From Oct. 17-19, 2023, Human Services professionals enrolled in the 2023 Autumn Institute for Public Assistance Professionals started their workdays a bit differently.
The topics presented at this year’s Autumn Institute all rested on the underlying idea that an individual’s full potential cannot be unlocked when their safety feels threatened—whether in a homeless encampment or in a conversation with a coworker.
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.
The Human Services division at UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education is ready and available to assist you and your county with the California CalWORKs Outcomes and Accountability Review (Cal-OAR) process. Cal-OAR facilitates continuous improvement of county CalWORKs programs by collecting, analyzing and disseminating outcomes and best practices. We have supported more than 160 County Self-Assessment processes over nearly 20 years, and our outstanding team is ready to use this knowledge and expertise to help your county in Cal-OAR process implementation.
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.
