There have been significant efforts made over the past few years to develop a new approach to delivering services to our CalWORKs families. This effort, referred to as CalWORKs 2.0, combines all we’ve learned over the past 20 years with new evidence on ways to deliver services more effectively to families whose lives are negatively affected by living in poverty. CW 2.0 has incorporated emerging research and evidence on brain science, behavioral science and best practices on how adults learn and build critical skills into this new program model.
CalWORKs 2.0 focuses on improving outcomes for our families, especially those we have failed to reach using our current approach. The new approach focuses on helping people set and achieve goals, which will require an environment with flexibility and support, and a shift from directive case management to individualized case management focused on goals. Behavioral science has shown that people living in poverty have a limited ability to see and plan for the future. By helping people set meaningful and realistic goals, this helps build confidence, motivation, and the ability to build core skills.
Using this new framework, several new tools have been developed that will assist staff in implementing the new concepts and approaches with families.