>>: Okay.
We are live.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome.
My name is Nick Mata.
I am the Associate Dean of Special Programs,
and I want to welcome you to our CALWORKS
workshop information session.
We are excited to have you here today during
our virtual welcome week of activities, so
thank you for being here.
This workshop is on the CALWORKS program.
So for those of you who do not know what CALWORKS
is.
CALWORKS is the state of California's welfare
to work program.
It is designed to help Californians that need
additional support to reach their educational
goal.
So as part of the welfare to work experiences
individuals can either fulfill their requirements
by doing actual work or they could do it through
an educational activity sum as attending a
community College or a four-year anniversary
And so our CALWORKS team here at Santa Monica
College works closely with the LA County Department
of Social Services to help our CalWorks students
meet their goals.
So I am go to hand this off to our wonderful
CALWORKS counselors that work with our students.
But first I am going to give them an opportunity
to introduce themselves.
Juliana, you want to go first.
>>: Sure.
Hello, everyone.
Welcome to our little booth here.
We are so thrilled to have you here.
My name is Juliana Parker.
I am with the CALWORKS counselors.
I am excited to have you visit us and explain
a little bit more about the CALWORKS program.
And Audrey.
>>: Yes.
Hi, I am Audrey Centival.
I am also a CALWORKS counselor here at Santa
Monica College.
I would like welcome you to our workshop,
I will be assisting you with any questions
you may have after the presentation.
>>: In a second here, I will share my screen
with our power point presentation and Juliana
will do a lot of the presenting for us.
Again, yes, if you have any questions, please
put them in the chat.
This workshop is being recorded, so you will
be able to access at a later date if you need
to come back and kind of refresh your self
of what we talked about.
So let us learn a little bit more about CALWORKS
and how the program supports (?) Students.
So I am going to share my screen and Juliana
you can take it away when you are ready.
>>: Okay.
Thanks, Nick.
>>: If I can find it here.
Can you see that?
>>: Yes.
Thank you.
All right.
So, once again this is the CALWORKS program
at SMC.
So nick, if you can go to the next slide for
me.
So a little bit of our agenda today.
Introductions, there are a few more folks
that work at the center that I will introduce
as well.
Just so if you happen to connect with our
office, you know who you are speaking to.
A little bit more about who we are.
We will talk about what CALWORKS is.
How you can apply for CALWORKS.
How you might be eligible.
And then finally wrapping up with any questions
that you might have.
So that's kind of the meeting agenda.
So, next slide.
All right.
So our CALWORKS team.
Your previously met, Mr. Mata.
The Associate Dean of Special Programs.
Who is the head of our program as well?
We have our lovely office assistant, who due
to technical difficulty was not able to join
us today.
But she is definitely the voice at CALWORKS.
When you call our main number, which I will
be sharing at the end, she is who will answer
the phone and return phone calls.
She's in our office five days a week.
With the exception of a few days throughout
the semester.
Which we will notify students about.
But she is going to focus this year on the
students.
We also have Lisa Roper.
She is one of our CALWORKS counselors.
There is myself.
Juliana Parker.
I am a CALWORKS's counselor.
I am in the office two days a week.
And my wonderful colleague Audrey Sandoval
is also our other CALWORKS's counselor.
That is our staff.
And we are here to support you.
We work really cooperatively together to best
assist you.
So whether one of us is in one day.
The other is the next day.
We really intimately work closely to make
sure our students get the assistance that
they need.
So that is a little bit about our little team
here.
We are small but mighty.
And moving onto the next one.
So let's talk about this.
What CALWORKS is.
So the number one thing that is important
to stress is CALWORKS program is a program
that exists for families with dependent children
who are receiving cash aid.
So I like to think of it as it is a wonderful
program to help parenting students receive
support to go to school.
One of the first things would be receiving
cash aid for you and your dependent children.
And we are going to talk about that.
How to apply if you are interested.
How to find out if you are eligible if you
are interested.
If you are already receiving cash aid, what
may be the next steps.
So as part of the CALWORKS program and specifically
the GAIN program, the program provides and
us as counselors our program, individual academic
and career counseling.
Audrey and I and Lisa are both academic counselors,
as well as CALWORKS counselors.
So we are here to help you with as much as
we can, related to selecting your classes.
Also providing career guidance.
We also, on occasion, have worked study assignments
available at our campus.
We can help you write a resume.
Get ready for an interview.
If there is an interview and you are feeling
a little nervous, we can help you with that
on campus or off campus.
Child care referrals.
We do work with child care referral agencies
to help you coordinate the services.
And then another really important part that
Audrey, and I, Nick, Marcia, Lisa, we are
really that kind of, I like to think of the
facilitator between DPSS and Santa Monica
College.
So we work really intimately with DPSS to
help provide them with the necessary paperwork
that they need.
Educational plans.
Create educational plans.
With CALWORKS there is quite a bit of paperwork,
so we are here to help make sure that the
GAIN program, Department of Social Services,
receives that and help you all.
So understand, okay, who does this go to,
how do I fill it out, when is it due?
All of that.
So we provide guidance on that as well too.
So that's a little bit about the CALWORKS
program.
Audrey, is there anything you would like to
jump in and share about that that you think
is important to highlight that I may have
missed?
I will take that as a no.
Okay.
If you would like to go onto the next slide,
Nick.
All right.
So let us talk about the eligibility requirements.
As well as applying for CALWORKS.
So as I stated in the previous slide, the
number one eligibility requirement is that
students must be receiving cash aid for themselves
and their dependent child or children.
So sometimes we do encounter a family, but
only the children are receiving cash aid.
This is very specific for our program that
as a student you need to be receiving cash
aid for yourself and your dependent child
or children.
The next thing we want you to do is to meet
with us.
To meet with myself, Audrey, Lisa to really
look over your application.
Look at your proof of cash aid.
Which is actually the third bullet.
Where are we?
To prove that you have cash aid.
Showing that you are currently receiving cash
aid through the Department of Social Services.
This is something that we require.
Every time I say if you are with us year-round,
four times a year, for every new semester
or session, we need proof of that cash aid.
Now, if you are not currently a CALWORKS participant,
but you do have dependent children, and you
would like to receive services such as assistance
with books, fees applied, these are benefits
that can come with the GAIN program, with
CALWORKS, when you attend Santa Monica College.
We are going to show you where you can go
to apply to see if you are eligible based
on your family size, based on your income.
So we will be talking about that as well too.
A little bit later we will discuss that.
Okay.
Next slide.
And once again, guys, if you have any questions
at all, feel free.
We are here to help you.
We also understand after doing this and working
at CALWORKS for quite some time that it is
be a little complex, a little confusing, the
paperwork.
So we are here to answer any questions you
might have about whatever we can answer.
So just something, if you would like to take
a picture of this, might be kind of small
on your end but helpful web sites.
Your benefits now is the central spot you
will go to to apply for cash aid if you are
interested.
If you are already receiving cash aid through
the Department of Social Services, this is
where you would go to retrieve your verification
of benefits.
Which again is that form I mentioned that
our office would need showing that cash aid
for yourself and your child or your children.
So that is your benefits now through the Department
of Social Services.
And then our office information.
That is our main phone number.
Marcia, our wonderful office assistant is
who answers or rather monitors that phone
number.
So that is our main office line that will
work for all of us.
We also have our e mail address too that you
can send an e mail too, ask questions.
Because we are here to help in any way that
we can.
So next slide.
All right.
So I am kind of flying through this quickly
to talk about it, but I am wondering.
Are there any questions that anybody might
have about the CALWORKS program?
About, you know, how we kind of, how SMC comes
into play, how we as an office can help you
coordinate your services with the CALWORKS
program.
If there are any questions like that that
you might have.
Okay.
I don't really see any questions coming in
so far.
I would like to share too with our program
that Audrey and I and our coworker Lisa, I
feel like the luckiest counselor on campus
because I get to meet amazing students with
beautiful families.
It has been hard with COVID not to be in person
together, but I've witnessed throw our program
and through the GAIN program our students
just go onto do amazing things due to support
from CALWORKS.
Transfer, get their bachelor's degree, become
a nurse, a cosmetologist.
The CALWORKS program really works and really
helps students work towards self sufficiency.
So it has been really inspiring.
I wish you could meet some of our former students.
They are amazing, amazing people.
Amazing parents.
Is there anything, Nick, you can think to
jump in?
>>: Um, Juliana, in the chat, a student did
ask, can you please explain what you mean
by cash aid?
>>: Absolutely.
That is a wonderful question.
Thank you so much.
So basically, with the Department Of Social
Services, cash aid is a monthly amount that
a student or individual would receive on their
EBT card depending on the number of people
in your family.
So typically, we will see a breakdown of people
receiving cash aid, which is just a cash amount
on their EBT card.
They will also, in addition, often we will
also receive food stamps as well.
So the food funds.
Those are actually separate amounts.
So the cash aid is based on your, the eligibility
requirements and your income.
And that is information that is available
from the Department of Social Services' web
site.
And I always tell students, if you are curious,
if you wonder, if you are curious if you would
be eligible for the program, it is pretty
simple to apply.
Apply and you can see if you are eligible
and take the next steps with the program.
>>: We have another question.
Is SMC CALWORKS different?
And I am assuming they mean from DPSS CALWORKS.
So can you explain.
And you kind of mentioned this but explain
how DPSS determine eligibility for CALWORKS,
and there is that CALWORKS component, but
then we have our CALWORKS SMC office.
>>: Sure.
Thank you.
That is a great question, Nick.
Whoever asked that question, I compliment
you baa it is sometimes confusing.
We will have students refer to our office
for individuals who say, I want to apply for
CALWORKS.
And from our end, students can't actually
apply to physically receive the cash aid through
our office they have to either go through
the web site, the DPSS, your benefits now
website, and apply.
And/or when the circumstances are different,
go to their local CALWORKS office.
Apply for cash aid.
So you can't actually apply for the physical
cash aid at our office.
Which we come into play is when students start
receiving cash aid.
There is a program called the GAIN program
that is meant to set up a student's welfare
to work program.
So we come in, SMC, to assist students who
are receiving cash aid, complete school as
part of their welfare to work program.
So that is a little bit how we come into play.
We are called the same things, but there are
a little bit, some differences there.
>>: Another student asked, is CALWORKS a government
funded program?
>>: The answer to that would be yes.
And as Juliana has in the presentation, yes.
>>: Go ahead.
I know you are having technical difficulties.
I tonight know if you are hearing us twice.
Also, wanted to add, CALWORKS is funded both
through the state of California but also through
federal funds.
So through federal TAFNF funds.
It stands for temporary aid for needy families.
So DPSS, which is LA County and then SMC,
are funded through both of those sources.
Another student asked can we apply for this
program if we don't receive EBT currently?
>>: Absolutely.
EBT, so let me rewind for a second.
If you don't receive it currently, I guess
my question back to you would be did you apply
to be eligible or are you just not sure?
Because the EBT card, EBT is where all the
cash is essentially from the CALWORKS program
deposited on your EBT card.
So I would want to know had you tried to apply
for it?
Do you know if you are eligible or not?
We would have to kind of take it from there
and see.
And sometimes students, just our students
in our program, there are different kind of
forms that fit.
Some individuals are receiving food stamps.
So it is kind of, there is, I guess, different
combinations, so to speak.
>>: And so I put this slide back up, just
so you can have the website that you can go
to, so you can look at the requirements and
actually apply to see if you qualify for CALWORKS.
Again, we don't do determine eligibility in
our office or at SMC.
That is all done through DPSS on that web
site.
And then once you get approved on that end,
then you get referred to SMC or you can let
them know that you want to pursue education
through SMC.
And that is when you will get connected to
our wonderful staff to help you.
Other questions?
Let us see here.
One student asked how can I communicate with
the financial aid office to see approval of
my CALWORKS cope paper?
Juliana or Audrey, you know what that might
mean?
>>: A couple things went through my mind.
I didn't know if that was a grant.
I wasn't sure if they were referring to the
fee waiver.
CalGrant.
I am not sure.
Audrey, do you have...
>>: What I would ask you to do is if you could
e mail us at calworks@smc.edu and send us
your question again.
We can try to look into that for you.
All CALWORKS recipients are eligible to apply
for financial aid, so I am not sure if your
question is in regard to your general financial
aid application or if there is something specific
to CALWORKS that you want us to look into.
But e mail us at calworks@smc.edu and we can
definitely look into that for you.
Let us see here.
Any other questions?
Let me refresh.
Does applying for CALWORKS affect you if you
got accepted for the promise grant?
>>: No, it doesn't.
>>: No, it doesn't those are two separate
programs and you can receive the benefits
from both of them.
Which brings me to another point, I am sure
a lot of you have sat in on multiple of these
workshops in the various special programs.
That is one of the great assets at Santa Monica
College is that we do have amazing special
programs.
All of them, if not a majority of them, have
a counseling component.
Which is really designed to have academic
counselors embedded into their programming
to help you be successful.
And so if you participate in CALWORKS and
you want to participate in other special programs,
you definitely can you that.
We encourage you to do that.
Take advantage of all the resources that we
do have.
But just keep in mind that each of those programs
do have requirements.
And so they do want you to maintain those
requirements.
But I do know a lot of the special programs
also collaborate with each other.
Whether it be with programming, or their workshops,
or some will also have counseling appointments
for their respective programs.
We try to eliminate any barriers for you to
participate in all of those programs that
do interest you.
So that I can advantage of them for sure.
>>: Absolutely.
>>: I don't see any other questions.
I think we are good so.
>>: If it was like SSI?
>>: Do you want to try that one?
>>: SSI and CALWORKS are different.
>>: Question.
SSI and CALWORKS are different programs through
DPSS.
Correct.
Awesome.
Anything else?
>>: I think just we really appreciate you.
If there are further questions that emerge
from this workshop for myself, for Audrey,
or Nick can be of help, please don't hesitate
to reach out.
We are here to help you.
We are excited to welcome you to SMC.
Excited for your future and starting classes
next week.
>>: Thank you for joining us.
Thank you, Juliana and Audrey, for helping
present today.
We hope all you students enjoy the rest of
welcome week.
Welcome to Santa Monica College.
We are very excited that you are here.
