Agenda

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C. 38

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Kathy Gallagher, Employment & Human Services Director
Date:	December 19, 2017

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Issuance of Request for Proposals #1161 for Subsidized Temporary Experience with Pay for Under-Employed Program (STEP-UP)

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 12/19/2017

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Elaine Burres 608-4960

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: December 19, 2017
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Employment and Human Services Director, or designee, to issue Request for Proposals #1161 in an amount not to exceed $1,060,000 for the operation of the Subsidized Temporary Experience with Pay for the Under-Employed Program (STEP-UP) for the period July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The STEP-UP program will be 100% funded by California Work Opportunity and Responsibility for Kids (CalWORKs), which is comprised of 15% State funds and 85% Federal funds. Total funding available for the program's operation during the 12-month period is $1,060,000.

$700,000 CalWORKs Single Allocation; $360,000 CalWORKs Expanded Subsidized Employment Allocation

BACKGROUND:

The Employment and Human Services Department (EHSD) Request for Proposals (RFP) #1161 is to provide for the operation of a paid and unpaid work experience program for Contra Costa County's California Work Opportunity and Responsibility for Kids (CalWORKs) Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Program participants. The objective of the program, known as STEP-UP, is to expand and diversify work experience slots as well as the service delivery approaches for serving hard-to-employ CalWORKs WTW participants, including limited and non-English speaking participants and CalWORKs WTW participants with limited work history. The program will secure the availability of additional resources by placing participants into either a paid or unpaid work experience slot for a maximum of 180 days or 6 months. The goal of the program (when coupled with other necessary WTW activities and services) is to immediately engage the participants by providing exposure to work and basic job skills, ultimately leading to their successful, long-term job placement.

The selected STEP-UP operator(s) will be primarily responsible for developing and maintaining short-term paid and unpaid work experience positions with participating agencies (non-profit and for-profit organizations), and to immediately place and monitor those referred clients into the work experience positions. As the Employer of Record, the selected operator(s) responsibilities will also include managing the payroll system and disbursing payroll checks.

This program approach has proven very successful in other counties for re-engaging harder to serve clients and for increasing the federally-required Work Participation Rate (WPR).

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Without the Request for Proposals, a proven successful program model for CalWORKs WTW clients would not be implemented, thereby adversely impacting the department's ability to provide effective WTW activity necessary to meet the federally required Work Participation Ratio.

CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:

The STEP-UP Program supports two (2) of the community outcomes established in the Children's Report Card; 3) Families that are Economically Self Sufficient, and 4) "Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing, by ensuring high quality services and access to resources that support, protect and empower individuals and families by better enabling welfare recipients to enter the workforce and move to self sufficiency and economic independence.