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Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Santa Monica Case Study

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Santa Monica Case Study

Organization: Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA

Contact: Nick Mata, Director of Special Programs (Mata_Nicholas@smc.edu)

URL: http://www.cdss.ca.gov/CalWORKS

Program Name: CalWORKS

Funding: Department Budget

Curricula used: Love Notes

Curricula benefits: Addresses current issues and challenges in students’ lives that prevent them from successfully completing college program.

Target Audience: Community college students who are part of CalWORKS (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – TANF), EOPS/CARE, and Guardian Scholars (foster youth)

Audience Demographics: Primarily female head of households, unemployed, needing additional education to enter the workforce, ages 17-29; and Foster Youth

Class size: Average 15-20 per class

Location of Instruction: In the a campus classroom or large conference room

Length of Instruction: Hour long workshop series held during the school day during a free period. Three sessions per series.

Also did a 6-hour retreat covering 9 lessons.

Instructor Training: Instructors attended a two-day Love Notes training

Utilization of teacher and student materials: Each instructor has a Love Notes binder. Workbook pages are not used.

Recruitment Process: Promoted the workshops and retreats via paper flyers, email invitations, and word of mouth during counseling appointments and visits to the CalWORKs office.

Outcomes:

  1. Engaged students outside of the classroom and the normal counseling/ advising scenario.
  2. Participants learned and discussed vital aspects of relationship and relationship building, which they indicated they rarely get to do.

Challenges:

  1. The one-hour workshop series was not enough time to cover everything in a lesson, but the day-long retreat may have been a little overwhelming for the participants.
  2. Getting more men to attend.

Tips:

  1. Offer food or snacks.
  2. Create a safe and confidential space for discussion.
  3. Vary the presenters, presentation styles and/or modalities.

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