January 11, 2000

In early 1998, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s (DA’s) Office received a demonstration grant from the State of California to assist non-custodial parents of children on welfare in helping provide for the financial and emotional support of their children. The DA’s State grant is for a three-and one-half year period (July 1, 1998 - December 31, 2001) and awards approximately $1,000,000 per year to provide employment services. There are many services provided under the plan for this grant, and others--considered essential for the long term economic stability of families--which cannot be paid for from this funding source. In particular, the concept of employment retention, including skills upgrades and supportive services, is not covered. Believing that getting a job is just half the battle and is not a long term solution unless one can keep the job, the DA's Office sought additional funding to assist in this next step. They received a grant $465,340 from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to fund retention services. The period of service for this entire amount is from July 1999 to December 31, 2001.

NOVA has worked with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and Social Services Agency to develop a county-wide plan to provide appropriate services for these non-custodial parents. The planning period began in 1998, with client services initiated in January 1999. The DA’s Office identifies these parents, mandates a court appearance, and offers them the option of receiving skills upgrade and job search training to improve their own financial stability and that of their children.

During the six-month start-up/planning period, the DA’s Office identified that employment services are not their domain, and requested that NOVA enter into a sole-source contract to provide these services to eligible participants on their behalf. This original contract covered the period of May 1 through September 1, 1999, with the option to be renewed.

The DA's Office is now proposing three different contracts for services with NOVA. The first is an extension of the original agreement to cover the period from November 1, 1999 through February 28, 2000, to allow time for a subsequent contract to be drafted. In the second, covering January 1, 2000 to June 30, 2000, the DA’s Office has asked NOVA to enter into an agreement for expanded services. Their experience during the start up phase was that the parents they have worked with need skills upgrade or the supportive learning experience of On-the-Job Training (OJT) to achieve long term success. Thus they have approached NOVA to facilitate arranging classroom training, OJT positions, use of the learning lab, or other skills upgrades as appropriate to improve the earning capacity of these parents. In addition to staff, NOVA would administer training contracts, including monitoring, job development and follow-up on behalf of the DA’s Office. Finally, the DA's Office proposes contracting with NOVA to provide the retention services described in the Packard Foundation grant, working with the non-custodial parents and their employers to enhance their opportunities and earning capabilities through education and training, mentoring and supportive services.

There will be no fiscal impact to the City because funds received will offset program expenditures. Should funds be awarded, a budget modification will be prepared to add these grants to the City budget. The project will be staffed by reassignment of existing staff.

Staff recommends that the City Council concur with the NOVA Private Industry Council and authorize the negotiation of three contracts with the District Attorney’s Office for employment services for non-custodial parents as follows:

Further, staff recommends that the City Manager be authorized to sign, and amend if necessary, three (3) contracts with the County of Santa Clara for these services.

Since 1983, the City of Sunnyvale has been a partner in a consortium of cities that make up the North Valley Job Training Consortium: Cupertino, Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. A Joint Powers Agreement vested the City of Sunnyvale to act on behalf of the consortium and administer Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) funds to provide employment and training programs for eligible adults and youth. NOVA has worked closely with the County to provide similar services to individuals on welfare within these six cities. The County has funded these activities to supplement funds received through JTPA. These services have been provided by NOVA under contract with the County since 1993.

In August 1996, Congress launched new legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which reformed the welfare system that had existed for more than six decades. It established Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and set up block grants for states, mandating that each state develop a plan for administering its system.

This federal legislation included the concept that both parents of a child on public assistance, the custodial parent who cares for the child and the non-custodial parent (NCP) who is outside the family home, have a responsibility to support their child. While this was not a new concept, the involvement of non-custodial parents in the past had primarily been to reimburse county government for funds spent for the welfare of their children. It was the custodial parent who was offered training and employment assistance. For the first time, the Welfare-to-Work plan developed by the Department of Labor in response to this legislation mandated that non-custodial parents of TANF recipients are eligible for all services to which the custodial parent has access.

The following year, in August 1997, the California Legislature created its version of welfare reform, the Welfare to Work Act of 1997, known as CalWORKs (California Work Opportunities and Responsibilities for Kids). California had historically followed federal precedent, where non-custodial parents of children receiving public assistance were not eligible for employment and training services while custodial parents had been subject to mandatory participation requirements. One of the guiding principles of the new welfare system that was developed in California was to make both the mother and the father equally responsible for the financial support and nurturing of their children.

To assist in the State’s goal, the California Department of Social Services initiated a demonstration project aimed at providing such services to the unemployed non-custodial parents (NCPs) of children who are receiving CalWORKs benefits. Seven counties in California were selected to participate in this pilot project, and Santa Clara was one of these counties. Since March 1998, when the grant was awarded, the County District Attorney’s Office (the grant recipient), County Social Service Agency, Silicon Valley PIC and NOVA have been working together to develop an implementation plan. A sole source Service Agreement was initiated between NOVA and the DA’s Office in March 1999 to work together on a service delivery system blending the resources of the two agencies. This proposal would be an extension of that contract and an expansion of NOVA’s role to include the facilitation of individual training plans. The current request to NOVA to provide implementation services is the result of successful cooperative efforts by all these agencies and the perception by the DA’s Office that NOVA would be best able to offer an array of services to meet the needs of the NCP.

The proposed activities are consistent with the City of Sunnyvale’s Socio-Economic Goal 5.1F: Provide job training and employment services, within constraints of operative Federal regulations and available Federal funding to address the locally-determined employment and training needs of economically disadvantaged residents and others with special needs.

In addition, the provision of job experience to qualified welfare recipients through NOVA was included as a recommended and approved action in Report to Mayor and Council No. 97-499, issued by the City Manager and reviewed at the Council meeting of December 16, 1997.

NOVA actively participated, along with several County of Santa Clara departments, in the drafting of a plan to provide an array of employment and training services for non-custodial parents of CalWORKs children. After the initial planning stage, NOVA’s was asked to take an active role in the design and implementation of services for NCPs identified by the DA’s court process. NOVA staff worked with staff hired by the DA’s Office to develop an assessment process, job search assistance planning and on-going case management to assist these individuals in finding employment. It was envisioned that services such as training and OJT would be added to the service delivery system once the project was underway. The DA’s Office is now ready to take this next step.

NOVA’s traditional service model of centralized assessment, development of a re-employment plan and selection from a variety of skills training and on-the-job opportunities matched the needs of this program. In addition, NOVA staff would be able to provide initial screening for eligibility for JTPA/Workforce Investment Act, Welfare-to-Work or other existing services, thus saving the NCP grant money to be used only for those who do not qualify for other resources. NOVA staff and staff for the District Attorney’s Non-custodial Parent Employment and Training Demonstration Project have been working cooperatively for approximately a year. Both agencies perceive the extension of this relationship to include a more extensive system to access skills upgrades for clients to be a necessary next step.

Most studies of low income families attempting to transition to self-sufficiency point out that it is not the getting of the job, but the retaining and advancing of employment that are the keys to success. In Santa Clara County, with a thriving economy and businesses actively seeking workers, welfare numbers have shrunk as CalWORKs recipients are entering the workforce. However, many of them are earning just above poverty level and any setback puts them back onto TANF. For the non-custodial parents of these families, the pattern is similar, but complicated further by their need to support themselves as well as pay child support for their children. Recognizing this pattern, the District Attorney's Office approached the Packard Foundation for funding to continue the services they are providing for these parents after they get a job. Additionally, they are finding that the NCPs cannot participate in training when they first come into the program, since they are needing income immediately. Therefore, they needed funds to provide supportive counseling while they were on the job, and assistance to develop a plan to upgrade their skills while working. The concepts of retention, career advancement and long term followup are not including in the original grant from the State. The Packard Foundation agreed to fund this extension of services, and the DA's Office has again requested NOVA to provide the services.

There will be no fiscal impact to the City because funds received will offset program expenditures. Should funds be awarded, a budget modification will be prepared to add these grants to the City budget. The project will be staffed by reassignment of existing staff.

Staff recommends that the City Council concur with the NOVA Private Industry Council and authorize the negotiation of three contracts with the District Attorney’s Office for employment services for non-custodial parents as follows:

Further, staff recommends that the City Manager be authorized to sign, and amend if necessary, three (3) contracts with the County of Santa Clara for these services.

Prepared by:

Judith Gentry, Manager
Program Quality & Operations

Reviewed by:

Michael J. Curran, Director
Dept.of Employment Development

Approved by:

Robert S. LaSala
City Manager