CalWORKs Public Service Trainee Program (CPSTP)

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

In fiscal year 2014/15, the Alameda County Social Services Agency (SSA) piloted the CalWORKs (TANF) Public Service Trainee Program (CPSTP), a paid transitional jobs program that paired classroom skill-building with on-the-job training to prepare selected CalWORKs clients, facing acute employment barriers (i.e., hard-to-employ), for careers in the public and private sectors. The pilot program represented a proactive response to the consistent decline in CalWORKs caseloads coupled with the lifetime limit on aid being reduced from 60 to 48-months in July 2011, which resulted in SSA primarily serving employable CalWORKs adults with barriers to employment. The target population for the pilot CPSTP was CalWORKs adults with a minimum of 6-months of eligibility who also met the minimum qualifications for a Clerk I in Alameda County. Sixty-to-eighty participants were selected to be interviewed, with a goal of identifying up to 24 for the pilot. Now in its fourth year of implementation and incorporating training, professional development, mentoring, supportive services, and networking opportunities, this 12-month program has increased the economic stability of 30 CalWORKs participants by transitioning them into temporary jobs with the county and permanent unsubsidized jobs with career advancement opportunities throughout Alameda County and in the private sector.