Horizons: Current Issues for Employment and Eligibility Services

The field of Human Services is as wide and complex as its moniker might suggest. For larger agencies, an overlap in services is almost inevitable, but this doesn’t mean it should be shrugged off. For services that deal with vulnerable and/or traumatized children and families—such as CalWORKS and Child Welfare Services—each contact with children and families has the potential to cause additional trauma. The need to prevent inefficient, repetitive, and/or otherwise overlapping communications becomes paramount.

By Susan Brooks, Department Chair, Human Services at UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education

By Jason Borucki, Human Services at UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education

The Governor’s Budget for fiscal year 2020-2021 highlights plans to continue to combat homelessness, which remains a statewide concern. The budget lays out funding and delegates significant responsibility to state and local governments.

The Linkages Project was implemented by pioneer counties with the direction and support of CDSS and the California Center for Research on Women and Children in 2000. This project represented a collaborative approach between child welfare and CalWORKs staff in serving families, with a focus on prevention prior to intervention. Fast forwarding twenty years later, the philosophy of Linkages remains, and has impacted culture and service delivery across the field of human services.

In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newson appointed pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris as California’s first-ever Surgeon General. A UC Davis School of Medicine graduate in 2001, Burke Harris is well known for her role in spreading awareness to all healthcare providers about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress.

Tiffany Salcido has more than 15 years of experience in the field of human services and social services programs. Passionate about empowering others, her experience spans various roles and programs, including clerical/reception, CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, Foster Care, Aid to Adoptions, Kin-GAP, CAPI, Linkages, and Welfare to Work. Salcido has also served as a staff development trainer, providing induction training and continuing education for eligibility, the C-IV automated system, and Welfare to Work programs.

By Laurie Ellington

When it comes to implementing a new strategy or practice within an organization, the organizational culture will have a massive say in whether implementation succeeds or fails. The challenge for leaders, then, is as stubborn and persistent as it is natural: Culture will not change without resistance.