Document Information
Welfare Reform in California
State and County Implementation of CalWORKs in the Second Year
This report describes the implementation of California’s Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program in its first two years. According to the CalWORKs welfare-to-work model, immediately following the approval of the aid application, nearly all recipients search for jobs in the context of Job Clubs. For those who do not find employment through job search, an intensive assessment and a sequence of activities follow, to identify and overcome barriers to employment. Implementation in most counties is proceeding more slowly than some observers had hoped, but about as fast as could realistically be expected. County welfare districts (CWDs) face the dual challenge of expanding their capacity to deal with the new, higher, steady-state workload that CalWORKs entails and handling the much larger one-time surge of old cases as they move through the system. Providing mandated support services — child care and transportation; education and training; and treatment for alcohol and substance abuse, mental health, and domestic abuse — has been a challenge for most CWDs. To cope with this expanded workload, they have made different capacity-building decisions. The slow pace of movement through the system is worrisome, however, given the five-year lifetime limit that aid recipients face. Finally, those who have found jobs often do not earn enough to move them completely off aid and toward self-sufficiency. Additional post-employment services appear to be needed.
See Also:
Executive Summary
Research BriefResearch BriefResearch Brief
Support RAND Research — Buy This Product!
Paperback Cover Price: $25.00
Discounted Web Price: $22.50
Pages: 416
ISBN/EAN: 0-8330-2882-0
Free, downloadable PDF file(s) are available below.
RAND makes an electronic version of this document available for free as a public service. If you find this information valuable, please consider purchasing a paper copy of the full document to help support RAND research.
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher for the best experience.
Contents
Preface PDF
Figures PDF
Tables PDF
Summary PDF
Acknowledgments PDF
Abbreviations PDF
Chapter 1:
Introduction PDF
Chapter 2:
PRWORA and CalWORKS: Legisative Provisions and Subsequent Caseload Trends PDF
Chapter 3:
Implementation of CalWORKS at CDSS PDF
Chapter 4:
Funding of CalWORKS PDF
Chapter 5:
County Implementation: Organizing for CalWORKS PDF
Chapter 6:
Delivering CalWORKS at the Street Level PDF
Chapter 7:
Child Care PDF
Chapter 8:
Transportation PDF
Chapter 9:
Education and Training PDF
Chapter 10:
Substance Abuse, Mental Illness, and Domestic Abuse Services PDF
Chapter 11:
Child Well-Being and Welfare PDF
Chapter 12:
Issues for Further Consideration PDF
Appendix A:
Methods PDF
Appendix B:
Federal Welfare Funding after PRWORA PDF
Appendix C:
Process for Categorizing Counties for Analysis Using WTW 25 Data and County-by-County Analysis PDF
References PDF
The research described in this report was performed by the RAND Statewide CalWORKs Evaluation within RAND's Labor and Population Program.
The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
* RAND research is conducted across divisions, centers, and projects; these organizational components are represented in the "Related RAND Divisions" section above.
Top
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2008 RAND Corporation. 