Evaluation of the SB 1041 Reforms to California's CalWORKs Program: Background and Study Design

Abstract

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Evaluation of the SB 1041 Reforms to California's CalWORKs Welfare-to-Work Program: Updated Findings Regarding Policy Implementation and Outcomes

“…Next, we provide a discussion of the evaluation framework and methodology, replicating content in the first evaluation report 1 We used the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2015a) to adjust earnings to 2013 first-quarter dollars. 4 (Davis et al, 2016). That report also provides other important background information, which we do not repeat here, including…”

“…To provide context for the findings in this second report, a penultimate section summarizes highlevel findings from the first evaluation report (Davis et al, 2016) and a descriptive report on the CalWORKs population based on the first wave of California Socioeconomic Survey (CalSES) (Bozick et al, 2019). We conclude this chapter with a road map for the remainder of the document.…”

“…As described later in this chapter and more fully in the evaluation background and study design report (Karoly et al, 2015), the evaluation consists of five component studies: a process study to address questions related to the implementation of SB 1041; a WTW client status study and a WTW client tracking study to examine point-in-time and dynamic indicators for the CalWORKs WTW population both before and after the SB 1041 changes; a county welfare operations impact study to assess the consequences of SB 1041 for various aspects of county welfare office operations; and a WTW client impact study to investigate the effects of the SB 1041 policy changes on a range of adult and child outcomes for current and former CalWORKs WTW clients.…”

“…In the remainder of this introductory chapter, we first provide a brief overview of the SB 1041 changes and the accompanying Early Engagement strategies. Readers requiring a more in-depth discussion of the policy changes will find further discussion in Appendix A, drawing on content included in the first evaluation report (Davis et al, 2016). Next, we provide a discussion of the evaluation framework and methodology, replicating content in the first evaluation report 1 We used the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2015a) to adjust earnings to 2013 first-quarter dollars.…”

“…• Nature of WTW services. While using the 24-month time clock, there are no required core activities-those that meet federal work participation requirements, such as employment, on-the-job training, and vocational educational training, which provides a more flexible 2 See Karoly et al (2015) for a history of earlier reforms to the CalWORKs program.…”