Barriers to Employment RFP Questions

1. What percentage of CalWORKs applicants and recipients are deemed by counties to have barriers to employment? What criteria do counties use to make these determinations? How do these determinations vary across counties? What percentage of these persons is exempted from work activities? What percentage is exempted from the 18/24 month time limits? What are the criteria for making these exemptions? How do these exemption rates vary across counties? To what extent do counties assign non-exempt individuals with barriers to employment to allowable work activities? By county, what are the incremental costs and benefits of making such assignments?

2. To what extent do CalWORKs applicants and recipients experience these different barriers to employment (as noted above)? How do rates, by type of problem, vary across counties? What innovative strategies have counties developed to help such individuals meet work participation requirements and/or to leave welfare for unsubsidized work? What percentage of CalWORKs applicants and recipients have physical and/or mental disabilities? What percentage of these might qualify for SSI/SSP? If they are not qualified, why? If they do qualify, why haven’t they been successfully referred to and enrolled in the SSI/SSP program? What types of applicants and recipients have work-limiting disabilities that do not qualify for SSI/SSP? What percentage of individuals with barriers to employment experience domestic violence? How, over time, do rates of reported domestic violence vary as increasing numbers of CalWORKs mothers are required to prepare for and take jobs? Do problems of domestic violence differ from other barriers to employment and other barriers to achieving self-sufficiency? If so, how? What support systems or services best help ameliorate such violence? What is the nature and extent of participation of law enforcement and the criminal justice system in addressing cases of domestic violence?

3. How and when do counties identify CalWORKs applicants and recipients who may have barriers to employment? Which methods are most effective in identifying such problems? What percentage of CalWORKs applicants and recipients self-report such problems?

4. What are the counties’ criteria for referring those CalWORKs applicants and recipients who have barriers to employment to treatment/services? How do these criteria vary across counties?

5. What services do counties provide to CalWORKs applicants and recipients with barriers to employment for these different problems? How do the services provided compare with those specified in the counties’ CalWORKs plans? What criteria do counties use in determining what services to provide? By county, what are the incremental costs and benefits for providing such services? What services are provided to individuals with barriers to employment by U.S. Department of Labor Welfare-to-Work Competitive and Formula grant funds? How do these services compare with services provided through the county welfare department? What role does case-management play in the provision of services and/or treatments to CalWORKs applicants and recipients with barriers to employment?

6. What percentage of CalWORKs applicants and/or recipients with barriers to employment is also involved with county child welfare and/or foster care systems?

7. What services do counties provide for the children of CalWORKs adults experiencing any of these barriers to employment? Do they involve Child Protective Services or provide other services or monitoring?

8. How effective are the various treatments and/or services provided to CalWORKs applicants and recipients with barriers to employment? What effect do these services and/or treatments have on these applicants’ and recipients’ ability to obtain jobs, to retain jobs, and to achieve self-sufficiency? What effect do such services and/or treatments have on measures of family and child well-being, including (but not limited to) mental health, substance use/abuse, domestic violence, housing stability, earnings and income, dependence on public assistance, educational achievement, and other measures of child health and welfare?

9. To what extent are screening functions and provision of services for those with barriers to employment handled by multiple agencies and service providers, and how well do they collaborate? If multiple agencies and/or service providers are involved, which agency takes responsibility for case management, and which service provider takes responsibility for the treatment program? How are these inter-agency and/or inter-service-provider responsibilities determined?

10. What are the policy implications of these findings?