatment (20%) 100,000
Estimated Number of Treatment Slots 50,000
Unmet Need for Treatment 150,000
IV. Jobs to be Created to Meet These Needs: 478,000
* NOTE: This is the number of current AFDC recipients enrolled
in community colleges, CSU and UC. Policy Changes and funding
levels could dramatically change future numbers.
** NOTE: This is a very tenuous assumption that 50% of TANF
recipients can make informal child care arrangements with friends
or relatives for unpaid child care
JOB GROWTH NEEDED BY COUNTY TO ADDRESS WELFARE REFORM Appendix B
Note to Listserve readers: this appendix is a table unavailable
via e-mail.
Appendix C
JOB CREATION COMPONENTS DETAILED
A. Early diversion of potential welfare recipients from
dependency:
1. The CalWork plan provides new county flexibility to
provide one-time emergency assistance and child support
guaranteed payments as new methods to prevent continuing
dependency on welfare.
2. Design a new version of the Wellness Guide, published
by the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public
Health, specifically for welfare applicants with critical
information on successful transition to work, including
responsibility and rights, applying for and finding a job,
employment and training services, career development and
lifelong learning, specialized services for teens, seniors
and disabled, child care, substance abuse and mental health
treatment, coping with family crises and parenting, food,
housing, and money management.
3. Target expansion of the State Employment Development
Department One-Stop Career Centers to high welfare caseload
areas.
B. Better identification of currently available jobs:
4. Direct EDD to localize its labor market information at
the sub-county level to facilitate local planning for
economic development and job creation.
5. Direct EDD to survey employers and modernize its job
listing service on an Internet-based CalJOBS system to
assure maximum use by welfare recipients and their
prospective employers.
C. Stimulate the economy for local job growth:
6. Insure that counties convene all local stakeholders in
welfare reform and economic development to formulate a
smart, comprehensive, locally based, strategic action plan
for job creation.
7. Establish five voluntary pilots for workforce
preparation collaboratives utilizing existing job training
and education funds to target job creation and training
based on local agreements among public and private agencies.
8. Establish a $25 million per year Job Creation Investment
Fund to finance start-up projects in each county for job
creation models. This is intended to provide seed money to
assist all communities to begin the job creation process as
an integral part of welfare-to-work.
9. Finance a $50 million per year state Infrastructure Bank
to make loans essential to local economic development.
10. Establish a Linked Deposit Fund to direct up to $350
million of California's investment funds to target small
business expansion and capital investments to allow for
economic growth and job creation.
D. Upgrade skills of current workers to free up entry level
jobs:
11. Require the state's Employment Training Panel to set
aside $20 million in training funds to assist
businesses who hire welfare recipients. Funding will
provide training for new workers from welfare in skills
they need and be available to employers who commit to
train existing workers for upgrading skills, thereby
creating job vacancies to be filled by welfare clients.
12. Provide $40 million to expand the existing Regional
Economic Development Center program by competitive
grants from the Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
and provide additional funds for instruction in
contract education. The Contract Education program is
to be expanded specifically for upgrading job skills of
current employees, where welfare recipients could be
hired to fill positions freed up by their promotions.
E. Create jobs for welfare recipients within reform itself:
13. Assure that Adult Education, Regional Occupation
Programs, and Community Colleges provide welfare
recipients with training to become child care aides,
teachers, directors and family day care providers.
F. Promote use of nonprofits to help recipients with transition
to work and to help employers address support services for
persons hired:
14. Design the Job Creation Investment Fund so intermediary
employers can function as the "employer of record"
during the transitional phase of initial work,
providing private employers time to evaluate
performance prior to assuming full responsibility for
the worker.
15. Create a $5 million Microenterprise program to enable
nonprofits to assist welfare recipients to become self-
employed.
G. Redesign local and state bureaucracies for this new system
of welfare-to-work:
16. Establish a capacity-building program for welfare
workers to reeducate themselves to be able to keep
themselves employed.
17. Require EDD and the Department of Social Services to
evaluate the feasibility of combining functions and
modernizing their bureaucratic structure to reflect
their welfare-to-work orientation.
H. Offer community service employment to recipients who have
cooperated, yet have been unable to find private
unsubsidized employment:
18. Establish a Community Service employment program at the
end of a recipient's time limit on welfare, assuming
the person has cooperated with work activities
throughout their time on aid but where they have been
unable to secure a private unsubsidized job. The type
of community service assignments will be based upon a
local plan which is designed with private employers to
assure the work experience can lead to a private sector
job.
I. Launch a State campaign to enlist employers and monitor our
success:
19. Create a statewide job creation clearinghouse in EDD to
provide employers with information and assistance about local
services for hiring welfare clients;
20. Maintain a "thermometer of progress" in the effort to
enlist employers to make public their commitments to hire welfare
clients;
21. Create an advisory group of former CEOs to market the
hiring of welfare recipients to private employers, large and
small around the state.
22. Enlist faith-based and civic leadership throughout
California to issue a call for widescale personal
commitment in helping communities achieve their welfare-to-
work goals.
June 25, 1997