Page |1 RUNNING HEAD: Organizational Analysis: County of San Bernardino

Organizational Analysis County of San Bernardino Pauline Straka BUSB 330

DRAFT

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Organizational Analysis

The Transitional Assistance Department (TAD) is a large department responsible for the administration of the financial support programs that assist the needy with basic services. The programs provided by TAD are: California Work Opportunities and Responsibilities to Kids (CalWORKS), Food Stamps, Medi-Cal, Foster Care Administration, General Relief Assistance, Employment Services, and Child Care. When evaluating the San Bernardino Countys service delivery infrastructure/design, there are questions of whether the needed services or treatment programs exist and/or have the capacity to meet the needs of the population. Also within TAD, the caseloads are already so great and the staffing is at a minimum, this creates a hardship on the leadership within the departments and many larger issues are continually pushed to the side and take an excessive amount of time to attempt to resolve. Creating a plan to assist with the barriers to employment would assist with the Countys capacity to meet the needs of the population as well as reducing the impact on the leadership within TAD. Individuals and families utilize the services at TAD due to numerous reasons including the lack of employment or circumstances of being underemployed. There are many reasons for the employment issues of clients. Lack of skills and limited work experience, poor access to transportation and the need for child care are some of the many factors that affect employment. These types of hurdles are frequent within the clients of the TAD office. Based upon information obtained by the San Bernardino Health and Social Services Survey in 1997, the following information was obtained:

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Potential Barriers-Measure Skills -- high school drop out Work experience - never worked Transportation - no driver's license Welfare dependency - >5 years on AFDC Own physical/mental health Child physical/mental health Excessive alcohol use - high quantity/frequency Drug use - used drugs in the past year Domestic violence - past year experience Housing stability - in current residence < 6 months Child Care - has child < 3 years old

Percentage with potential barrier 38 8 32 50 42 37 18 5 14 23 38

The survey also stated that most people face more than one of these hurdles and that the more hurdles a person faces, the more likely they will remain on aid with the County. Also, a persons physical and mental health was part of the top issues. The need for treatment of acute or chronic health issues is a need within the county, unfortunately not everyone has access to the health services and the clinics who to offer the mental health services do not always cater to the acute care or the chronic care issues but solely to those in mental or physical emergencies. The bigger issue is what will be occurring in July, 2011. Due to the state budget cuts, the current CalWORKs and Child Care programs have been adjusted. Many individuals and families currently on aid and who rely upon the amount they receive monthly from the county, will now receive drastically less than what they are use to. The CalWORKSs program is the welfare program that provides cash aid and employment services to eligible families. Currently there is a 5 year/ 60 month time limit on the program for the adults in the family and no time limit for the children for as long as the family meets the qualifications of the program.

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Approximately 8,000 cases will be affected by the upcoming change of adjusting the time limit from 60 months to 48 months within the County of San Bernardino. If currently a client has been on aid for 49 months, they would automatically lose the benefits for themselves. In addition to this, there will be additional cuts to their aid depending on how many months their children have been aided. The aid amount awarded to the children in the family will be reduced by 8% after 48months, 10% after 73 months, and 15% after 85 months. The children will not be automatically removed from the program like the adults but the impact on the household aid is large. In the scenario for a family of three, 1 adult and 2 children, the original aid amount would have been $661.00 but after the adult is dropped after 48 months and the child is reduced at 15%, their aid amount would be $417.00 - A reduction in aid of $244.00. For the changes in child care: the age eligibility requirements for the child care services will be lowered. Children age 11 and older will no longer be eligible to receive child care services with the County. It is being estimated that over 500 families within the County will be affected by this change with nowhere to turn for assistance with their care. These families who are being affected by the change in child care are also the CalWORKs cases being affected with the reduction in benefits. These families will have less money to support their families and have more financial responsibilities with the after school care of their children. A large need for additional services will arise within the County of San Bernardino in a short amount of time and the question has been raised if the services will be available to assist the families in need.