Subsidized Time-Limited Employment Program (STEP)

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

In 2009, the effects of a lingering economic crisis were visible throughout Riverside County in double-digit unemployment rates; increases in the demand for County services; a disruption in economic and employment opportunities for community residents; and unmet County staffing needs. Amidst this climate, an opportunity emerged before the Riverside County Human Resources Department’s Temporary Assignment Program (TAP) to change its business model to enable subsidized workers to be placed in County departments. One of the County’s largest departments, the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), needed help implementing a subsidized welfare to work initiative that would utilize federal subsidies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Rapid deployment of such a program would have been nearly impossible amidst traditional program planning, contractor competitive bid processes and reviews, and layers of procedural planning. This opportunity for collaboration and rapid reshaping of the TAP business model produced the swiftly deployed – and wildly successful – Subsidized Time-Limited Employment Program (STEP). Through the STEP initiative, 700 people were given an opportunity to work – surpassing the original goal by 40 percent – when employment openings were particularly scarce.