Special Populations Collaborative

Effective Practices for Single Parents & Displaced Homemakers

Bakersfield College – Management Counseling for CalWORKs

Title: Case Management Counseling for CalWORKs College: Bakersfield College Contact: Jasmine Quinn, CalWORK’s Coordinator, Career Development and Workforce Preparation Programs. 281-559-9155 Description: The goal of the program is to provide a learning environment that fosters respect for individuals and ideas and opportunities to develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to be competent, self-sufficient, and participating citizens of the world. This program promotes student self-reliance by offering education and training that leads to employment. A required 32 hours per week combines classes with work-study, work-study programs that may be exempt from cash aid, work experience or on-the-job training. Financial assistance is offered to qualified recipients. College CalWORKs students are also provided counseling in a supportive and informative environment that encourages student success, and they are provided with confidential liaison and advocacy between student, the college, the Department of Human Services, and other agencies. The staff consists of the CalWORK’s Coordinator, who is based out of the Career Development Office. There is also a 19-hour student assistant who is a CalWORK’s student. A database of all CalWORKs students is maintained so that the progress of each student can be followed The college has prepared a well-written and easily understood flyer that is widely distributed to promote the program through an annual open house, through the Department of Human Services, and at County Fair programs. Individual success stories attest to the effectiveness of the program. The staff feels that the faster you can effectively mainstream the CalWORK’s participants, the more successful you are at moving them off public assistance and into self-supporting jobs.