Workforce System 

One-Stop Services for 

Public Assistance and 

Other Low-Income 

Populations 

Lessons Learned in 

Selected States 

By David J. Wright and Lisa M. Montiel 

A Report to the U.S. Department of Labor, 

Employment and Training Administration 

U.S. DOL # MI-17623-08-60 

URBAN & METROPOLITAN STUDIES
 

The Public Policy Research

Arm ofthe State University

of New York

411 State Street 

Albany, NY 12203-1003 

(518) 443-5522 

www.rockinst.org 

WWW.ROCKINST.ORG APRIL 2010 

Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

URBAN & 

METROPOLITAN 

STUDIES 

Workforce 

System One-Stop 

Services for 

Public Assistance 

and Other 

Low-Income 

Populations 

Lessons Learned in 

Selected States 

April 2010 

Contents
 

Introduction ........................... 1
 

I.	 Overview Of WIA, One-Stop Career Centers,
 

and TANF Workforce Services .............. 5
 

II.	 Case Study Sites....................... 8
 

A. California ......................... 8
 

i. Sacramento...................... 10 
 

a. Client Flow .................... 11 
 

b. Services On-Site ................. 12 
 

c. Services for External Referral .......... 12 
 

d. Partners ...................... 12 
 

e. TANF Resources ................. 13 
 

f. Agency Communication and Reporting.... 14 
 

g. Business Perception ............... 14 
 

ii. Modesto ....................... 15 
 

a. Client Flow .................... 16 
 

b. Agency Communication and Reporting.... 17 
 

c. Services On-Site ................. 17 
 

d. Services for External Referral .......... 18 
 

e. Partners ...................... 18 
 

f. Business Perception ............... 20 
 

B. Georgia.......................... 20 
 

i. Columbus ...................... 23 
 

a. Client Flow .................... 24 
 

b. Services On-Site ................. 25 
 

c. Services for External Referral .......... 26 
 

d. Agency Communication and Reporting.... 26 
 

e. Partners ...................... 26 
 

f. Business Perceptions............... 28 
 

ii. Macon......................... 29 
 

a. Client Flow .................... 30 
 

b. Services On-Site ................. 30 
 

c. Services for External Referral .......... 31 
 

d. Partners ...................... 31 
 

e. Agency Communication and Reporting.... 32 
 

f. Business Perceptions............... 34 
 

C. Missouri ......................... 35 
 

i. City of St. Louis ................... 38 
 

a. Client Flow .................... 39 
 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

b. Case Management ................ 39 
 

c. Services On-Site ................. 40 
 

d. Partners ...................... 40 
 

e. Agency Communication and Reporting.... 41 
 

f. TANF Resources ................. 41 
 

g. Business Perceptions............... 42 
 

ii. St. Louis County ................... 43 
 

a. Client Flow .................... 44 
 

b. Services On-Site ................. 45 
 

c. Partners ...................... 46 
 

d. Agency Communication and Reporting.... 46 
 

e. Business Perception ............... 47 
 

III. Notable Barriers and Challenges ............ 48 
 

A. Population Characteristics ............... 48 
 

B. Fit of One-Stop Services ................ 48 
 

C. Competing Cultures .................. 49 
 

D. Performance Reporting................. 49 
 

E. Economic Weakness/Low Demand
 

for Employees ...................... 50 
 

IV. Take Aways......................... 51 
 

A. Demographics Matter ................. 51 
 

B. State Encouragement in Local WIA/TANF
 

Coordination Can Be Helpful ............. 51 
 

C. A History of Local Relationships Can Make
 

New Ones Easier to Build ............... 53 
 

D. Effective, Community-Based Contractors
 

Can Translate to Effective Services .......... 53 
 

E. Targeting Entry-Level Jobs in Growing
 

Fields of Employment Is Key ............. 54 
 

F. Board Vision and Buy-In Is Crucial
 

Internally and Externally................ 55 
 

G. Location and Technology Can Be
 

Important Aids for Service Coordination ...... 55 
 

Appendix A: Individuals Interviewed for 

Field Case Studies ............... 57 
 

Endnotes............................. 60 
 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Tables 

Table 1. WIA Activities/Services Utilized at 

Hillsdale Career Center, 2008-2009 ............ 13 
 

Table 2. Education Level of WIA Clients at 

Modesto Career Center, 2008-2009 ............ 19 
 

Table 3. Reasons for Exit From WIA Services 

at Modesto Career Center, 2008-2009 .......... 20 
 

Table 4. Age of Columbus Career Center 

Adults After Departure From WIA, 2004-2008 ..... 27 
 

Table 5. Education Level of Columbus Career 

Center Adults After Departure From WIA, 

2004-2008 .......................... 28 
 

Table 6. Employment Status of Columbus Career 

Center Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 

2004-2008 .......................... 28 
 

Table 7. Average Quarterly Wages of Columbus 

Career Center Adults After Leaving WIA Adult 

Program, 2004-2008 .................... 28 
 

Table 8. Employment Status and Average Quarterly 

Wages of Columbus Career Center TANF/ 

Low-Income Youth After Leaving WIA 

Youth Program, 2004-2008 ................ 28 
 

Table 9. Age of Macon Career Center Adults
 

After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 ..... 33 
 

Table 10. Employment Status and Average 

Quarterly Wages of Macon Career Center TANF/ 

Low-Income Youth After Leaving WIA Youth 

Program, 2004-2008 .................... 33 
 

Table 11. Employment Status of Macon Career 

Center Adults After Leaving WIA Adult 

Program, 2004-2008 .................... 34 
 

Table 12. Average Quarterly Wages of Macon 

Career Center Adults After Leaving WIA Adult 

Program, 2004-2008 .................... 34 
 

Table 13. Education Level of Macon Career Center 

Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 

2004-2008 .......................... 34 
 

Table 14. Age of TANF Clients Served at the 

SLATE Career Center ................... 38 
 

Table 15. Educational Attainment of TANF Clients 

Served at the SLATE One-Stop Career Center ..... 38 
 

Rockefeller Institute Page v www.rockinst.org 
This project was supported with federal funds from the Department of Labor, Employment and 

Training Administration (ETA) under contract no. MI-17623-08-60. The contents of this publication 

do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Labor. The Nelson A. Rockefeller 

Institute of Government is the public policy research arm of the State University of New York, based 

at the University at Albany. The views expressed here are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Rockefeller Institute. The authors thank the state and local leaders in California, Georgia, and Missouri who were so generous with their time during field interviews. We gratefully 

acknowledge the guidance and assistance we received from staff in ETA’s Office of Policy Development and Research—particularly Wayne Gordon, David Balducchi, and Roxie Nicholson — and Office of Workforce Investment. We also wish to thank Patricia Cadrette and Michael Cooper of the 

Rockefeller Institute for their efforts in readying this report for publication, and especially former 

Rockefeller Institute Director Richard P. Nathan, for blazing the trail for this research (and so much 

else). 
The Public Policy Research

Arm ofthe State University

of New York

411 State Street 

Albany, NY 12203-1003 

(518) 443-5522 

www.rockinst.org 

URBAN & METROPOLITAN STUDIES
 

WWW.ROCKINST.ORG APRIL 2010 

Workforce System One-Stop Services 

for Public Assistance and Other 

Low-Income Populations 

Lessons Learned in Selected States 

By David J. Wright and Lisa M. Montiel 

Introduction 

n 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity IReconciliation Act (PRWORA) created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program which, among 

other provisions, imposed time limits on receipt of cash assistance 

and strengthened mandates for clients to work or engage in 

work-related activities. TANF gives states considerable flexibility 

in determining program eligibility and grant size, but it emphasizes placement of cash assistance recipients in work and workrelated activities, such as job search, work experience programs, 

and training. Education and training are allowable activities, but 

within limits. Most states have adopted a work-first or “labor 

force attachment” philosophy for their TANF programs. 

Reauthorization of TANF through the Deficit Reduction Act of 

2005 has generally had the effect of tightening work requirements, 

underscoring this work-first philosophy. 

In 1998, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) consolidated multiple employment-related public programs into a unified system 

through which comprehensive labor market information, job training, and job-finding assistance could be provided in “One-Stop” 

service centers. WIA also mandates a sequencing of services that 

preserves and prioritizes the use of training resources; where funds 

are insufficient to serve all citizens, public assistance recipients and 

other low-income citizens have priority for services. 

WIA and TANF share areas of commonality in their purposes, 

services, and participants. However, TANF is a permitted but not 

federally mandated partner in the WIA One-Stop Career Center 

system. Nor are there federal requirements that TANF workforce 

services take place within or through the WIA One-Stop Career 

Center system. The shape of WIA/TANF relationships is consequently a matter of state and local discretion. 

TANF’s relationship to WIA and One-Stop Career Centers 

varies greatly across and within states, depending on state/local 

program goals, management styles, traditions, needs, and cultures. But research on intersections of TANF and Workforce Investment Act services is limited. Recent studies have highlighted 

the need for better relations between workforce and welfare agencies, and have called for additional research on the subject. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

With research support from the Employment and Training 

Administration, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government has undertaken a study of exemplary practices in serving 

TANF and other low-income populations through WIA One-Stop 

Career Centers. The Institute gathered and analyzed information 

on the experiences of key stakeholders in settings with a successful track record of serving TANF and other low-income populations through One-Stop Career Centers, where such experience is 

the result of local decisions rather than centralized state services 

or state-mandated program alignments. These environments include: (1) county-administered TANF with One-Stop Career Centers, or (2) settings with state-administered but decentralized 

TANF, where effort results from local coordination between local 

office of state agency and local One-Stop Career Centers rather 

than from state-level policy and programmatic decision to 

consolidate/integrate/align TANF and WIA. 

Purposefully selected sites in three states were researched, 

with information gathered through on-site observation and interviews with key informants, including senior administrative and 

program management at the selected One-Stop Career Centers, 

the local Workforce Investment Board (WIB), as well as contacts 

with the employment and social service agencies at the state and 

county levels. The study also included an analysis of administrative data on caseloads, types of services, and performance 

indicators. 

The Rockefeller Institute team analyzed recent research reports on WIA One-Stop Career Centers, TANF implementation, 

and service integration to establish a list of states and local areas 

studied to-date. In addition to Employment and Training Administration (ETA) officials, the Institute team consulted with experts 

at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation), the 

National Association of State Workforce Agencies, the American 

Public Human Services Association, the National Governor’s Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the 

National Association of Counties. 

Institute researchers, in consultation with ETA staff, determined to look for areas located in states with decentralized control of WIA and welfare system within the states. Rockefeller staff 

employed information gathered from consultation with experts, 

published sources, and from USDHHS and from the ETA to identify states with low levels of state centralized control. 

Selection of sites was also to be based on consideration of a 

number of demographic, geographic, economic, and administrative factors. To obtain a clearer picture of the Workforce Investment Areas’ demographics, Institute staff examined county level 

data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 

(ACS) on unemployment rates, poverty rates, and rates of educational achievement, with an interest in identifying urban settings 

with high frequencies of unemployment, people living below the 

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poverty level, and people over the age of 25 without a high school 

diploma. Selection criteria also turned in part on whether the 

Workforce Investment Area is located in a county that has a population of at least 100,000 and contained a U.S. Census defined 

“urban area.” 

Rockefeller Institute staff utilized the most recent data from 

U.S. Department of Labor’s Federal Research and Evaluation Database (FRED) to identify Workforce Investment Areas that serve 

a high proportion of welfare clients. According to data from 

FRED, in 2007 the national average of WIA adults who entered 

employment and were TANF recipients was 9.5 percent. The national average of WIA adults who entered employment and received welfare other than TANF was also 9.5 percent. Therefore, 

the team focused site selection on WIA areas that had over 9.5 

percent of the adult population served receiving TANF and given 

the interest in areas that are exemplary, an above national average 

(74 percent) criterion of adults entering employment rate. 

Believing that the administrative data collected by the ADARE 

project (Administrative Data Research and Evaluation Alliance) 

would be a valuable resource for this study, the team 

concentrated on Workforce Investment Areas within the nine 

states included in the ADARE alliance. Eliminating states with 

high levels of state control over the WIA and/or TANF systems, 

and those Workforce Investment Areas that do not meet the 

demographic and performance criteria described above, the team 

narrowed down to three states that were most suitable for site 

selection: California, Georgia, and Missouri. 

Several logistical factors were also considered. To facilitate access to the One-Stop Career Centers, the team looked for sites accessible to a major airport. In addition, to maximize our ability to 

conduct as many on-site interviews as possible, we looked for settings that also offered adjacent Workforce Investment Areas 

(within a two-hour drive) that were also of interest to this study. 

The team also sought to take into account average earnings of 

TANF clients placed in employment through WIA One-Stop 

Career Centers, along with the share and rate of TANF clients 

among adults who entered employment. The Ad Hoc Analysis 

feature of FRED was used to create crosstabs of TANF and Adult 

Average Earnings Change. However, at the level of the Local 

Workforce Areas, most of the cells of the crosstab contain five or 

fewer customers, so the data are suppressed. Unable to look at 

only TANF customers in FRED, the team instead looked at 

average earnings for all customers of the Local Workforce Areas. 

Along with placement rates and average wages, the team in 

consultation with ETA staff also took cost of living into 

consideration, using a comparison of average “fair market rents” 

for the nation and for particular sites as a benchmark when also 

considering such comparisons for average wages. 

This process of data analysis and consultation led to the 

selection of six study sites as leading candidates for field research, 

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two each in California, Georgia, and Missouri. Topics covered 

during the field interviews include the history of the Career 

Centers serving low-income/TANF populations, the 

implementation of serving TANF clients, and lessons learned 

from focusing on TANF populations. As part of the field study, 

Rockefeller Institute staff also toured the Career Center facilities. 

Rockefeller Institute Page 4 www.rockinst.org 
Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

I.	 Overview of WIA, One-Stop Career Centers, 

and TANF Workforce Services 

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 

Reconciliation Act of 1996 eliminated the Aid for Families with 

Dependent Children open-ended entitlement and replaced it with 

a block grant for states to provide Temporary Assistance to Needy 

Families; time-limited cash assistance for needy families, with 

work requirements for most recipients. States are permitted to use 

their TANF funding in any manner reasonably calculated to 

accomplish the purposes of TANF. These purposes are: to provide 

assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in 

their own homes; to reduce dependency by promoting job 

preparation, work, and marriage; to prevent out-of-wedlock 

pregnancies; and to encourage the formation and maintenance of 

two-parent families. States have broad flexibility to determine 

eligibility, method of assistance, and benefit levels. Federal TANF 

dollars and state dollars that count toward the maintenance of 

effort must be spent on families that include a child or expectant 

mother and cannot be provided to families who have already 

received assistance under the programs for a cumulative total of 

60 months. States can set time limits shorter than five years if they 

so choose. 

In response to PRWORA, states have generally implemented 

work-first systems that rely heavily on processes as signals, work 

support services, and unsubsidized employment. State welfare 

systems have added a new focus on the work and independence 

goals of the federal TANF block grant in their policies, 

institutions, spending patterns, and administrative practices. The 

importance of work is communicated through new requirements 

at the “front door” of welfare systems, such as requirements to 

register with workforce development or labor bureaucracies; to 

attend orientations that highlight work and independence goals; 

to contact employers or otherwise search for work, sometimes 

before assistance is provided; and to comply with other 

requirements, such as child support enforcement. Rather than 

conducting initial assessments of employability and service needs, 

most states require most applicants to seek work immediately. 

States offer intensive services to those who fail to find work. The 

importance of work is thus signaled by pushing most adults into 

the labor market ... and then using the market to sort out which 

cases are problematic and which are not.1 

One of the most widely used strategies for changing the 

purposes and signals of welfare has been to give employment 

bureaucracies greater control over program operations. 

Employment bureaucracies have the expertise, the data resources, 

and the institutional missions, or so it is argued, for getting people 

jobs, assessing skills, providing job readiness training, working 

with employers, setting up work experience opportunities, and 

finding and overseeing local job service contractors: In short, the 

functions needed to move people into the workforce. Close 

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connections between employment bureaucracies and welfare 

agencies also change the institutional character of welfare. By 

locating welfare offices in job centers, states can signal that people 

can and should get a job and that welfare is part of a service 

system for job seekers, rather than a single program unto itself. 

The overall situation now is one in which employment, labor, or 

workforce development agencies are deeply involved in the effort 

to find jobs for TANF-eligible families.2 

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is based on seven 

guiding principles to be adopted by state and local workforce 

development systems:3 

� Streamlined services. Integrating multiple employment and 

training programs at the “street level” through the 

One-Stop Career Center delivery system to simplify and 

expand access to services for job seekers and employers. 

� Individual empowerment. Empowering individuals to obtain 

the services and skills they need to enhance their 

employment opportunities through Individual Training 

Accounts (ITAs), which enable eligible participants to 

choose the qualified training program that best meets their 

needs. The development of “consumer reports,” 

containing information for each training provider, allows 

individuals to make informed training choices. 

� Universal access. Granting access to every individual 

through the One-Stop Career Center delivery system to 

core employment-related services. Customers can obtain 

job search assistance as well as labor market information 

about job vacancies, the skills needed for occupations in 

demand, wages paid, and other relevant employment 

trends in the local, regional, and national economy. 

� Increased accountability. Holding states, localities, and 

training providers accountable for their performance. 

� A strengthened role for the local private sector. Local 

Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) are business-led 

“boards of directors” for the local areas. 

� Enhanced state and local flexibility. Giving states and 

localities the flexibility to build on existing reforms to 

implement innovative and comprehensive workforce 

investment systems. Through such mechanisms as unified 

planning, waivers, and Work-Flex, states and their local 

partners have the flexibility to tailor delivery systems to 

meet the particular needs of individual communities. 

� Improved youth programs. Linking youth programs more 

closely to local labor market needs and the community as a 

whole, and providing a strong connection between 

academic and occupational learning. In addition, 

traditional employment and training services are 

augmented by an array of youth development activities. 

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WIA institutionalized One-Stop Career Centers as the cornerstones of the local workforce delivery system. One-Stop Career 

Centers were to be the “front-end” of the local workforce system, 

with partners required to contribute a portion of their funds to support the One-Stop Career Centers’ infrastructures. WIA also established a sequencing of job seekers’ services from core to intensive to 

training services. WIA provided for universal eligibility; structured 

to provide core services to all participants in the labor market. 

Training funds, however, are reserved for low-income individuals 

if there are insufficient funds to serve all customers. 

State and local reforms post TANF and WIA can be characterized broadly as structural and procedural. Structural changes include changes in the agencies administering human service 

programs, an increase in the number and types of service providers, and blending of funding streams. Procedural changes include 

changes in client-related processes, such as colocation of multiple 

programs in “One-Stop” offices, common client intake, assessment, 

and case management processes, integration of staff from multiple 

agencies into teams, and integration of client data in shared information systems. The goal of these changes, either explicitly or implicitly, is to create a more comprehensive and responsive system. 

Collocation with other program managers, staff, and service 

providers improves formal and informal communications, 

facilitates client-related processes by simplifying access to 

programs and services, and creates bonds between staff from 

different organizations. Working together helps staff understand 

how different programs contribute to larger community goals. 

One of the advantages of colocation is the ease with which staff 

from multiple agencies can work together. In many locations, 

managers have taken the opportunity to move beyond colocation 

to create multidisciplinary teams. Staff members from multiple 

programs and agencies meet regularly to review cases and 

develop common case plans. The benefits of colocation and 

service integration include better communication, both formal and 

informal; improved staff morale; a greater appreciation of the role 

of each program in achieving goals and helping families; the 

ability to more easily target multiple resources on community 

needs; and better results for clients.4 

The ability to fund services inherent in the TANF statute and 

regulations gives local managers the flexibility to combine TANF 

and other funds in order to simplify administration and to 

provide services that might otherwise be unavailable if each 

funding stream had to be segregated. The U. S. General 

Accounting Office (since renamed the Government Accountability 

Office), in a 2002 study of the level of coordination between 

Workforce Investment Act and TANF programs, reported that 

“Many state and local officials hailed the flexibility in both the 

WIA and TANF programs as an important step in helping them to 

design their service delivery systems and to coordinate services 

where appropriate.”5 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

II. Case Study Sites 

A. California 

The Welfare to Work Division of the California Department of 

Socials Services (DSS) provides oversight of CalWORKs, California’s version of the TANF program. CalWORKs serves all 58 

counties in the state and is operated locally by county welfare departments that determine eligibility of applicants and provide the 

financial assistance for needy families. 

Established in 1939, the California Employment Development 

Department’s mission is to provide an economic line of defense 

against the effects of unemployment, one of which is through administration of the Workforce Investment Act. Services for adults 

and laid-off workers are provided through local One-Stop Career 

Centers including training and education, employer assistance, 

and employment services. 

A State Workforce Investment Board is appointed by the governor to assist in designing a statewide plan and establishing appropriate program policy. The WIB consists of representatives 

from businesses, labor organizations, educational institutions, and 

community organizations. There are 49 Local Workforce Investment Areas (LWIAs) that are designated by the governor based 

on geographic location, population, and commonality of labor 

market areas. Each LWIA appoints a local WIB to develop and 

submit a localized plan to the state, appoint local One-Stop Career 

Center operators, and select eligible organizations to provide services. State planners have identified six industry clusters of particular importance to the current and future performance of 

California’s economy — biosciences (pharmaceutical firms, medical laboratory research, and biomedical instrument manufacturing), computers and semiconductors, information technology, 

telecommunications (communication services and equipment 

manufacturing), aerospace, and agriculture.6 

As of 2006, there were 131 CalWORKS programs/staff 

colocated within a total of 162 comprehensive One-Stop Career 

Centers. Workforce Investment activities are under California’s 

Employment Development Department (EDD). While CalWORKs 

is not a mandatory partner in the One-Stop Career Center system, 

it is a strongly encouraged, voluntary partner. With the passage of 

the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 

Act in 1996, DSS required TANF/CalWORKs to partner with Welfare-to-Work stakeholders in their local written plans. 

The general procedure for a work-eligible TANF recipient is 

that once the individual has applied for cash assistance, they are 

referred to a Welfare-to-Work orientation operated by the county 

Health and Human Services Agency. At the orientation, the TANF 

applicant is informed of their rights and responsibilities for work 

participation, including their right to child care subsidies and 

work-related transportation assistance. Participants are given a 

Welfare-to-Work Handbook that describes the program’s 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

activities, services, and rules. After the orientation, the TANF applicant is referred to a three-week job search club and then has an 

additional three weeks to find a job. It is at this point that the 

county Health and Human Services Agency will refer the individual to a One-Stop Career Center for assistance in their job search. 

If they still have no job after six weeks, they have a Welfare-toWork assessment. The assessment includes an employment specialist and a skills test. If they are still not able to become 

employed, they may be placed in subsidized employment. 

Staff members in California’s DSS acknowledge that One-Stop 

Career Centers might not want to serve TANF clients since they 

are more intensive cases. This recognition led to development and 

implementation of a new Learning Labs initiative, where emphasis is placed on assessing and training all work-ready applicants 

for jobs that are available in the region. Learning Labs refer to a 

service integration model, through which the Local Workforce Investment Area, the local Job Service, the California Workforce Investment Board, and the state Employment Development 

Department all work together to move individual clients from intake at the One-Stop Career Center to assessments, and then employability status in a skill relevant to the local economy. Learning 

Labs have a common pool of coenrolled customers, a common set 

of services available to all customers, shared staffing, and common performance measures. They are called Learning Labs because California officials hope through the experience to learn 

what the outcomes and effects are of a service integration model, 

in varied settings. Design and development of the effort began in 

2006, growing out of activities to address the need for improved 

coordination of the local workforce systems. By 2008, Learning 

Labs were active in 12 Local Workforce Investment Areas, including Sacramento. The state’s role is to issue integrated service delivery policy that is specific enough to offer meaningful guidance 

yet broad enough to permit the Local Workforce Areas to plan 

and implement their own locally tailored strategies for integrated 

service delivery. These service approaches are tested in the 

Learning Labs. 

State-level structures and policy also affect local information-sharing that undergirds workforce services for TANF populations in One-Stop Career Center settings. EDD’s software is called 

SMARTware and DSS uses CalWin. The DSS and EDD databases 

are not linked at the state level. In fact, DSS’s own internal databases are not linked. However, the state agencies allow the counties a degree of flexibility if they want to integrate at the county 

level. County DSS managers are often members of the WIA 

boards in California. 

In addition to interviews with state departmental officials, the 

project team conducted site visits to four local areas in California. 

These included the Sacramento Employment and Training 

Agency (SETA)/Sacramento Works main office, Hillsdale 

One-Stop Career Center operated by Sacramento Works, 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Stanislaus County Community Services Agency/StanWORKS in 

Modesto, and Modesto One-Stop Career Center operated by Alliance WorkNet. 

i. Sacramento 

Sacramento County boasts a population of 1,424,415 with a labor 

force of 693,400 and an unemployment rate of 12.3 percent.7 As of the 

first quarter of 2009, the mean annual wage for the county was 

$47,587.8 The 2008 Occupational Employment Statistics survey estimates the largest areas of employment to be office and administrative support; sales and related fields; food preparation and serving; 

and education, training, and library occupations. The California Employment Development Department projects the largest gain in employment through 2016 is expected to occur in the government sector 

with the addition of over 45,000 jobs, followed by professional and 

business services (23,300); education, health care, and social assistance (22,000); and leisure and hospitality (18,700).9 

In Sacramento County, the Department of Economic Development has attempted to target and attract industries and businesses 

that would contribute to the diversification and stabilization of the 

local economy. The ultimate goal involves encouraging a mix of large 

and small businesses with a significant numbers of jobs and substantial public revenues. SETA — a joint-powers agency of the city and 

county of Sacramento — and Sacramento Works, Inc. — the local 

41-member Workforce Investment Board charged with providing 

policy, planning, and oversight for local workforce development initiatives — have identified Critical Occupational Clusters for 

2009-10.10 Included are nine occupational clusters: administrative 

and support services; architecture and engineering construction; 

health care and support services; human services; information technology; installation, maintenance, and repair (occupations involved 

in restoring machinery equipment); tourism and hospitality; and 

transportation and production (manufacturing and/or production of 

goods, as well as the manufacturing of industrial 

machinery, recycling, and green energy manufacturing efforts). Sacramento Works has One-Stop 

Career Centers with specific staff devoted to assisting individuals interested in health care careers. 

Sacramento Works is the operator of twelve 

One-Stop Career Centers within the city/county 

consortium WIB. Sacramento city and county 

joined to form SETA, which functions as the local 

WIB. All, but one, of the twelve one-stops are full 

service, comprehensive Career Centers. In their 

local WIA plan, SETA reports that TANF caseloads are highly concentrated in downtown, 

South Sacramento, Oak Park, Meadowview, 

North Sacramento, and Rancho Cordova. The 

Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center was identified 

as a location serving a high number of TANF Sacramento Works Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center clients. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

The information in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Federal Research and Evaluation Database (FRED) describes the Sacramento 

County WIB serving an average of 31.6 percent TANF clients in 

2007. This is significantly higher than the national average of 9.5 

percent. The adults entering employment rate of those served 

within the Sacramento County WIB is 79.4 percent — also higher 

than the national average. Unemployment, poverty, and education measures in Sacramento County are close to the national averages, but are much higher in the city of Sacramento, where the 

One-Stop Career Centers we would study are located. Within the 

city of Sacramento, the unemployment rate is 8.6 percent, the proportion of adults over the age of 25 without a high school diploma 

is 19.5 percent, and the poverty rate is 15.4 percent. 

TANF clients differ from other customers served at One-Stop 

Career Centers in Sacramento in several respects. At the Hillsdale 

One-Stop Career Center where Rockefeller Institute staff conducted a site visit, TANF customers are more likely to be young 

and have less education. Almost three-quarters of TANF clients 

who used WIA services are under the age of 35, compared to 44 

percent of the total customers. Over 18 percent of TANF clients 

who left the WIA program have less than a high school education 

versus 12.6 percent of all customers who left the WIA program. 

Almost 23 percent of all clients who left the WIA program have 

some college, but only 15.7 of TANF clients leaving the WIA 

system have some college. 

a. Client Flow 

Once an individual has applied for cash assistance at a county 

Department of Human Assistance (DHA) office and they have attended a Welfare-to-Work orientation, they are referred to a 

One-Stop Career Center to attend a job club or to conduct a job 

search. Over 20 percent of the clients at Sacramento Works’ 

Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center are TANF recipients. If an individual walks in to a One-Stop Career Center and 

is found to be in need of TANF services, they are 

referred to a DHA office to apply for TANF. At 

the One-Stop Career Center, an employment specialist assesses new customers’ employment skills 

utilizing various measurement tools such as 

WorkKeys, Quick Guide Skill Review (measure of 

reading and math levels), and Job Readiness Assessment. If a TANF recipient is determined to be 

ready for employment, they may receive 

on-the-job training opportunities and/or TANF 

Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) subsidized 

employment. If the TANF recipient is not job 

ready, they attend a job club to learn soft or personal skills and have opportunities to enter adult 

education programs, technical training, computer 

skills classes, job coaching, and résumé preparation assistance. 

Resource Room at Sacramento Works Hillsdale One-Stop 

Career Center 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Workshop at Sacramento Works Hillsdale One-Stop 

Career Center 

Clothes Closet at Sacramento Works Hillsdale One-Stop 

Career Center 

b.	 Services On-Site 

Anyone, including TANF recipients, coming 

into a Sacramento Works One-Stop Career Center can review job announcements; get assistance 

with preparing a résumé; complete a course for a 

typing certificate; self-directed software tutorials/training; and have access to computers, telephones, faxes, copiers, and reference materials. 

Sacramento Works offers apprenticeship opportunities, career assessments, case management services, job coaching/career counseling, and 

referrals to other service organizations. Workshops are available on dressing professionally 

(there is an on-site clothes closet at the Hillsdale 

One-Stop Career Center), time management, record expungement, typing skills, financial literacy, 

and soft skills. The only on-site service that is only 

for TANF recipients is subsidized employment/on-the-job training. 

There are, however, certain WIA services at 

the One-Stop Career Center that TANF clients use 

more often than the total population being served 

(see Table 1 on the next page). Among the intensive WIA services, TANF clients at Hillsdale are 

more likely than the total served population to 

participate in work/entry employment experiences and short term prevocational skills. 

c.	 Services for External 

Referral 

All customers may receive referrals for other 

services that are not provided on-site. Most of 

these referrals are provided by representatives of 

the organizations that are located on-site at the 

One-Stop Career Centers. Customers are referred 

to their local school districts for GED classes, 

English as a Second Language classes, and other 

vocational programs. Sacramento Works refers 

customers to area community colleges for those wanting to acquire a certificate in certain vocational training. Eligible youth are 

referred to the Sacramento Job Corps Center for job corps service. 

d. Partners 

When welfare reform began, there was a lot of planning involved in Sacramento County with the resulting system being a 

collaborative one. Sacramento Works One-Stop Career Centers 

partner with Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance (which administers welfare programs), Sacramento County 

Department of Health and Human Services, State Departments of 

Rehabilitation and Employment Development, the Sacramento 

Housing and Redevelopment Agency, the Sacramento County 

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Table 1. WIA Activities/Services Utilized at 

Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center, 2008-2009 

WIA Activities/Services TANF TOTAL 

Followup Services Counseling (core) 0.9% 2.0% 

Staff Assisted Workshops/Job Clubs (core) 46.3% 36.4% 

Other Core Services (core) 100.0% 99.8% 

Case Management for Participants (intensive) 52.8% 99.8% 

Comprehensive Assessments (intensive) 26.9% 28.5% 

Development of Individual Work Plan (intensive) 100.0% 99.2% 

Group Counseling (intensive) 0.0% 4.0% 

Work/Entry Employment Experience (intensive) 4.6% 0.2% 

Individual Counseling and Career Planning (intensive) 4.6% 2.4% 

Short Term Prevocational Skills (intensive) 23.1% 16.4% 

Other Intensive Services (intensive) 61.1% 69.6% 

Non-WIA Funded Intensive 28.7% 10.9% 

Co-Enrolled Intensive Svcs 0.0% 6.9% 

Occupational Skills Training (training) 5.6% 8.9% 

On-The-Job Training (training) 0.9% 0.4% 

Skill Upgrading and Retraining (training) 0.0% 0.2% 

Non-WIA Funded Training Services 0.9% 3.0% 

Supportive Services 1.9% 6.7% 

Note: Categories of activities/services were defined by SETA. 

Office of Education, five school 

districts, Los Rios Community 

College District, local Chambers 

of Commerce, community-based organizations, and 

economic development organizations. Staff members from 

partnering agencies are usually 

colocated at each of the Career 

Centers. The Employment Development Department (EDD) 

and Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance 

(DHA) staff members are 

colocated at five of the 

One-Stop Career Centers, including Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center, which we visited. 

In addition to SETA, DHA, and 

EDD, other partners colocated 

at the Hillsdale One-Stop 

Career Center include: 

� Business Information Center 

� Voluntary Legal Services of California 

� American Association of Retired Persons 

� Department of Health and Human Services 

� Mayor’s Commission on Health 

� Grant Joint Unified School District 

� Greater Sacramento Urban League 

� Counselors to America’s Small Business 

� Small Business Administration 

� Federal Technology Center 

� Small Business Development Center 

� Opening Doors 

� San Juan Unified School District 

e. TANF Resources 

The local welfare and employment agencies do not compete 

against each other for funds; but instead they share funds for 

common goals. In the past few years, SETA received almost $1 

million in CalWORKs (California’s TANF program) funding from 

the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance for job 

readiness classes for welfare recipients. SETA also coordinates its 

Community Services Block Grant funded antipoverty services 

with the One-Stop Career Center services. 

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f. Agency Communication and Reporting 

Many policies and procedures are developed at the One-Stop 

level — a “bottom up” approach. What began as colocation of 

DHA and SETA staff now operates more like integration (though 

DHA staff members are still DHA staff and SETA staff are still 

SETA staff). Though staff members reported to us that the initial 

merging was difficult, now a visitor cannot differentiate which 

staff is with which agency because they all work together at the 

One-Stop Career Centers. 

Both DHA and EDD staff have access to the other’s database 

so referrals and follow-up are facilitated. SETA provides reports 

to DHA using data matches so that DHA can report the hours 

spent on activities for CalWORKs participation rates. As part of 

the Learning Lab’s Integrated Service Delivery Plan, EDD’s 

SMARTware application filled out for a customer applying for 

WIA services was streamlined to a one-page document, the follow-up process to determine eligibility was eliminated, and case 

management was replaced with job coaching. 

Other collaborations between SETA and DHA include providing free tax preparation for CalWORKs families, and consultations 

on funding proposals, funding recommendations, performance 

evaluations, and plans. 

g. Business Perception 

Leadership of the WIB reports that much of the success in Sacramento Works is to be attributed to the organization’s workers 

who are described as having clear goals, being caring individuals, 

and doing whatever it takes to assist customers. The WIB chair 

describes a collaborative spirit among the stakeholders for the 

common goal of assisting people become self-sufficient. The 

One-Stop Career Center operator’s leadership focuses on “helping 

people find more than a job.” They emphasize that they want 

their customers to be able to improve and advance in their employment through education, vocational training, and/or promotion opportunities. The WIB board is active in conducting 

employer outreach and focus groups to find out where the jobs 

are. Board members use their position in the business world to do 

outreach for Sacramento Works. Even in the current economic environment, perhaps especially when times are so tight, it is more 

efficient for an employer to call Sacramento Works to fill job vacancies rather than cull through thousands of résumés. The customers going through Sacramento Works One-Stop Career Center 

are trained so they have an advantage over an applicant not going 

through the One-Stop Career Center system. And the business 

gets a trained employee. In the end, as WIB officials emphasize in 

their outreach to employers, businesses using the One-Stop Career 

Center system save money. 

Sacramento Works staff members report an increase in the 

number of people coming into their One-Stop Career Centers who 

are receiving cash assistance. Overall, the 12 Sacramento Works 

One-Stop Career Centers had a 9 percent increase in the number 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

StanWORKS Office 

of customers served from 2007/2008 to 2008/2009. Hillsdale 

One-Stop Career Center had a 41 percent increase over that same 

period. However, with the implementation of the Learning Lab 

service integration model in Sacramento, WIA service delivery 

changed from 2007 to 2009 so that staff-assisted, intensive services 

and training are offered to all customers. As a result, the number 

of people who received intensive services at all 12 Sacramento 

Works One-Stop Career Centers rose from 913 in 2007/2008 to 

17,451 in 2008/2009 — an increase of 1,811 percent. Just within the 

Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center, 88 customers were enrolled in 

WIA in 2007/2008 compared to 2,640 customers in 2008/2009. 

ii. Modesto 

Modesto, California, is located in Stanislaus County, which 

had a population of 508,322 in 2008.11 The state reported that in 

fall, 2009 the labor force for the county was 245,900, with an unemployment rate of 15.8 percent.12 The mean annual wage for 

Stanislaus County is reported at $40,566 for the first quarter of 

2009.13 Quite similar to Sacramento County, Stanislaus County’s 

highest occupational fields are found in office and administrative 

support; sales and related fields; transportation and material moving; and food preparation and serving. Through 2016, the state 

projects an estimated 10,800 new jobs with the majority to occur in 

education, health care, and social assistance (3,900); professional 

and business services (1,600); and manufacturing (1,500).14 

Stanislaus County supports a primarily agriculture-based economy with agriculture and agribusinesses making up a significant portion of its 

economic base. Nestled in the heart of the Great 

Central Valley, the rural agriculture-rich location 

has created a very vibrant agribusiness sector featuring food processing, agricultural-based manufacturing, and the like. The county and the 

Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce 

Alliance — which oversees both economic development and workforce training activities in the 

Stanislaus River Valley, and in which all nine incorporated cities participate — have identified 

several target industry clusters for anticipated expansion, including: logistics, including supply 

chain management; entrepreneurism; regional 

tourism; health services; and biotech/agricultural 

biotech. Stanislaus County is part of the 

ten-county California Partnership for San Joaquin Valley (CPSJV). 

This partnership is funded through the governor’s office to assist in 

developing a demand-driven workforce investment system. The 

high-wage, high-growth industry clusters CPSJV is targeting are: 

logistics and distribution, manufacturing, agribusiness, renewable 

energy, and health care. 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Federal Research 

and Evaluation Database, in 2007, 12.5 percent of the clients 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Alliance WorkNet Modesto One-Stop Career Center 

served in the Stanislaus County Local Workforce Investment Area 

were TANF clients. The local WIA has a 77.1 percent rate of clients 

entering employment. The county exhibits a higher than national 

average rate of unemployment and poverty. Particularly significant is the 26.2 percent of adults over the age of 25 within the 

county that do not have a high school diploma, compared to the 

15.4 percent national average. The largest urban area in Stanislaus 

County is Modesto. Similar to the county trend, Modesto characteristics include higher than national average levels of unemployment and poverty, and a significantly higher percent of adults 

without a high school diploma. 

Before TANF was authorized, there was a 

program in Stanislaus County called “Greater 

Avenues for Independence” (GAIN) that provided employment-related services to low-income individuals. With the authorization of 

TANF, the Stanislaus County Department of Employment and Training was created and many 

GAIN staff members were folded into this new 

organization. In 2002, the Stanislaus County 

Workforce Investment Board merged with the 

Stanislaus County Economic Development Corporation Board to create the Stanislaus Economic 

Development and Workforce Alliance. Stanislaus 

County Department of Employment and Training was a component of this alliance and in 2006 

was renamed “Alliance WorkNet.” Alliance 

WorkNet is now a nonprofit and operates the 

One-Stop Career Centers in Modesto. It is still 

guided by the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce 

Alliance Board. 

Employment-related services are organized at the county 

level, as has been the case for decades. There is only one full service comprehensive One-Stop Career Center location in Modesto 

that is operated by the Alliance WorkNet. The Modesto One-Stop 

Career Center is located in the Employment Development Department facility where Alliance WorkNet staff share space and meet 

regularly with EDD staff. Alliance WorkNet also has a Career Resource Center in the StanWORKS office in the Community Services Agency facility (StanWORKS is the county’s welfare-to-work 

program). Both facilities were visited as part of this study. Plans 

were then under development to open another One-Stop Career 

Center in neighboring Patterson to better serve the local 

welfare-to-work population. 

a. Client Flow 

Individuals apply for TANF at a Community Service Agency 

(CSA) office, and then, if they are work-eligible, their case manager registers them for StanWORKS. If the individual is job-ready, 

they begin job search activities and are informed of the services 

(including WIA intensive services) available at the Modesto 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

EDD and Alliance WorkNet at Modesto One-Stop Career 

Center 

One-Stop Career Center. The TANF client may 

conduct their job searches at the Career Resource 

Center in the StanWORKS building or at the 

Modesto One-Stop Career Center. If the TANF 

client is not job-ready, their case manager will either send them to a job club (a class to teach individuals how to search and apply for a job, how to 

write a résumé, and skills for interviewing), assist them in entering training/education activities, or place them in an unpaid “community 

services program” where they can gain work 

experience and possibly become an employee. 

All of the WIA intensive training in that area 

takes place at the Modesto One-Stop Career Center, including that for TANF clients. However, 

the reality is that given the work-first philosophy 

emphasized since the Personal Responsibility 

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and its 

Resource Room at Modesto One-Stop Career Center 

reauthorization, key informants report that WIA 

training is almost never offered to TANF clients 

in Modesto. CSA provides most of the supplemental employment-related services to TANF clients such as day care assistance. There are no job 

clubs for TANF clients at the Modesto One-Stop 

Career Center. Job clubs are only offered at the 

StanWORKS facility. Alliance WorkNet staff at 

the Resource Center or staff providing Welfare-to-Work services at the StanWORKS facility 

may refer customers to the Modesto One-Stop 

Career Center if they need vocational training, if 

they are work ready, or they need on-the-job 

training. However, CSA has more of an emphasis 

on placing clients in subsidized employment. 

Most customers at the Modesto One-Stop Career 

Center arrive on their own volition. 

b. Agency Communication and Reporting 

Key informants describe a “heavy hand from above” (government, county CEO, and WIA board) for the social services and 

employment entities to cooperate for the common good. At the 

initial Welfare-to-Work orientation session, there is an Alliance 

WorkNet staff member present to inform participants of the employment resources available to them through Alliance WorkNet. 

Alliance WorkNet and CSA have access to each other’s customer 

eligibility database but report this does not permit active 

integration for case management purposes. 

c. Services On-Site 

The Alliance WorkNet Career Resource Center at the 

StanWORKS facility provides TANF clients access to computers, 

printers, FAX machines, copy machines, and telephones. TANF 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Workshop at Modesto One-Stop Career Center 

clients can work on their résumé with staff member assistance and 

the software Résumé Builder, access employment Web sites, 

CalJobs (California’s Internet system for linking employer job listings and job seeker résumés), register for JobMatch, view recruitment announcements from local employers, obtain information 

about vocational training opportunities, become certified in 

typing, and register for job preparation workshops. 

Services for all customers, including TANF clients, at the 

Modesto One-Stop Career Center include a resource room with 

access to computers with job listings including CalJobs, register 

for JobMatch, access to fax machines, copy machines, printers, 

and telephones, résumé assistance, online job applications, workshops for résumé writing and interviewing skills, WorkKeys (job 

skills assessment) and Work Readiness certificates, typing tests 

and certifications, and intensive training. Customers can receive 

WIA intensive services at the Modesto One-Stop Career Center. 

These services include one-on-one assistance, career counseling, 

skill and aptitude tests, development of an individual employment plan, vocational training, and customized job searches. Customers can also apply for Unemployment Insurance in the same 

facility. 

d. Services for External Referral 

Any customer, including TANF clients, at the 

Modesto One-Stop Career Center can receive a 

referral to community service providers and educational institutions for vocational training, GED 

classes, substance abuse issues, mental health 

services, and domestic violence prevention. Staff 

often refer customers to the Community Services 

Agency for further assistance in finding 

providers. 

e. Partners 

Among the partners of the Alliance WorkNet 

is the Stanislaus County Community Services 

Agency (CSA), which administers the TANF program and provides county social services. CSA 

contracts out for some services to organizations 

such as the Central Valley Opportunity Council, 

Arbor, and Alliance WorkNet. Together, the Alliance WorkNet 

and the Community Services Agency operate Job Clubs at 

StanWORKS. These are four-week classes on job search techniques, including completing an application, creating and managing a résumé, how to seek out job opportunities, competitive 

interview techniques, and one-on-one coaching and job referrals. 

With the reauthorization of TANF, CSA is moving to a family resource center model in order to develop services within neighborhoods. The current neighborhood-based services offered by the 

family resource centers are focused on getting TANF clients to reconnect with CSA and/or Alliance WorkNet and to stay involved 

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in employment-related activities. Alliance WorkNet trains family 

resource center staff on how to keep clients in their job activities. 

In addition to CSA, Alliance WorkNet partners include: 

� California Employment Development Department 

� California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation 

� Modesto City School District 

� Stanislaus County Office of Education 

� Yosemite Community College District 

� Center for Senior Employment 

� Central Valley Opportunity Center (CVOC) 

� CVOC Home Energy & Winterization Assistance
 

Programs
 

� Community Casa in Riverbank 

� Disability Resources Agency for Independant Living 

� Stanislaus Literacy Center 

� Housing Authority of Stanislaus County 

Some of these partners have representatives on-site as needed, 

but most provide services at a location separate from the Modesto 

One-Stop Career Center. 

Even though the Modesto One-Stop Career Center does not 

serve many TANF clients, most individuals they serve are poor 

and in need. In 2008-2009, only 6 percent of the clients who received and left WIA intensive service were TANF recipients, yet 

25 percent were receiving Food Stamps and over 70 percent were 

classified as “low-income.” In other words, there are four times as 

many poor (measured as those receiving food stamps) as those receiving intensive services and more than ten times the proportion 

classified as low-income. Eighty-four percent of the total customers that register for WIA services at the Modesto One-Stop Career 

Center are unemployed. However, only 35 percent of the lowincome customers registering at the One-Stop Career Center are 

unemployed/underemployed. Low-income One-Stop Career Center clients tend to be less educated with 16.1 percent having less 

than a high school education versus 13.3 percent of the total 

One-Stop Career Center population served (see Table 2 below). 

In general, when individuals exited from intensive WIA training services, it was because they had entered into unsubsidized 

employment. But the data provided by Alliance WorkNet indicate 

there are other reasons why 

Table 2. Education Level of WIA Clients at 

Modesto One-Stop Career Center, 2008-2009	 

low-income clients departed the 

WIA training. Over 40 percent 

Low TOTAL left because they had attained Income an education degree and almost 16.1% 13.3% one-fourth left because they 83.9% 86.7% were involved in other 

Education 

Less Than High School 

At Least High School Diploma 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

non-WIA training related activities. Table 3 below lists the reasons 

that clients left the WIA program at the Modesto One-Stop Career 

Center. 

Table 3. Reasons for Exit From WIA Services at 

Modesto One-Stop Career Center, 2008-2009 

Reasons for Exit Low Income TOTAL* 

Entered Unsubsidized Employment 0.0% 73.3% 

Training Related 22.1% 22.7% 

Entered Military Service 0.0% 0.0% 

Entered Qualified Apprenticeship Program 0.0% 9.7% 

Entered Post-Secondary Education 0.0% 1.3% 

Entered Advanced Training 1.0% 2.9% 

Attained Recognized Certificate/Diploma/Degree 43.3% 40.6% 

Attained High School Diploma/GED 0.0% 0.0% 

Exits Excluded from Performance 7.4% 5.5% 

Other Exits 26.3% 83.4% 

Source: Categories are defined and data provided as is by Alliance WorkNet. 

* Totals may be more than 100% due to overlap of categories. 

f. Business Perception 

Alliance WorkNet is guided 

by the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance Board, and it has a close 

relationship with the Economic 

Development agency. Local officials report intensive 

strategizing to make sure new 

businesses have the trained 

workforce they need. Alliance 

WorkNet also works with existing businesses that need worker 

skills upgraded in order to 

expand their businesses. 

From a policy standpoint, the leadership of the Stanislaus 

County WIB wants Alliance WorkNet to help those who want to 

work but some key informants believe that many TANF clients of 

CSA do not want to work. The WIB does not want Alliance 

WorkNet to spend resources and time on customers with lots of 

barriers. It was reported in our interviews that substance abuse 

problems are high in this area and WIB officials note these are people that must overcome the substance abuse issues before the 

One-Stop Career Center system can help them. The area has a high 

demand for unskilled labor and the WIB uses a “demand driven” 

model, meaning that they prepare people for jobs that local businesses can provide. 

Work Keys is described as a major tool in reducing the time 

the Modesto One-Stop Career Center spends filling positions. The 

WIB is hopeful that having Work Keys in the K-12 schools will 

help with the high percentage of students not completing high 

school. The leadership of WIB feels it is best to steer these students towards vocational education using the One-Stop Career 

Center system. 

California is currently investigating ways to utilize American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to increase subsidized employment opportunities. Officials report that the counties have the 

capacity to expand existing services and hope to be able to use the 

stimulus funds to do so. State officials emphasize the importance 

of the “work first” philosophy especially given the current economy, yet difficulties still exist in trying to overcome the stigma 

some employers attach to employing a “welfare client.” 

B. Georgia 

Georgia’s governor designated the Georgia Department of Labor as the state agency responsible for implementation of the 

Workforce Investment Act. The governor also appointed the State 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Workforce Investment Board to help plan and develop Georgia’s 

overall workforce system. The State Board is composed of a private sector majority with a business sector chair, and various representatives of workforce development, government, youth, labor, 

and human services organizations. Its mission is to bring business, labor, education, and the public sector together to develop 

strategies and support efforts to best meet the needs of the state’s 

workforce and employers, thereby enhancing Georgia’s 

competitiveness in the global economy. 

In Georgia, there are 12 labor service delivery regions and 20 

local service delivery areas. In each of the 20 areas there is a local 

Workforce Investment Board, appointed by local elected officials. 

Local Workforce Boards are made up of a private sector (business) 

majority, various human services agency representatives, parents, 

and other workforce-related customers and interested parties. 

These Boards are responsible for designing local One-Stop 

Workforce Systems that are employer-led and demand-driven. 

Each workforce area has at least one “official” comprehensive 

One-Stop Career Center where various human services organizations assist employers and job seekers with their workforce needs. 

In Georgia, there are over 45 comprehensive WIA One-Stop Career Centers, and the Georgia Department of Labor operates 53 

electronically connected local Career Centers. 

The Career Centers are intended to provide individuals seeking employment with access to all the latest employment tools as 

well as unemployment insurance benefits assistance. Employers 

can find assistance in recruiting new employees through a job listing network, applicant screening, and space in the centers to conduct testing and employment interviews. 

WIA requires the participation of certain partners in local 

workforce systems, but many systems have expanded to include a 

host of other organizations meeting workforce-related needs in 

the community. In addition to the comprehensive Career Center 

sites, many Georgia communities have additional locations for 

customers to access workforce services, often called “satellites,” 

which may include libraries, technical colleges, welfare offices, 

and community-based organizations. 

Georgia’s TANF program is administered at the state level by 

the Department of Human Services, Division of Family and Children Services. Local services are delivered through a network of 

county Division of Family and Children Services staff in collaboration with other local public and private agencies. A range of job 

placement, job preparation, and support services are available in 

each county office, but may vary in scope depending on local resources. All services provided are in keeping with the stated goal 

of reducing dependency by helping Georgia families leave the 

cash assistance rolls as soon as possible and by diverting applicants toward employment so they will have no need for public 

assistance. 

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After the enactment of WIA, the Georgia Department of Labor 

(GDOL) turned its regional offices into Career Centers. The Career 

Centers provide typical regional functions of state labor departments, such as Unemployment Insurance, job search, and employer assistance with labor requirements. These centers are still 

government offices, but some were designated by their local WIA 

boards as “One-Stops” where some WIA functions occur, though 

the One-Stop’s administration is separate from that of the 

colocated Department of Labor. Typically in these settings, the 

“front door” — customer intake — is shared, but from there, operations separate. Presently, GDOL operates 33 of the 47 One-Stop 

Career Centers in the state, including both Macon and Columbus 

Career Centers. In practice, the self-directed WIA core services are 

operated by the GDOL and the WIA intensive services are conducted by or contracted out by the entity serving as the One-Stop 

provider. 

Statewide, the reported number of individuals receiving 

TANF benefits in Georgia is low. In fact, the average monthly 

number of TANF recipients in Georgia for 2008 was much lower, 

at 38,490 people, compared to the 50-state average of 74,996 

monthly.15 Georgia is one of the seven states that have a TANF 

lifetime limit lower than the federal guidelines (48 versus 60 

months). The politically conservative tenor of the state and the 

views even of human service advocates have aligned to underscore the undesirability of public assistance dependency. The previous Commissioner of the Georgia human services agency, now 

that state’s Labor Commissioner, felt that welfare was not good 

enough for anyone and pushed his department to get all TANF 

recipients employed. 

GoodWorks Intensive Services was a strategic initiative in 

Georgia to transition hard-to-employ TANF recipients into jobs, 

and it served over 6,100 TANF recipients from 2001 to 2007. While 

the program continues to be highlighted in promotional material, 

it offered active services to only 105 clients statewide as of fall 

2009. Through GoodWorks, TANF funds were used to contract 

with the GDOL to conduct vocational rehabilitation assessments, 

on-the-job training at subsidized employment sites, and intensive 

support and follow-up through a “Personal Advisor” and a “Job 

Coach.” The GDOL usually contracted out these services to their 

partner service providers. The GDOL reports that from 2000 to 

February 2009, 58 percent of those individuals enrolled were 

placed in unsubsidized employment and, since March 2005, 88 

percent of clients placed had retained employment for at least 30 

days. 

The Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) provides 

training internally in soft skills, such as work ethic, interviewing, 

and the like. But according to officials interviewed, the agency 

contracts out for job development services and typically pays service providers on the basis of contractual performance. Key informants reveal that in Georgia, WIA intensive services tend to be 

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reserved for those clients with work experience and who already 

have a skill set. Most TANF customers do not have work experience and/or skills, and DFCS staff report their belief that the Career Centers cannot provide the services the TANF clients need to 

become employed. 

Georgia officials cited Georgia Work$ (GW$) as another program to assist low-income individuals become employed. It is a 

GDOL initiative for individuals on unemployment insurance. The 

individual receives workplace training while still collecting unemployment and, in turn, the employer receives a trial test of the individual as an employee. At the end of six weeks, the program 

participant receives certification for the training and consideration 

in being hired for a position with the employer. While in GW$, the 

individual not only continues to receive Unemployment Insurance benefits, they may also receive a stipend for child care and 

transportation costs associated with the training. 

i. Columbus 

The 2008 estimated population of Muscogee County stood at 

186,984 with a median household income of $41,095 (2007). The 

county labor force is 85,621, of which 77,790 are employed, with a 

9.1 percent unemployment rate.16 The largest number of workers 

in Muscogee County are found in the occupations of health care 

and social assistance; retail trade; accommodation and food services; education services; and manufacturing.17 Growing industry 

gains for the Lower Chattahoochee Workforce Investment Area, 

as projected through 2016 by the Georgia Department of Labor, 

are found in services, education, health services, and leisure and 

hospitality.18 

Columbus, Georgia’s largest employers are found at Fort 

Benning, the county school district, a credit card processor, an insurance company, and a regional health care system. The reported 

targeted industries for the area include aerospace, automotive, defense, headquarters and back office, and manufacturing. 

The proportion of TANF clients to others served by the Lower 

Chattahoochee Workforce Investment Area is more than twice the 

national average. Yet, it has a higher than national rate of clients 

served who enter employment. Muscogee County, within the 

Lower Chattahoochee WIA, has rates of unemployment and 

adults without a high school diploma that are only slightly higher 

than average. The county does, however, have a particular challenge of poverty, measured at 16.9 percent compared to the 13.3 

percent national average. The city of Columbus is the largest urban area within Muscogee County and the Lower Chattahoochee 

WIA. The city characteristics follow the same trend as the county 

in unemployment, poverty, and educational attainment. 

The poverty rate for Columbus is 15.6 percent, yet there are 

only about 125 TANF recipients in Muscogee County mandated to 

seek employment.19 A better indicator of the scale of low-income 

individuals is probably the number of food stamp recipients. In 

Muscogee County there are 28,529 individuals receiving food 

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Columbus Career Center 

stamps. In the past, the region had a vibrant textile industry. 

However, many of the textile businesses (Fieldcrest, Russell) began closing. As a result, the area has experienced an increase in 

the need for job retraining services to accommodate the displaced 

workers. 

The Columbus Career Center, operated by 

the Georgia Department of Labor, contains the 

only comprehensive One-Stop site within the 

Lower Chattahoochee Workforce Area. The local 

Workforce Investment Board is staffed and supported administratively by the Job Training Division of the Columbus Consolidated Government. 

Staff members from the city’s Job Training Division work alongside staff members of the state’s 

Department of Labor at the Career Center. The 

Columbus One-Stop, located within the Columbus Career Center, also has one part-time staff 

member from the Muscogee Division of Family 

and Children’s Services located there to assist in 

initial client assessment, intake, referral, and outreach. Of note for this workforce area is the effects of the growth of nearby Ft. Benning military 

base. Keeping with the federal Green Jobs initiative, the Career Center staff are also focusing on 

bringing in “green job” businesses and utilizing the GW$ program 

to focus on training for these jobs. 

a. Client Flow 

Individuals apply for TANF at a separate location — the 

Muscogee County Division of Family and Children Services. 

However, if a TANF eligible individual should come into a Career 

Center, a DFCS staff member is available on-site. DCFS handles 

their own separate contracts for employability services for TANF 

clients; generally, with community-based organizations that do 

not use the Career Centers to assist clients in their employmentrelated activities. However, DCFS does refer clients to the Career 

Center to conduct job searches if they have work experience and 

marketable skills. 

Most of the TANF/low-income clients served at the Columbus 

Career Center and One-Stop arrive there on their own, without referral. From 2004-2008, the average rate of Career Center clients 

who were receiving TANF was 15.7 percent. Over 85 percent of clients registered at the Career Center are low-income. Upon entering, 

all customers check-in at a reception desk and can utilize the computers in the front area for job-searches or résumé writing. There 

are staff members in the computer area to assist customers with 

computer programs and printing. There is a small Kiddie Corner in 

the computer area for customers who have children with them. 

If the customer needs more than a self-service job search, the 

receptionist has them fill out an informational form and the customer is scheduled to meet with an employment specialist who 

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Intake at Columbus Career Center 

registers the customer with the Career Center 

and assesses them for job skills and work experience. If needed, they are referred to the WIA 

intensive services unit on-site at the Career Center for job training. This unit works with 

long-term unemployed and hard-to-employ individuals. When the GoodWorks program was 

fully operational in Columbus, such individuals 

would attend workshops that led to an intensive job search plan. However, the GoodWorks 

program in Muscogee County only had the capacity to serve about eight individuals in 

2007-2008. Now, the Division of Family and 

Children Services contracts with outside service 

providers for job training and education services. 

Individuals receiving WIA intensive services 

are provided an in-depth assessment by a Career Center employment specialist, assistance with their job search, development of 

an individual “Customer Service Plan,” individual counseling/career development, case management for training if needed, and 

referrals to other providers. 

Common occupations for those in the WIA intensive services 

are customer service, computer-related jobs, health care, and 

green jobs. However, as discussed above, since the reduction in 

GoodWorks capacity, Muscogee County DFCS rather than the Career Center is the entity that contracts for TANF clients’ job-training 

services, with providers like Spexcel and American Works. 

Through a program called OASIS (Orientation, Ability and 

Service Identification Seminar), individuals in need of a Vocational Rehabilitation assessment due to mental health or substance 

abuse barriers to employment attend workshops twice a week 

that includes an orientation to the Career Center 

services and resources. At the end of the workshops, a detailed assessment of the individual’s 

skills and job readiness is conducted by GDOL 

and Vocational Rehabilitation staff. Job-ready individuals then conduct an assisted job search. 

Those individuals needing additional services or 

supports are referred to appropriate service 

agencies. 

b. Services On-Site 

The DFCS staff on-site conduct eligibility determination for the welfare-to-work program, 

provide information and applications for food 

stamps, and other relevant work programs for 

low-income/TANF clients. All customers of the 

Career Center may obtain employment information, career counseling, explore training and education opportunities, conduct job searches, get 

Resource Room at the One-Stop in the Columbus Career 

Center 

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assistance with job placement, attend workshops, and get referrals 

for remedial and adult literacy and public assistance services. 

Workshops are provided at the Career Center on job application 

skills, interviewing skills, résumé preparation, personal finance 

management, and training/education goals. The Career Center 

also offers the CAPS test (Career Ability Placement Survey) and 

O*Net (occupational network) assessment on a weekly basis. 

Other on-site services include Veterans Workforce programs, outreach programs for disabled veterans, unemployment insurance 

filings, vocational rehabilitation services, senior programs, 

outreach and admissions for Job Corps youth, and career 

transition services for youth leaving the Job Corps program. 

c. Services for External Referral 

Career Center customers are referred to other service providers 

for occupational skills training/retraining, adult education and literacy activities, senior programs, postsecondary education, work experience programs, and education programs for nursing professions. 

d. Agency Communication and Reporting 

When an individual applies for TANF, the person is directed 

to register at the Columbus Career Center for an employment 

search and/or job-readiness assessment. DFCS staff sends an alert 

or referral to the GDOL through the Georgia Workforce System — 

the state DOL Web-enabled database that integrates customer information so that Unemployment Insurance, Employment Service, 

and WIA staff can identify all services provided to a particular 

customer. WIA intensive services unit is in regular communication with the local DFCS staff, mainly through the part-time representative located on-site, and provides quarterly reports. 

e. Partners 

The One-Stop has various partners that are represented, at 

least on a part-time schedule, at the Columbus 

Career Center. Customers may meet with any of 

these representatives at the Career Center if they 

need to obtain information on their services. 

One-Stop partners colocated at the Columbus 

Career Center include: 

� City of Columbus Job Training Division 

provides WIA Title 1 services. 

� Georgia Department of Labor provides 

Wagner-Peyser Act services, Veterans 

Workforce programs, disabled veterans 

outreach programs, and state unemployment 

compensation. 

� Muscogee County Division of Family and 

Children Services operates the TANF 

program, food stamps, and relevant work 

programs. 

On-site Partner at the One-Stop in the Columbus Career 

Center 

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� Georgia Department of Rehabilitation Services provides 

vocational rehabilitation services. 

� AARP operates senior programs. 

� Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education 

� Enrichment Services Program, Inc. [a Community Action 

Agency] provides employment and training activities 

under the Community Services Block Grant Act. 

� Dynamic Educational Systems, Inc. (DESI) conducts 

outreach and admissions for Job Corps youth and career 

transition services for youth leaving the Job Corps 

program. 

� Muscogee County School District operates WIA adult 

education and literacy activities. 

� Columbus Housing Authority provides relevant 

employment and training activities carried out by the 

federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

� Columbus State University assists individuals wanting to 

enter postsecondary education. 

� Columbus Technical College provides postsecondary 

educational activities. 

� Chattahoochee Valley Community College provides 

postsecondary educational activities. 

� First Step Health Agency operates programs to certify 

health care professions. 

� Goodwill Industries of the Southern Rivers operates a 

work experience program for individuals 19-21 years of 

age that have been classified by the Workforce Investment 

Act as having special needs. 

� Step One Health Agency operates education programs for 

nursing professions. 

The age characteristics of TANF/low-income clients in this 

Workforce Area are similar to those of the total population served. 

As Table 4 shows, about 6 percent of clients are 19-21 years old, 

about 66 percent are 22-34 years old, and about 27 percent are 

35-54 years old. 

TANF/Low-income clients are slightly more likely to have not 

graduated from high school than the total 

Table 4. Age of Columbus Career Center Adults 

After Departure From WIA, 2004-2008 

Age TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

14-18 Years Old 0.0% 0.0% 

19-21 Years Old 6.0% 5.8% 

22-34 Years Old 66.4% 66.2% 

35-54 Years Old 26.8% 27.3% 

55+ Years Old 0.8% 0.7% 

population. As Table 5 on the next page 

shows, over one-quarter of the total population served, low-income or not, did not finish 

high school; half of them have a high school 

diploma and about one-fifth have some 

college. 

The employment status of TANF/low-income clients after they leave the WIA program is similar to that of the total population. 

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Table 5. Education Level of Columbus Career Center A

After Departure From WIA, 2004-2008 

dults 

Education TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

Less Than High School 28.8% 27.3% 

High School Diploma 50.4% 50.2% 

Some College 20.8% 22.2% 

Bachelor’s or More 0.0% 0.3% 

Table 6. Employment Status of Columbus Career Center 

Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 

After Leaving WIA, Employed at: TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

First Quarter 74.8% 75.1% 

Second Quarter 70.8% 71.7% 

Third Quarter 68.0% 68.9% 

Fourth Quarter 68.4% 69.3% 

Table 6 shows the employment status of the 

two groups at the first through fourth quarters after leaving the WIA program. 

Although TANF/low-income individuals 

who left the WIA program earned an average 

$237 less than the total average at the first 

quarter, by the fourth quarter, they only 

earned $157 less (see Table 7). 

Key informants report that within the last 

five years, the local WIA board made a conscious, though informal, decision to focus 

WIA adult services on the higher skilled, 

higher educated individuals due to the pressures of WIA performance measures. The 

Board realizes that the WIA services should 

Table 7. Average Quarterly Wages of Columbus Career Center 

Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 

After Leaving WIA, 

Average Wages at: TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

First Quarter $4,024 $4,261 

Second Quarter $4,288 $4,459 

Third Quarter $4,263 $4,517 

Fourth Quarter $4,484 $4,638 

be targeted to those most in need, but the 

WIA funds are attached to performance measures which they must meet in order to 

continue receiving funds. 

The Board also decided that a good way 

to assist low-income families is to focus WIA 

youth funds on older youth since they are often the only employed/employable individuals in the household. The Columbus Career 

Center’s youth program has been operable for 

years and has gained a positive reputation. When the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 summer youth funds 

were awarded, other WIBs approached the Columbus WIB for advice on how to set up their programs. Over 94 percent of the 

low-income individuals in the WIA youth program are high 

school students and an additional 4.4 percent are high school 

graduates. As Table 8 below shows, 50-60 percent of youth that 

were in WIA Youth program in the Lower Chattahoochee 

Workforce Investment Area became employed with wages that 

steadily increased from $2,342 in the first quarter after leaving the 

WIA Youth program to $2,783 in the fourth quarter. 

f. Business Perceptions 

Informants describe large employers leavTable 8. Employment Status and Average Quarterly Wages 

of Columbus Career Center TANF/Low-Income Youth 

After Leaving WIA Youth Program, 2004-2008 

Employed Average Wages for Quarter 

First Quarter 53.7% $2,342 

Second Quarter 56.1% $2,528 

Third Quarter 60.7% $2,601 

Fourth Quarter 56.9% $2,783 

ing the area recently. In 2007, numerous businesses in the textile industry closed 

(Fieldcrest, Swift, Russell) leaving many individuals unemployed. The Columbus Career 

Center works with new and existing businesses to retrain the laid-off workforce to be 

suitable for their businesses’ needs. The Career Center works closely with large employers such as KIA, Aflac, and NCR that want to 

be able to utilize the workforce, but they also do not want to 

change the rules/requirement for hiring (drivers license, background check, drug testing) that may preclude some individuals. 

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ii. Macon 

Bibb County has a population of 155,216 (2008 estimate) with 

a labor force of 74,077 and median household income of $36,954 

(2007). The number of employed in the county is 66,636 and the 

unemployment rate is 10.0 percent.20 The major industries in 

Bibb County with the largest number of employees are found in 

the fields of health care and social assistance; retail trade; education services; accommodation and food services; and finance and 

insurance.21 The Georgia Department of Labor projects the largest industry employment gains in the Macon-Bibb Workforce Investment Area to occur in services-providing; education and 

health services; professional and business services; and manufacturing.22 

Macon touts having a diversified economy that can support a 

wide variety of industry sectors, with a labor force, education and 

training support, communication and transportation networks, location and quality of life that attracts and sustains all types of 

companies. Specific industry sectors that have been identified as 

areas of expected job growth in Macon are: aerospace, shared services (data, knowledge, and call centers), distribution centers, automotive (parts/component assembly and metal fabrication), and 

food products manufacturing. 

The Macon-Bibb Workforce Investment Area has one of the 

highest rates of clients entering employment in our sample (80.1 

percent versus the national average of 74.0 percent). The 

Workforce Area serves a high proportion of TANF clients — 13.9 

percent of customers served are TANF clients compared to the 9.5 

percent national average. Bibb County itself ranks much higher 

than the national average in unemployment (10.5 percent), poverty (20.9 percent), and share of people over the age of 25 without 

a high school diploma (21.4 percent). Macon is the largest urban 

area within the local Workforce Investment Area. Macon’s characteristics are similar to those of the county with 12.3 percent unemployed, 29.1 percent living below poverty level, and 25.9 percent 

of those over 25 years of age with no high school diploma. 

The poverty rate for Macon is 33 percent, yet as of fall 2009, 

there were fewer than 50 TANF recipients Bibb County mandated 

to seek employment. Over 29,000 individuals in Bibb County received food stamps in 2007.23 Clearly, this is an area with many 

low-income individuals who are not receiving TANF. 

Before the Workforce Investment Act, there was a Council of 

Community Services in Macon that coordinated the services of local providers to assist low-income individuals with their needs, 

including employment-related services. The Macon-Bibb WIA 

Board assumed similar responsibilities as the Council of Community Services, benefiting from being able to tap into a pre-existing 

collaborative culture among the local service providers facilitating 

partnerships for the WIA structure. 

The Georgia Department of Labor operates the Macon Career 

Center, which contains the only comprehensive One-Stop location 

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Macon Career Center 

within Bibb County. The Mayor’s Office of 

Workforce Development (MOWD) is the administrative entity for the local Workforce Investment Board and the operator of the One-Stop 

within the Career Center. DOL provides WIA 

core services, the MOWD provides WIA intensive services, and the Division of Rehabilitative 

Services provides vocational rehabilitation. 

a. Client Flow 

As in Columbus, individuals wanting to apply for TANF must do so at the county office of 

the Division of Family and Children Services. It 

is there that individuals are assessed for work 

readiness. DFCS contracts out to community-based organizations for welfare-to-work activities. TANF clients typically arrive at the 

Macon Career Center of their own accord rather 

than as result of a referral, according to local officials. 

Upon entering the Macon Career Center, any customer can 

sign up to meet with an employment specialist, conduct a 

self-serve job search using the computer room, utilize the resource room, and attend workshops on résumé development, 

interviewing techniques, and career planning. These are considered WIA core services and are provided by employees of 

the state’s Department of Labor. The MWOD provides WIA intensive services including outreach/recruitment, initial assessment, referrals, orientation, job search assistance, job placement 

assistance, and follow-up services for WIA. Eligible individuals, including low-income individuals, may receive intensive services such as comprehensive 

assessments including TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education); O*NET Interest Profiler and the 

O*NET Work Importance Locator; development of an Individual Employment Plan; case 

management of the educational, financial, and 

other needs of the customer; individualized job 

search assistance; adult education and/or literacy, and referrals to other education and training providers. There are three full-time 

MWOD staff members who provide the WIA 

intensive services. 

b. Services On-Site 

The GDOL provides the Web site, JobTV, 

internet access, and software for outreach and 

recruitment; Unemployment Insurance information; basic skills assessment at intake; orientation; maintains the Job Information System for 

self-directed job search on the computer; career counseling; 

and case management for veterans. GDOL’s Vocational 

Intake at Macon Career Center 

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Resource Room at the One-Stop in the Macon Career Center 

Rehabilitation Program provides on-site intake for referred clients, initial and comprehensive assessments, and referrals (such as to 

Goodwill Industries). 

The MOWD provides the more intensive 

services for low-income and displaced workers. Services include one-on-one job coaching, 

job search assistance, skills testing and assessments, case management, adult education and 

literacy, prevocational services (preparing an 

application, interview skills, résumé preparation and supported employment assistance), 

and referrals to other providers. 

c. Services for External Referral 

Career Center customers are referred to other 

service providers for occupational skills training/retraining and prevocational programs, such 

as the Mercer University Educational Opportunity Center and the 

Macon Housing Authority’s life skills W.I.N.G.S. Program 

(Women Initiating New Goals for Success). Customers may also 

be referred out to external providers of social services and 

postsecondary education. 

d. Partners 

Service partners with at least a part-time representative on-site 

include: 

� Central Georgia Technical College 

� Georgia Technical College 

� Experience Works 

� Olde Management Group (Job Corp) 

� River Edge Behavioral Health Center 

� Easter Seals Community Services 

� Economic Opportunity Council 

� Meals on Wheels 

� Macon Housing Authority 

Other partners with the One-Stop Career Center that are 

off-site include: 

� Mercer University Educational Opportunity Center
 

provides for prevocational services
 

� Macon Housing Authority — specifically its life skills 

W.I.N.G.S. Program 

� American Professional Institute 

� Endurance 4U Health Care and Training School 

� Georgia College and State University in Macon 

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� Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia & the Central 

Savannah Regional Area (CSRA) 

� Macon Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training
 

Committee (JATC)
 

� Macon State College 

� Southeastern Carpenters Training Trust Macon Training 

Center 

� Wesleyan College 

e. Agency Communication and Reporting 

The Local WIA plan states that all qualified customers for 

GoodWorks are referred to the Mayor’s Office for Workforce Development, as they are the GoodWorks administrator. However, 

local officials report that TANF clients typically are not referred to 

the Macon Career Center but instead receive needed employmentrelated services from DFCS either directly or from an agency contractor. The Bibb County DFCS contracts with a local nonprofit, 

the Macon Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council (EOC), 

for the TANF Work Experience Training Program, Welfare to 

Work transportation, case management and assessment, and the 

Parent-Aide Program whereby EOC hires and trains TANF clients 

to work with other TANF recipients to assist them in selfsufficiency activities. Local DCFS officials state that formal job 

training is not really compatible with new TANF requirements, 

which require the recipient to be in an active job search. WIA intensive services, which local officials equate with job training, are 

perceived as being in a practical sense unavailable for active 

TANF clients on cash assistance. 

Local officials from the workforce agencies perceive these 

matters somewhat differently. Customers do arrive at the Macon 

Career Center for services on their own, and anyone who comes 

to the Center may be assessed and potentially deemed eligible 

for WIA intensive services. Macon Career Center staff report that 

of 5,000 people who walk in to the center, approximately 600 are 

referred on for WIA intensive services. The 2007-2008 Local WIA 

plan states that it is Board policy to put a priority on providing 

intensive services to adults with incomes at or below 100 percent 

poverty level and customers receiving TANF. Labor Department 

staff members attend the local DFCS orientation meetings held 

for TANF clients, in order to explain what services, including the 

Career Center, the GDOL provides. They maintain that rather 

than avail themselves of what is offered at the Career Center, the 

county DFCS office sends their TANF clients to a technical 

school across the street from the DFCS office so that the TANF 

client can first get their GED and then DFCS staff help them do a 

job search themselves. In 2007-2008, only eight individuals were 

referred to the GoodWorks program; all completed the program 

successfully. Notwithstanding the low TANF rolls and lack of systematic referrals, the Macon Career Center reports it is still 

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Table 9. Age of Macon Career Center Adults After 

Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 

Age TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

14-18 Years Old 0.0% 1.0% 

19-21 Years Old 13.8% 11.9% 

22-34 Years Old 61.8% 65.5% 

35-54 Years Old 22.8% 23.5% 

55+ Years Old 1.6% 1.4% 

providing services to low-income individuals through WIA programs. 

According to administrative data from the Georgia Department of Labor, 7.2 percent of clients served at the Macon Career 

Center are TANF recipients but 42 percent of all clients served are 

low-income. Over 99 percent of all clients are unemployed when 

they register for WIA services at the Macon Career Center. The 

majority of clients served are between the ages of 22-34 though, as 

Table 9 below shows, a higher share of TANF/low-income clients 

are between the ages of 19 and 21 than that of the total population 

served. 

In Macon, there is a focus on fully utilizing the WIA Youth program as a way to help 

low-income families as a whole. Often, the 

youth are the only employed individuals in 

the household. Key informants also noted 

that by focusing on instilling good work ethics in the youth, and encouraging them to finish high school and even college, the cycle of 

welfare could be broken. According to Georgia Department of Labor administrative data, 

13.8 percent of the youth in the Macon Career Center’s WIA 

Youth program receive TANF and 99.6 percent are low-income 

(they must be low-income to be eligible for program). 

Between 40 and 45 percent of the youth are employed upon 

leaving the WIA Youth program. Table 10 shows the percent of 

youth exiters employed and their average wages for the 1st 

through 4th quarters after leaving the program. 

Table 10. Employment Status and Average Quarterly Wages 

of Macon Career Center TANF/Low-Income Youth After 

Leaving WIA Youth Program, 2004-2008 

Employed Average Wages for Quarter 

First Quarter 41.8% $1,327 

Second Quarter 44.8% $1,331 

Third Quarter 41.8% $1,506 

Fourth Quarter 39.4% $1,406 

Staff at the Macon Career Center highlighted the benefit of new Georgia Work$ 

(GW$) regulations, which allow employers in 

the program to train GW$ participants even if 

there is not a bona fide job opening. The 

trainee still receives their unemployment benefits plus $50 for participating in GW$, and 

gains work experience while engaged with 

the employer. The Mayor’s Office of 

Workforce Development, as the WIA administrator, operates a 

similar program for work experience using recently received federal funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

The primary occupations that WIA customers receive training 

for are nursing/medical, truck driving, administrative, and computers. After leaving the WIA training program, adult customers 

(not dislocated workers) had average annual earnings in 2007 of 

$21,546 or $10.36/hr. 

TANF/low-income individuals are less likely than other participants to be employed upon leaving the WIA program. Nonetheless, as Table 11 (on the next page) shows, a sizable percentage 

of low-income exiters — 77.2 percent — are employed at the first 

quarter and over 68 percent are still employed at the fourth 

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Table 11. Employment Status of Macon Career Center 

Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 

After Leaving WIA, Employed at: TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

First Quarter 77.2% 82.3% 

Second Quarter 75.6% 80.2% 

Third Quarter 73.2% 79.2% 

Fourth Quarter 68.3% 72.0% 

quarter after receiving services through the 

WIA program. 

In addition to being somewhat less likely 

than others to be employed upon leaving 

WIA, TANF/low-income clients tend to 

have lower initial wages as well. Table 12 

compares the average wages for TANF/ 

low-income individuals and for all others 

upon exit from WIA services. At the first 

quarter, TANF/low-income individuals received an average of $4,841 for the quarter, 

but the average for all individuals was about 

$500 more. 

Table 12. Average Quarterly Wages of Macon Career Center 

Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 

After Leaving WIA, 

Average Wages at: TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

First Quarter $4,841 $5,359 

Second Quarter $4,787 $5,489 

Third Quarter $4,535 $5,504 

Fourth Quarter $4,715 $5,744 

Table 13. Education Level of Macon Career Center 

Adults After Leaving WIA Adult Program, 2004-2008 

Education TANF/Low Income TOTAL 

Less Than High School 13.8% 14.3% 

High School Diploma 51.2% 51.9% 

Some College 33.3% 32.4% 

Bachelor’s or More 1.6% 1.4% 

These differences in employment status 

and initial wages between TANF/lowincome and others upon exit from the WIA 

program do not appear to be explained by 

differences in educational attainment. As Table 13 shows, the educational achievement 

level of TANF/low-income clients is virtually 

the same as that for the overall population of 

Career Center clients. 

The administrative data do not show the 

barriers that TANF/low-income clients face 

in acquiring employment and staying employed, such as safe, reliable, and affordable child care as well as 

means of transportation. Nor do the data reflect differences in 

prior work histories, criminal records, or other barriers to employment, or stigma that some employers may attach to receipt of 

public assistance. 

f. Business Perceptions 

Key informants indicate that over time, the WIA Board for 

Macon has become less impacted by politics and more influenced 

by input from the private sector. Yet, achieving acceptance from 

private industry has not been a goal easily won. Even though the 

WIA Board’s Executive Committee is composed of private sector 

members, key informants advise that many employers in the region nonetheless view the Career Center as a government program. As described to the study team in interviews, the Board 

must work hard to get the private sector to not view the Career 

Center’s services as a “welfare program.” 

C. Missouri 

The Missouri Department of Economic Development, Division 

of Workforce Development, is responsible for oversight of the 

state’s Workforce Investment Act activities. The Division provides 

services for businesses and job seekers through the Missouri 

One-Stop Career Centers and MissouriCareerSource.com. The Division works with a number of strategic partners to “skill-up” Missouri’s workforce for today’s business and industry needs. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Through its comprehensive Web site — WorkSmart Missouri — 

partner agencies have collaborated to provide Missouri citizens 

with workforce solutions that support a more dynamic economy, 

foster profitable businesses, and provide careers opportunities.24 

The mission of the Missouri Workforce Investment Board is to 

provide policy guidance and leadership to advance an integrated, 

demand-driven workforce and economic development system. 

The state’s workforce economy is organized into 14 unique regions, each represented by a local Workforce Investment Board. 

The Missouri Department of Economic Development identifies eight “industry clusters” for targeting. The clusters are based 

on research provided by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, as well as on existing initiatives, industry 

strength, and future growth potential.25 Identified as key clusters 

are: agribusiness, automotive, defense/homeland security, energy, finance, information technology, life sciences, and 

transportation logistics. 

Missouri One-Stop Career Centers are located throughout the 

state to provide quality talent development services to the citizens 

and employers of Missouri through the coordination of a variety 

of partner agencies. These agencies include federal and state agencies, local workforce regions, and agencies that provide information and resources to make the system function. 

The TANF program in the state of Missouri is administered 

through the Family Support Division (FSD) of the Missouri Department of Social Services. The TANF program in Missouri is 

called Temporary Assistance. In order to provide a comprehensive service delivery system, the Family Support Division maintains an office in each of the 114 counties of the state and in the 

city of St. Louis. These county offices are responsible for decisions 

made regarding claims or applications for benefits or services 

under the scope of the FSD programs. 

In 2003, the governor of Missouri issued an Executive Order 

that put all employment-related services for TANF clients within 

the Division of Workforce Development. From that point forward, 

Career Assistance Program (CAP) staff became housed in many of 

the Missouri One-Stop Career Centers. Funds for TANF employment-related services are transferred from Missouri’s Department 

of Social Services, Family Support Division to Missouri’s Department of Economic Development, Division of Workforce Development (DWD), where it is disbursed to the respective Workforce 

Investment Areas. Most Workforce Investment Boards subcontract with community-based organizations to operate the Career 

Assistance Program. 

Missouri established the “Immediate Engagement Process 

Guidelines” in 2008. The guidelines outline the respective roles of 

FSD and DWD in serving TANF clients. FSD is responsible for 

completing an initial assessment form that identifies TANF applicants who are subject to “immediate engagement” with a 

One-Stop Career Center; meaning, they have no barriers to 

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employment-related activities. The applicant then has ten days to 

present themselves to a One-Stop Career Center. FSD electronically refers clients to DWD so their record is ready at any 

One-Stop Career Center they go to. The individual’s application 

for TANF cash benefits is not processed until they have had a Career Assistance Program (CAP) assessment and an Individual Employment Plan completed at a One-Stop Career Center. This initial 

CAP visit includes an orientation to CAP, being entered into allowable work activities for TANF (unsubsidized employment, job 

search assistance, job readiness, high school-teens, 

occupational/vocational education training), and receiving 

transportation reimbursement expenses. 

The referral process for TANF eligible individuals is electronic. When the customer applies for Temporary Assistance with 

FSD, they are referred for the work component electronically from 

FSD’s mainframe system (known as Family Assistance Management Information System, or FAMIS) to DWD’s database system 

(known as Toolbox). FAMIS and ToolBox “talk” with each other 

each night. The systems are integrated but separate. Only relevant 

information of a client’s employment needs/information is shared 

with DWD. At the end of each month, DWD sends a file to FSD 

containing information on all the services provided and hours of 

participation for TANF clients, which FSD uses for its own reporting requirements to comply with federal monitoring of work participation levels. In turn, FSD sends DWD a file each month 

containing latest information on case closings and openings and 

data on work participation levels provided to the federal government. DWD staff have had an interest in gaining fuller access to 

FSD information for the clients they serve, but FSD has maintained data access narrowly tailored to DWD’s responsibilities, 

with the information systems otherwise separate. 

Staff members in both FSD and DWD describe relationships 

between the agencies as cooperative. The FSD staff on-site in the 

One-Stop Career Centers do double-duty as a sort of liaison with 

DWD. FSD shares the view that employment-related services are 

best provided by the One-Stop Career Centers. 

With the issuance of the Executive Order, we found the 

pre-existing approaches in the local WIA work plans ratified, 

rather than new concerted efforts undertaken to specifically focus 

on low-income populations. Low-income individuals, including 

TANF recipients, had been part of the Career Centers’ client populations before the Executive Order. Even though “immediate engagement” formalized the process of handling TANF clients’ 

services, the procedures involved were already in use in many 

areas including St. Louis city and county. 

The St. Louis region of Missouri encompasses the largest populated area in the state; the highest per-capita income, well above 

national levels; and educational attainment that exceed the U.S. 

average. However, the area is expected to grow at about half the 

rate as the rest of the country over the next five years.26 

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The 2008 population estimates are 354,361 for the city of St. 

Louis, and 991,830 for St. Louis county. August 2009 statistics reveal that the city has a labor force of 155,415, of which 137,505 are 

employed, and an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent. St. Louis 

County has a labor force of 519,209 with 469,431 of those employed, and an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent.27 According to 

the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 Census, the median household income for Missouri in 1999 was $37,934. In the city of St. Louis, the 

median household income was $27,156, and $50,532 in St. Louis 

County. 

In February 2009, the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment Career Center reported the following targeted industries 

as key clusters for the city of St. Louis: advanced manufacturing, 

construction, health care/social assistance, transportation, warehousing, accommodation/food service, retail services, financial services, and information technology/telecommunications. 

The identified regional clusters for St. Louis county include 

plant and life sciences, information technology, green and renewal 

energy, and transportation/logistics. The county hopes to increase 

entrepreneurship,which will accelerate these clusters, and 

strengthen the economic diversity by assisting a variety of enterprises, which may help moderate the future economic swings of 

the county. 

Site visits were conducted at the St. Louis Agency on Training 

and Employment (SLATE) One-Stop Career Center in the city of 

St. Louis and North Oaks One-Stop Career Center serving the 

county of St. Louis. SLATE and North Oaks manage and administer the employment-related services for TANF clients, but they do 

not directly operate or deliver such services; that is the domain of 

community-based organizations (i.e., MERS/Goodwill), which 

operate those programs. The One-Stop Career Centers’ mostly relate with the Family Support Division at the local level. Little communication between FSD and DWD is in evidence, apart from 

FSD referring TANF clients to the One-Stop Career Centers to do 

the employment aspect for TANF and the monthly information 

sent electronically from DWD to FSD regarding services and 

hours for TANF participation rates. Service coordination for 

TANF clients is facilitated through the linked client data systems 

of FSD and DWD. 

Both SLATE and North Oaks have FSD staff on-site to conduct 

TANF intake at the One-Stop Career Centers, so individuals do 

not have to go to a separate location for their CAP assessment. 

People can receive the same TANF services at the One-Stop Career Centers that they would if they went to one of the FSD locations, but they also receive the employment component. They can 

apply for cash assistance, apply for food stamps, receive child care 

subsidies, receive transportation assistance, search job listings, 

complete their GED, receive assistance writing a résumé, take a 

class on work ethics, and receive assistance on interviewing skills. 

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Table 14. Age of TANF Clients Served at 

the SLATE One-Stop Career Center 

Age Percent of Total 

0-17 Years Old 17% 

18-29 Years Old 56% 

30-39 Years Old 18% 

40-49 Years Old 7% 

50+ Years Old 2% 

Total 100% 

i. City of St. Louis 

The city of St. Louis is considered by the state to be a service 

area separate from St. Louis county. According to data from 

FRED, 84.9 percent of WIA adults within the St. Louis City 

Workforce Investment Area entered employment in 2007. This is 

the highest rate of all Workforce Areas in this study. Of the 

adults the Workforce Area serves, 18.5 percent are TANF recipients, compared to the national average of 9.5 percent. The average earnings change for all customers served in the St. Louis 

City Workforce Area is $2,585 compared to the national average 

of $3,786. In 2007,28 the city had a poverty rate of 24.7 percent 

and an unemployment rate of 12 percent, compared to the national average poverty rate of 13.3 percent and an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent. The low-income population in the St. 

Louis area is described by FSD staff as mainly young (in their 

20s) and low-skilled. According to 2008 data on the age distribution of the TANF clients served by the One-Stop Career Center 

in St. Louis, shown in Table 14, the majority — 56 percent — are 

between the ages of 18 and 29. 

Table 15. Educational Attainment of TANF Clients 

Served at the SLATE One-Stop Career Center 

Education Percent of Total 

Less Than High School 31.5% 

High School Graduate 37.8% 

Some College 10.5% 

To-Year College Graduate 4.2% 

Four Year College Graduate 1.6% 

Unknown 14.3% 

Total 100% 

Table 15 reports the educational attainment levels of 

the TANF clients served in 2008 by the One-Stop Career 

Center in St. Louis. Almost one-third have less than a 

high school education. 

The St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment 

(SLATE) Career Center is the only comprehensive 

One-Stop within the central city of St. Louis. There is 

one other Career Center location in the city that is an affiliate site. SLATE Missouri Career Center was honored 

as Organization of the Year by the ACCESS Center at its 

Third Annual Black History Month Celebration on February 26, 2009. The local WIB is administered by the city 

of St. Louis. The WIB encourages the dual enrollment of WIA job 

seekers and welfare recipients from the Career Assistance Program (work component of TANF) whenever possible. Representative(s) from the Family Services Division are 

colocated at the One-Stop Career Center and the 

affiliate site to assist in the welfare to work component. 

The local WIB for years has had the goal of 

placing low-income clients in jobs with hourly 

wages that are realistic to support a household 

($9.45/$9.55). Before the 2003 Executive Order, 

the Family Support Division collaborated with 

the Division of Workforce Development in the 

“Futures” program in St. Louis City whereby 

low-income individuals were trained for future 

jobs through the One-Stop Career Centers. The 

WIB chair described how he became involved 

with the WIA system when he was in human reSt. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE) sources at the Marriott and assisted in the 

One-Stop Career Center 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

“Pathways to Independence” program where welfare recipients 

were trained for jobs in the hospitality field. 

a. Client Flow 

TANF eligible individuals either walk in to the SLATE 

One-Stop Career Center to apply for Temporary Assistance (TA) 

or they apply for TA at a separate Family Support Division location and are instructed to go to the SLATE One-Stop Career Center. During the TA intake, FSD staff complete an initial assessment 

form that identifies those applicants subject to “immediate engagement.” The work-eligible clients are given information on the 

Career Assistance Program including CAP locations and compliance requirements. FSD then electronically refers the client to the 

DWD system. 

The TA applicant has ten days to comply with registering for 

CAP. If they do not comply within the time frame, a notice is sent 

to them giving them ten more days. Ultimately, if compliance is 

not met within thirty days, FSD cancels the individual’s TA application. There are safeguards built into this system to protect the 

low-income family, such as only one parent of a two-parent 

household has to comply with CAP registration in order to have 

the TA application approved. Only the individual is sanctioned 

for noncompliance, not the family. 

When the TA applicant arrives to register for CAP, the first 

thing that happens at the One-Stop Career Center is a CAP assessment and an Individual Employment Plan is drawn up. This is a 

very important step to complete at the TA applicant’s initial visit 

since staff report that many don’t return for their follow-up. Immediate Engagement guidelines outline that following an orientation to CAP, the One-Stop Career Center’s CAP provider enters 

applicants into allowable work activities such as unsubsidized 

employment, job search assistance, job readiness, and occupational/vocational education training, screens for domestic violence, and pays transportation reimbursement expenses the client 

has for employment. 

Key informants report that the policy of “Immediate Engagement” has increased the number of TA applicants coming in to the 

One-Stop Career Center, at least initially. However, since Missouri 

has no family sanction, just a $25 individual sanction, it is felt that 

incentives are not very strong for the TA clients to continue showing up to the One-Stop Career Center for employment-related 

services. 

b. Case Management 

At the One-Stop Career Center, the on-site Career Assistance 

Program staff members handle the case management of TANF clients’ employment-related needs. The CAP provider is a subcontractor with a formal agreement to provide the CAP services. The 

WIB chair of SLATE explained that it took years of trying to get 

rid of subcontractors that performed poorly or that were just in it 

for the money. He emphasizes that SLATE now has good 

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subcontractors that speaks to the success of TANF clients 

acquiring employment. 

c. Services On-Site 

Anyone walking in to the One-Stop Career Center may use the 

Resource Room, report for Unemployment Insurance, or meet 

with One-Stop Career Center staff regarding WIA services. If the 

person is job-ready, One-Stop Career Center staff can assist them 

with job development and job searches. For individuals who are 

not job-ready, One-Stop Career Center staff or their partners provide assistance with skills training, ESL classes, GED lab, job development, or other workshops. Services that are provided 

on-site, including those provided by partners are: 

� WIA Title I Adult and Dislocated Worker Services 

� WIA Title I Youth Services 

� Welfare-to-Work 

� Wagner Peyser Services 

� Programs authorized under the Trade Adjustment and 

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 

� Veteran Services 

� Native American Programs 

� Services that can be provided to in- and out-of-school 

youth through adult basic education, literacy, community 

education, career and vocational education, alternative 

education, guidance and social work services, and other 

specialized ventures 

� Vocational rehabilitation programs 

� Postsecondary vocational education activities under tThe 

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act 

� Unemployment Insurance 

� Employment opportunities for noncustodial parents 

� Employment and training opportunities for disabled 

persons 

d. Partners 

The service partners include community-based organizations 

with contracts, and without, that go out into the community and 

establish relationships with businesses for jobs. The service partners of SLATE One-Stop Career Center include: 

� City of St. Louis 

� Missouri Division of Workforce Development 

� The American Indian Council 

� St. Louis Public Schools 

� Missouri Division of Vocational Rehabilitation 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

� St. Louis Community College 

� Division of Employment Security 

� Family Support Division 

� Child Support Enforcement 

� Independence Center/MERS/Goodwill 

e. Agency Communication and Reporting 

SLATE and the Family Support Division relate primarily at 

the local level. The Family Support Division handles the intake 

and processing of cash assistance, food stamps, or other supports 

and the One-Stop Career Center staff handle the employment 

needs of clients. The state has contracts with community-based organizations like MERS/Goodwill and Better Family Life, to provide case management of TANF clients in the One-Stop Career 

Centers. Formal or informal collaborations for employment services tend to involve the One-Stop Career Center, local businesses, 

and the service contractors, not FSD. 

TANF-eligible individuals are referred by FSD electronically 

to DWD through their integrated databases so that when a TANF 

client comes into the SLATE One-Stop Career Center, staff already 

has their information. SLATE sends monthly files to FSD on the 

services provided and the hours of employment-related activities 

that TANF clients undertook. 

f. TANF Resources 

MERS/Goodwill is the main subcontractor providing CAP 

services. The One-Stop Career Center director, WIB chair, FSD, 

and DWD staff all speak very highly of this organization. 

MERS/Goodwill has been involved with providing services to 

low-income individuals for a long time and has many ties to the 

community and businesses. MERS/Goodwill staff are formally 

trained to the needs of low-income clients, and because they only 

provide services to TA clients, they are able to provide the individualized client attention and intensive follow-up needed for this 

population. 

SLATE and FSD report that MERS/Goodwill are able to handle the hard-to-employ clients who have substance abuse, or mental health issues because they are well-trained and they are a 

well-established organization that has many connections to other 

community organizations that can provide the needed services. 

FSD depends on the CAP provider to determine the need for a client to have outside services and readily makes the necessary 

referrals. 

As an example of how well the community-based service providers in the One-Stop Career Centers are able to handle the 

needs of the TANF population, FSD staff describe a grant they 

have with a service provider to deal with sanctioned clients. The 

grant, “Successful Work Incentives for TANF” or SWIFT, supports 

the Area Resources for Community and Human Services’ 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

(ARCHS) transitional jobs model that helps St. Louis city and 

county TANF recipients remove the barriers that have led to their 

benefits being sanctioned by the state. ARCHS partners create action plans for the sanctioned individuals and then track their 

progress towards job training and placement including home and 

work visits. FSD reports that 122 people were removed from 

TANF sanction lists in 2008 through this effort. 

Transportation is an issue for some TANF clients since many 

of the job opportunities are in the suburbs/outskirts of the city, 

but the clients live in the downtown area. The One-Stop Career 

Center can provide bus passes, but the bus does not always operate late enough for employees to use it. Also the One-Stop Career 

Center has reported problems assisting clients with child care 

since often the client’s child care provider that they have to go to 

in order use their subsidy is not close to their work or home. Staff 

report that taking the children to child care and getting to work all 

by using the bus does not usually work. In the past, the state contracted with a faith-based organization to provide a van transport 

for employees at a UPS facility but the funding ran out and, due 

to insurance restrictions, the organization could not transport 

children to day care. 

Within the SLATE One–Stop Career Center, displaced workers 

receive more individualized assistance than most other adult clients. The One-Stop Career Center has a pilot initiative for the displaced professional worker whereby the individual meets with an 

employment specialist on a one-to-one basis in a location different 

from other One-Stop Career Center clients. These clients are described by staff as professionals that do not want to go where the 

low/no skill low-income people go for One-Stop Career Center 

services. They are individuals who have never been unemployed 

and are having a hard time understanding how One-Stop Career 

Centers can help them. Staff are hoping that through the pilot initiative, they will be able to attract and assist more of this skilled 

population. FSD describes their encounters with this new type of 

client who have never had to apply for assistance before as “hostile” because they do not realize that in order to receive TANF 

cash assistance, they cannot have assets such as a home. 

In the last few years, three car plants have closed in the St. 

Louis area. Those displaced workers tend to be educated and 

skilled. For lack of employment opportunities, many displaced 

workers are taking lower-paying, lower-skilled jobs leaving fewer 

employment opportunities for the low-skilled workers. 

g. Business Perceptions 

SLATE and their community-based organization service providers have relationships with businesses that provide employment for the lower-skilled worker (janitorial, health care, 

hospitality, service industry, and the like). SLATE comes to the 

businesses, provides space for interviews and training, and even 

opens affiliate sites closer to the business or potential employees if 

needed. Key informants report that SLATE is viewed by 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

North Oaks One-Stop Career Center 

businesses as the place to go for assistance with their workforce 

needs. 

The WIB identifies “key clusters” of employment for the 

workforce training services that are delivered. For federal and 

state funding, they try to align the key clusters with the president’s and governor’s targeted industry clusters, but the WIB also 

has to focus on the needs of the city’s employment base. From the 

WIBs’ perspective, TANF clients are not treated as a separate 

group; they are part of the customer base and the Board works toward goals to get people jobs, including TANF clients. Five of 

SLATE’s Key Clusters that the WIB identified for particular attention in focusing employment are relevant to the low-income/ 

TANF population: manufacturing, construction, health care, 

transportation, and warehousing. 

ii. St. Louis County 

In 2007, St. Louis County had an unemployment rate of 6 percent and a poverty rate of 8.9 

percent. The St. Louis County WIA, separate 

from the central city of St. Louis, serves almost 

twice the national rate of TANF clients (18.6 percent vs. 9.5 percent), with a rate of clients entering employment that is higher than the national 

average. 

The North Oaks Career Center is the only 

comprehensive One-Stop within St. Louis 

County region workforce area, though there are 

three other affiliate locations in the county. The 

St. Louis County Department of Human Services, 

which oversees the county’s workforce development, is located in the same building as the 

One-Stop Career Center, though the North Oaks 

One-Stop Career Center is operated by the St. 

Louis Community College. The WIB encourages 

the dual enrollment of WIA job seekers and welfare recipients from the Career Assistance Program (work component of TANF) whenever possible. Representative(s) from the 

Family Services Division are colocated at the One-Stop Career 

Center to assist in the welfare-to-work component. 

Low-income populations have been served at the North Oaks 

One-Stop Career Center since its inception in 2000. As was the 

case with the SLATE center, the governor’s Executive Order that 

put the work requirement of TANF within the Division of 

Workforce Development responsibilities led to Career Assistance 

Program staff being located in North Oaks One-Stop Career Center. The North Oaks WIB chair describes the One-Stop Career 

Center as operating on a “comprehensive customer service” approach, so that all the services a low-income client would need 

should be found in one location. The issuance of the governor’s 

Executive Order served to underscore, rather than significantly 

change, the local WIA work plan since the focus had previously 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Staff Assisting Customers at North Oaks One-Stop Career 

Center 

been to place low-income clients in jobs with real living wages 

($9.45/$9.55). 

a. Client Flow 

At the One-Stop Career Center, the on-site Career Assistance 

Program staff handles the case management of TANF clients’ employment-related needs. Like the city’s One-Stop Career Center 

arrangement, the CAP provider is a subcontractor with a formal 

agreement to provide the CAP services. At both 

SLATE and North Oaks One-Stop Career Centers, MERS/Goodwill is the main subcontractor 

providing CAP services. 

At North Oaks One-Stop Career Center, FSD 

staff members are on-site to conduct TANF intake, so individuals do not have to go to a separate location for their CAP assessment. People 

can receive the same TANF services at the 

One-Stop Career Centers that they would if they 

went to one of the FSD locations, but they also 

receive the employment component. The initial 

CAP visit includes an orientation to CAP, being 

entered into allowable work activities for TANF 

(unsubsidized employment, job search assistance, job readiness, high school-teens, occupational/vocational education training), and 

receiving transportation reimbursement 

expenses. 

MERS/Goodwill reports that after the initial CAP assessment 

with a TANF client, they often have difficulty getting the client to 

come in for the six month and one year follow-ups. MERS/Goodwill will send staff out to the clients’ homes and talk to them 

about coming into the One-Stop Career Center for their follow-up. 

One-Stop Career Center staff members describe MERS/Goodwill 

as an organization very capable of tracking people down; a challenging activity, because there are difficulties finding and contacting the clients since many do not have phones and move a lot 

among temporary housing arrangements. At the North Oaks location, MERS/Goodwill created a staff position — Work Participation Specialist — to follow-up on individual’s progress in their 

work activities beyond the initial CAP assessment. Before, 10-15 

percent of TANF clients would return after their initial assessment. With a Work Participation Specialist, 55-60 percent are 

returning to the One-Stop Career Center and are involved in 

work-related activities. 

In the early years of the North Oaks One-Stop Career Center, 

the One-Stop had a demonstration grant from the governor’s office to conduct mental health evaluations of individuals during intake to identify clients in need of more intensive services. 

Although the program was a success — they even got an award 

for it — it was not funded again. For the TA applicants, 

MERS/Goodwill provides the needed screening and referral 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

suggestions for the individuals needing supportive services for 

substance abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, and legal issues. The organization has experience working with this 

population and has the contacts to be able to refer people to other 

providers. 

b. Services On-Site 

North Oaks One-Stop Career Center provides the following 

services on-site: 

� Adult Education & Literacy/GED 

� WIA Title I Adult and Dislocated Worker Services 

� WIA Title I Rapid Response Services 

� WIA National Emergency Grant Services 

� WIA Title I Youth Services 

� Temporary Assistance/Career Assistance Program 

� Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (assist workers 

who become totally or partially unemployed as a result of 

increased imports) 

� Work Incentive Program 

� Wagner Peyser Services (DWD provides) 

� Veteran Services (DWD provides) 

� Ex-Offender Services 

� Parent’s Fair Share Program (assists parents with 

increasing their ability to meet their child’s emotional and 

financial needs by helping the parents to become 

self-sufficient; DWD provides) 

� Unemployment Insurance 

� YouthBuild Program 

Resource Room at North Oaks One-Stop Career Center 

� Temporary Assistance and child support 

assistance 

� Senior Community Service Employment 

Program 

� Energy Assistance 

At the North Oaks One-Stop Career Center, 

TANF recipients can apply for cash assistance, 

apply for food stamps, receive child care subsidies, receive transportation assistance, search job 

listings, complete their GED, receive assistance 

writing a résumé, take a class on work ethics, 

and receive assistance on interviewing skills. 

MERS/Goodwill is the main subcontractor providing CAP services to TANF recipients. 

Key informants involved in the administration and operation of the Missouri One-Stop 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Career Centers report that there is a greater need for on-site supportive services (mental health, domestic violence, legal, substance abuse) for the TANF/low-income population, or at least 

training to identify individuals in need of supportive services. In 

fact, the North Oaks director and the St. Louis County human services director feel that CAP staff and the DWD staff are able to potentially handle training for initial screenings of mental health and 

substance abuse barriers, but there is no funding for them to do 

so. It is difficult to get this population to even show up to the 

One-Stop Career Center for the first time, so having services 

colocated could present a meaningful benefit to the clients. A different view is held by state social services staff, however, who feel 

this is their responsibility and the clients would need to have assessments and services through their offices, not the One-Stop 

Career Centers. 

c. Partners 

As the operator of the One-Stop Career Center, the St. Louis 

Community College provides WIA Title I Adult and Dislocated 

Worker Services, WIA Title I Rapid Response Services, and WIA 

National Emergency Grant Services. In addition to the Family 

Support Division providing Temporary Assistance and child support assistance on-site, numerous partner agencies/organizations 

provide services at the One-Stop Career Center. MERS/Goodwill 

manages the Career Assistance Program and provides employment and training services for individuals receiving Temporary 

Assistance. Better Family Life provides job readiness training, job 

coaching, job placement, financial literacy, parenting classes, computer education and retention services, GED preparation, 

parenting classes, and financial literacy. Missouri’s Department of 

Labor & Industrial Relations operates the Unemployment Insurance Program. The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis operates the WIA Title I Youth Services at the One-Stop Career Center. 

Staff from the Housing Authority of St. Louis County operate the 

YouthBuild Program, the St. Louis Public Schools provide Adult 

Education and Literacy/GED classes, AARP administers the Senior Community Service Employment Program, and the 

Community Action Agency of St. Louis County manages the 

Energy Assistance program. 

d. Agency Communication and Reporting 

It was reported during our interviews that the relationship between FSD and DWD within the St. Louis County workforce area 

is principally a fiscal one, with FSD passing the money and responsibility of the employment aspect of TANF to the One-Stop 

Career Centers. One-Stop Career Center management expressed 

the concern that the North Oaks location serves the largest TANF 

population in the state, yet for unknown reasons, receives the 

least amount per customer from FSD. However, the One-Stop Career Center’s relationship with the CAP provider is described as 

cooperative and positive. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

According to key informants in Missouri, relationships between the One-Stop Career Centers’ and the Family Support Division are built and maintained mainly at the local level. There is 

little communication at the state level between FSD and DWD 

apart from FSD referring TANF clients to the One-Stop Career 

Centers to do the employment aspect for TANF and the monthly 

information sent electronically from DWD to FSD regarding services and hours for TANF participation rates. Service coordination 

for TANF clients is facilitated through the linked client data systems of FSD and DWD and the “Immediate Engagement Process 

Guidelines” that outline the respective roles of FSD and CAP in 

serving TANF clients. 

e. Business Perception 

North Oaks One-Stop Career Center has relationships with 

businesses that provide employment for the lower-skilled worker 

(janitorial, health care, hospitality, service industry, etc.). The 

One-Stop Career Center has staff members who go to the businesses, provides space for interviews and training, and opens affiliate sites if needed. When a Chrysler plant opened in St. Louis, 

the North Oaks One-Stop Career Center set up a location close to 

the plant so that Chrysler could interview a large number of 

people. 

Major employers in the area are The Boeing Company; Emerson Electric; Monsanto;Schnuck’s Markets, Inc.; SSM Health Care 

System; St. John’s Mercy Health Care; and United Parcel Service. 

The recent closings of two Chrysler plants have resulted in thousands of unemployed workers. 

In the past year, the St. Louis area has had three car plants and 

numerous banks close. The Family Support Division has seen an 

increase in a new type of client — displaced workers coming in 

for assistance who have never had to request assistance before. 

These individuals tend to be educated, skilled workers and are 

willing to take lower-paying, lower-skilled jobs that TANF clients 

would have taken before. This has made it harder for the TANF 

clients to get employment in the current economy when they are 

competing with higher-skilled/educated workers. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

III. Notable Barriers and Challenges 

Key informants reported that a number of barriers and challenges stood in the way of providing services to TANF clients 

through the One-Stop Career Center system. These include 

(a) characteristics of the TANF population; (b) the perceived “fit” 

of One-Stop Career Center services given those characteristics; (c) 

the competing cultures of workforce development and public assistance agencies; (d) the emphasis on performance reporting as a 

disincentive to focus on hard-to-serve clients; and (e) low 

employment demand from the weak economy. 

A. Population Characteristics 

Some of the challenges arise from characteristics of the welfare 

population itself. Welfare officials indicate that One-Stop Career 

Centers might not want to serve TANF clients since they tend to 

be the more intensive cases. For example, at the Hillsdale 

One-Stop Career Center in Sacramento, TANF customers are more 

likely to be young, less skilled, and have less education. 

Workforce officials report that there is a greater need for 

on-site supportive services (mental health, domestic violence, legal, substance abuse) for the TANF/low-income population at the 

One-Stop Career Centers, or at least training to identify individuals in need of supportive services. However, welfare staff report 

that it is their responsibility through their offices, not the 

workforce agency’s, to provide supportive services and 

assessments. 

B. Fit of One-Stop Career Center Services 

Some of our informants in the welfare agencies believe that 

the One-Stop Career Centers are more for those clients with work 

experience and who already have a skill set, and since most of 

their TANF customers do not have work experience and/or skills, 

the One-Stop Career Centers cannot provide the services the 

TANF clients need to become employed. Often, welfare agency 

staff state they are the best equipped to provide employmentrelated services to TANF clients. 

Underlying a number of other issues is the “work first” philosophy of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. 

Eligible TANF clients must be placed in work activities quickly, 

but One-Stop Career Center officials feel these customers need a 

lot of assistance before they can participate in work-related activities. Welfare agency officials state that job training is not really an 

acceptable activity under new TANF rules, which require the recipient to be in an active job search. WIA intensive services therefore are perceived as unavailable for active TANF clients on cash 

assistance, even though TANF/low-income populations are supposed to be priority recipients of limited resources for intensive 

services under WIA. Once individuals have exhausted their TANF 

benefits though, the One-Stop Career Centers do provide WIA 

intensive services to them as low-income individuals. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

C. Competing Cultures 

We found that differences in the mission and culture of the social service/welfare agencies and those of the workforce agencies 

often outweighed the similarities. The goal of the welfare agencies, 

to overly simplify, is to assist individuals reach self-sufficiency 

through employment as quickly as possible. The goal of the 

workforce agencies, to overly generalize, is to assist individuals in 

becoming employable by providing employment and training services. Workforce agency informants may perceive that welfare 

agency staff are sometimes protective of their clients to the point 

of making them dependent on social service programs. Welfare 

agency staff, meanwhile, report trepidation at sending their clients through a workforce system that is not prepared to address 

their needs and barriers, and offers intensive services that may not 

be suitable for many TANF clients who are low-skilled and 

low-educated. 

The relationship at the state and local level of the welfare 

agency with the workforce agency varied. In the field sites in Missouri, these interagency relationships were described as mainly 

fiscal, though TANF individuals are referred to the One-Stop Career Centers for employment services. In the field sites in Georgia, 

the relationships in practice differ markedly from formal arrangements described on paper, with publicized programs being small 

and winding down, and the majority of the TANF/low-income 

clients served at the One-Stop Career Centers being walk-in customers. There were only a few instances where we found true 

colocation of workforce and welfare agency services. Instead, individuals usually apply for TANF at a separate location and are 

then referred to a One-Stop Career Center for assistance with employment assistance. The databases tracking the TANF and WIA 

clients are linked in a few cases, but still remain separate data systems. This presents a challenge to workforce agency staff who 

want to be able to access information on the services their clients 

receive from the welfare agency (or their subcontractors), in order 

to better serve them. 

There is also the challenge of marketing the One-Stop Career 

Center to the TANF/low-income population as a resource. After 

the enactment of WIA, the Georgia Department of Labor turned 

its regional offices into Career Centers. However, there is nothing 

that identifies the locations we visited as a One-Stop or a Career 

Center. The signage only identifies the facilities as Department of 

Labor buildings. The One-Stop Career Centers are viewed by 

many as where someone goes to file for unemployment insurance, 

not as a place with free employment-related services. 

D. Performance Reporting 

Though workforce boards are cognizant that their services 

should be targeted to those most in need, some WIA boards have 

decided (informally) to focus WIA services on the higher-skilled, 

higher-educated individuals since they are the most likely to be 

successful in obtaining employment and therefore the workforce 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

area’s performance measures will be higher. Informants report 

that workforce boards may not want to spend resources and time 

on TANF clients who have a lot of barriers to employment. 

Some key informants on local workforce boards hold the view 

that many TANF clients do not want to work and the resources 

and time of the One-Stop Career Centers should not be spent on 

customers with a lot of barriers to employment. Even in the cases 

where an individual must report to a One-Stop Career Center to 

register for a job search before receiving TANF cash assistance, 

staff report that many never return for their six month and one 

year follow-ups. Some WIB contacts feel that barriers such as substance abuse need to be handled by the welfare agency before the 

workforce agency can assist them. Local WIA boards would 

rather focus their resources on the higher-skilled, higher-educated 

individuals due to the pressures of WIA performance measures. 

E. Economic Weakness/Low Demand for Employees 

We found that, while the number of individuals receiving 

TANF cash assistance for the areas may be low, most individuals 

served by the One-Stop Career Centers are poor and in need. A 

better indicator of the effect of the worsening economy on jobs is 

the increase in the number of individuals served at the One-Stop 

Career Centers that receive Food Stamps. For example, as of fall 

2009 in Bibb County, Georgia, there were fewer than 50 TANF recipients mandated to seek employment. However, over 29,000 individuals in Bibb County received food stamps in 2007. 

The current economic downturn has made it even more difficult for low-income, low-skill individuals to obtain employment. 

With the closing of banks, factories, car plants, and other large 

businesses in the cities we visited, many displaced workers who 

are skilled and/or educated are taking lower-pay, lower-skilled 

jobs, leaving fewer employment opportunities for the low-skilled 

workers. While the One-Stop Career Centers do work closely with 

large employers, the employers do not want to change the 

rules/requirement for hiring (drivers license, background check, 

drug testing) that may preclude some low-income individuals. 

The stigma of “the welfare client” is an issue that the workforce 

agencies feel challenged to overcome with potential employers of 

TANF clients. Workforce agency officials state that the One-Stop 

Career Centers must work hard to get the private sector to not 

view their services as a “welfare program.” 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

IV. Take Aways 

A.	 Demographics Matter 

We specifically chose One-Stop Career Centers that were located within areas of high poverty and we found that as a general 

matter, the comparatively high prevalence of One-Stop Career 

Center services for low-income populations in these settings was 

more a function of the service environment in which they operated rather than the result of conscious targeting. To put the matter directly: TANF clients are part of the One-Stop Career Center’s 

customer base and the goal of the Career Centers is to provide 

universal services for anyone who needs employment assistance. 

In some cases, TANF resources do go to the One-Stop Career Centers to provide TANF clients with employment-related services on 

a contractual basis. Even when TANF funds are not provided to 

the One-Stop Career Centers for this purpose, however, the 

One-Stop Career Centers serve TANF and low-income recipients 

as a function of their presence in the service area, and because 

they are for anyone who needs to utilize their services. Eighty-five 

percent of the clients registered at the Columbus Career Center in 

Georgia are low-income, for example, as are 70 percent of 

Modesto One-Stop Career Center’s clients. Over 20 percent of Sacramento Works Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center’s clients are 

TANF recipients, as are almost 19 percent of customers at the St. 

Louis County One-Stop Career Center. 

B.	 State Encouragement in Local WIA/TANF 

Coordination Can Be Helpful 

State workforce agencies allowed a high degree of flexibility in 

the development and implementation of policies and procedures to 

the local/county agencies, workforce boards, and One-Stop Career 

Centers. Since the One-Stop Career Centers and TANF operate at the 

local level, the relationships among the associated agencies are also 

local. Work participation orientation for a TANF client operated by 

the local TANF agency also has a WIA representative in attendance. 

In Modesto, the One-Stop Career Center operator (Alliance 

WorkNet) and the TANF agency (Community Services Agency) operate the Job Clubs for TANF clients together. In Missouri, local agencies have used their flexibility in operating the WIA and Welfareto-Work programs to subcontract the services to an established, experienced community-based organization (MERS/Goodwill). In California, the state agencies allow the counties the ability to integrate 

the WIA and TANF databases if they so desire. 

At the inception of the WIA system, Georgia’s Department of 

Labor and Department of Human Resources each had a liaison 

from the other agency working within their office to coordinate 

services. This type of arrangement has survived at the local level 

in the form of the “Special Assistance Unit” at the Career Centers that has staff from both DHR and DOL to assess TANF customers. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

The state of Georgia’s Unified WIA Plan encourages, but does 

not mandate, local workforce areas to partner with TANF agencies. The Macon-Bibb Workforce Investment Area local WIA plan 

does not include the Bibb County Department of Family and Children Services as a partner. In fact, it became apparent during our 

site visit that there is limited coordination between the Bibb 

County DFCS and the Macon One-Stop Career Center. In the 

Lower Chattahoochee Workforce Investment Area (Columbus), 

the Muscogee County Department of Family and Children Services is listed as a discretionary partner in the local WIA plan. 

There is much better coordination of local TANF and WIA services in Columbus than in Macon. This coordination is encouraged by the Department of Labor by having a DFCS staff member 

on site at the Columbus Career Center. 

GoodWorks was a collaboration among the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Family and Children Services (which administers TANF and Food Stamps services), the 

Department of Labor Career Centers, Vocational Rehabilitation, 

local WIBs, and community-based organizations. Through the initiative, hard-to-employ TANF recipients were transitioned into 

jobs through vocational rehabilitation assessments, on-the-job 

training at subsidized employment sites, intensive support, and 

follow-up. However, GoodWorks only served about 100 

individuals statewide in 2009. 

California’s Strategic Plan for WIA and the Wagner-Peyser Act 

mentions the TANF program (CalWORKS) as an optional partner 

that participates in most of the One-Stop Career Centers. Key informants describe the state’s encouragement for WIA/TANF collaboration as one that began when the One-Stop Career Center system was 

being built in 1995. In Sacramento, county TANF staff members are 

colocated at five of the one-stops, including Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center, which we visited. The welfare and employment agencies 

in Sacramento are described as collaborative agencies working toward common goals. In Modesto, the county TANF administrators 

do not coordinate with the WIA system as much as they did in the 

past. The Community Services Agency utilizes the Career Resource 

Room in their operation of the welfare-to-work program, but does 

not refer many clients to the One-Stop Career Center since they often 

have too many barriers to employment. Instead, the CSA tends to 

place these clients in subsidized employment. 

Missouri is different from California and Georgia in that the 

state agencies have guidelines in how a TANF client’s work requirement is coordinated with the One-Stop Career Center system. The workforce agency has the responsibility for the TANF 

client’s employment-related needs through the “Career Assistance 

Program.” Therefore, the only real coordination the state 

workforce agency has with the state TANF agency is the transfer 

of funds for the employment-related services and documentation 

of work participation. The state TANF agency is a partner listed in 

both St. Louis City and St. Louis County WIA plans. 

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C.	 A History of Local Relationships Can Make New Ones 

Easier to Build 

All of the areas where the One-Stop Career Centers in our 

study are located have a history of collaborative relationships that 

date to or predate the 1996 welfare reform. It was these local relationships among public and private social service and employment agencies that served as the foundation of the One-Stop 

Career Centers’ relationships now. 

SETA describes a purposeful planning process in Sacramento 

County to deal with the employment aspect of welfare reform 

from the very beginning with the resulting collaborative agency 

relationships continuing to present day. In Modesto, the county’s 

“Greater Avenues for Independence” program that provided employment related services to low-income individuals predates 

welfare reform. GAIN became transformed into what is now the 

One-Stop Career Center operator. 

The Council of Community Services in Macon coordinated the 

services of local providers to assist low-income individuals with 

their employment-related needs predated WIA. The Council became transformed into what is now the One-Stop Career Center 

operator. 

In St. Louis, while “immediate engagement” formalized the 

process of handling TANF clients’ services, they are procedures 

that were already in use in St. Louis city and county. For example, 

before “immediate engagement,” the Family Support Division collaborated with the Division of Workforce Development in St. 

Louis City “Futures” program that trained low-income individuals in future jobs through the One-Stop Career Centers. 

D.	 Effective, Community-Based Contractors Can Translate 

to Effective Services 

The WIB chair of SLATE explained that it took years of trying 

to get rid of subcontractors that performed poorly or that were 

just in it for the money. He emphasizes that SLATE now has good 

subcontractors that speaks to the success of TANF clients acquiring employment. In the view of Missouri officials, probably the 

most important lesson to take from their experience is the benefit 

coming from their reliance on community-based organizations 

(CBOs) to provide contracted services to TANF clients on-site at 

the One-Stop Career Centers. These CBOs are well-established organizations with many connections to other community organizations, businesses, and educational institutions. The CAP providers 

are well-tuned to the job market trends and provide services and 

training accordingly. The CBO subcontractors in the St. Louis area 

are, in general, allowed a great deal of flexibility in assisting 

TANF clients whether it be for transportation, child care, or 

work-related activities. 

The CBOs are able to provide intensive client attention. The 

TANF population has more barriers to employment than other 

One-Stop Career Center populations. These barriers include low 

education levels, low skill level, lack of transportation, housing, 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

child care location not close to home or work location, mental 

health issues, and substance abuse. 

The CBOs are reported to be very effective in providing intensive follow-up services for the TANF population, even those in 

sanctioned status. One example is the Successful Work Incentives 

for TANF (SWIFT) FSD grant program with the Area Resources 

for Community and Human Services to deal with TANFsanctioned clients through home visits, creating individual action 

plans, and tracking the progress of the recipient towards job training and placement. This program has helped the state remove 122 

people from TANF sanction lists in 2009, according to local 

sources. The use of community groups in an “Immediate Engagement” strategy has had similarly positive effects in Missouri, according to local officials there. At the North Oaks location, 

MERS/Goodwill reports that they have seen three times more 

people coming in for an assessment than they had before this initiative. One-Stop Career Center staff strive to find stronger incentives to encourage TANF clients to continue to participate in 

program activities and toward independence. 

E.	 Targeting Entry-Level Jobs in Growing Fields of 

Employment Is Key 

We found that the One-Stop Career Centers are active in identifying areas of employment appropriate for entry-level jobs that are 

needed in their respective regions. The Sacramento Employment 

and Training Agency and WIA Board members conduct outreach 

to businesses to find out what types of employees they need/may 

need and adjust the training they offer accordingly. SETA’s survey 

of business trends has kept them abreast of the critical occupational 

clusters, many of which are relevant for low-skilled workers. Informants report that Sacramento Works One-Stop Career Center customers have an advantage over other applicants because they are 

trained for jobs that are known to be available. 

With many of the large textile industries closing the Columbus 

One-Stop Career Center has focused their efforts on retraining 

workers for new jobs and establishing relationships with businesses in the services industry, health services, and hospitality. 

The staff are also focusing on bringing in “green job” businesses 

and utilizing the Georgia Work$ program to focus on training for 

these jobs. The Career Center staff utilize their relationships with 

businesses, other community organizations, state programs such 

as Georgia Work$, and federal programs such as the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

In St. Louis, the city and the county Workforce Investment 

Boards have had to deal with thousands of unemployed resulting 

from the closing of three car plants. In addition to re-training for 

these displaced workers, both the city and county One-Stop Career Centers focus on basic work skills to quickly train clients in 

transportation, warehousing, food service, retail service, and telecommunications. They also focus on education and training to fill 

job openings in the growing health care field. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

F.	 Board Vision and Buy-In Is Crucial Internally and 

Externally 

At the local level, the Columbus WIB chair believes their success is due to the tenure of the board members and the Career 

Center staff, a focus on shared resources, and including service 

providers and private sector stakeholders on the WIB. The director of the Macon Office of Workforce Development stressed the 

importance of partnering with other public and private entities in 

order to leverage resources and stretch the dollars. Key stakeholders in both Macon and Columbus Career Centers expressed 

the importance of focusing on older youth (18-24 years) as a way 

to help low-income families. 

The relationships that the Career Center and CAP provider 

have with local businesses and education institutions allows them 

to provide employment-related services that are relevant to the local job market. Both SLATE and North Oaks One-Stop Career 

Center have close relationships with the local business community and are regularly informed of new businesses coming to the 

area. 

G.	 Location and Technology Can Be Important Aids for 

Service Coordination 

In California, the state workforce and social service agencies 

do not have linked information technology. In fact, the state social 

service agency does not even link its own regional databases due 

to the large size and complexity of the system. Nonetheless, the 

state allows counties the flexibility to link their own workforce 

and social service information technology (IT) systems if they 

wish. In Sacramento, both agencies’ staff members have access to 

each other’s database, but in Modesto they do not. The workforce 

and social service databases in Missouri are linked at the state 

level. They are two separate databases, but they are integrated 

and interactive. Georgia’s IT systems for workforce and social 

services are not linked. 

Most of the One-Stop Career Centers in this study have TANF 

agency staff members colocated on-site, though some were only 

part-time. At the Hillsdale One-Stop Career Center in Sacramento, 

a county welfare staff member is available to handle case management of CalWORKS participants. Individuals cannot, however, 

apply for cash assistance at the One-Stop Career Center. In the 

Columbus Career Center in Georgia, there is a part-time staff 

member from the county welfare office on site to assist with initial 

client assessment, intake, referral, and outreach. Both the city and 

county One-Stop Career Centers in St. Louis have welfare staff 

on-site. The community-based organizations that operate the welfare-to-work program (CAP) are on-site as well. In the city, the 

welfare staff members handle the intake and processing of cash 

assistance, food stamps, or other supports. At the county Career 

Center location, the welfare staff members only assist in the welfare-to-work component that the community-based organizations 

operate. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Some of the One-Stop Career Centers in the study have an 

easy referral system that tracks the individual and the services 

they are receiving. In Sacramento, both the workforce and the 

welfare staff have access to the other’s database so referrals and 

follow-up is facilitated. In both of the Missouri locations and in 

the Columbus, Georgia, location in our study, the welfare agency 

refers TANF clients to the Career Centers electronically. When the 

client does register at a Career Center, an alert is sent by the 

workforce staff at the Career Center to the welfare agency letting 

them know their client has registered for work activities. 

Georgia Department of Labor officials report that colocating 

partners within the Career Centers is very important to their success in doing their job and in the success of their customers in becoming employed. At the inception of the WIA system, the 

Department of Labor and the Department of Human Resources 

(DHR) began working together in earnest. They each had a liaison 

from the other agency working within their office. Various staff 

members, including key leaders, have worked in both agencies 

and have thus facilitated an understanding between the agencies. 

There is a “Special Assistance Unit” that has staff from both DHR 

and DOL to assess TANF customers. GDOL staff members were 

trained on how to be more sensitive to TANF customers and how 

to effectively work with this population. 

In testimony, GDOL Commissioner Michael Thurmond states 

“Considerable education and training investments were made to 

encourage GDOL employees to embrace the holistic philosophy of 

integrated service delivery.”29 Training includes an online GDOL 

Learning Center that allows Career Center employees 24/7 access 

to self-directed training and immediate training as the need arises. 

The One-Stop Career Center directors feel that TANF clients 

who use One-Stop Career Centers, compared with those receiving 

services elsewhere, are more successful because all of their needs 

can be handled in one place. Most people do not want to go to numerous offices/agencies. 

David J. Wright is director of urban and metropolitan studies at 

the Institute, and author of It 

Takes a Neighborhood: Strategies to Prevent Urban Decline. 

wrightd@rockinst.org 

Lisa M. Montiel is a research 

scientist in urban and metropolitan studies at the Institute. 

montiell@rockinst.org 

Rockefeller Institute Page 56 www.rockinst.org 
Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Appendix A:	 Individuals Interviewed for 

Field Case Studies 

California 

California Department of Social Services,
 

Welfare-to-Work Division
 

� Charr Lee Metsker, deputy director 

� Marc Wilson, bureau chief, Employment Bureau 

� Damien Ladd, Employment Bureau 

� Geoffrey Miller, analyst, Employment Bureau 

� Teri Ellen, Employment Bureau 

� Jessica Lee, analyst, Employment Bureau 

Sacramento Works/SETA 

� Kathy Kossick, executive director, SETA 

� Robin Purdy, deputy director of workforce development, 

SETA/Sacramento Works 

� Mark Ingram, WIB chair 

� Christine Welch, workforce development manager (tour) 

Alliance WorkNet 

� Jeff Rowe, director 

� Bruce Merchant, family services supervisor 

� Adolph Lopez, manager 

� Richard Hagerty, WIB chair 

� Paul Van Konynenburg WIB board member, previous 

chair 

� Christine Applegate, director, Stanislaus County
 

Community Services Agency
 

� Kathy Harwell, assistant director, Stanislaus County 

Community Services Agency 

Georgia 

Georgia Department of Human Resources,
 

Division of Family and Children Services
 

� Donna Gunter, state director for TANF 

� Marjorie Almand, director of Bibb County DFCS 

� Martha Blue, deputy director of Bibb County DFCS 

� Vernadine Mabry, director of Muscogee County DFCS 

� Georgia Department of Labor 

Rockefeller Institute Page 57 www.rockinst.org 
Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

� Linda T. Johnson, assistant commissioner of Career 

Development Services 

� Lynn Sanders, Career Development Services 

� Nancy Meeden, Career Development Services 

� Karen Simmons, financial manager 

� Roberta Morrison, ETA consultant 

� Ava Jordan, employment and training consultant,
 

Workforce Development
 

Macon Mayor’s Office of Workforce
 

Development (WIA Administrator)
 

� Barbara Yancey, administrator 

� Betty Toussaint, adult/dislocated coordinator 

� Joyce Liggins, career development facilitator (on-site WIA 

staff at Career Center) 

� Lamar Geddis, WIB chair 

Macon Career Center/GDOL 

� Robert Thompson, manager 

� Mike Eorio, DOL services specialist 

� Fran Jones, assistant Career Center manager 

� Lillie Smith, Career Center supervisor 

� Joyce Liggins, Career Development facilitator 

Columbus Career Center/GDOL 

� Howard Pendelton, WIA director 

� Chester Randolf, WIB chair 

� Cil DeHart, DOL Services Specialist 

� James Shipp, program specialist 

� Ave Montgomery, president, Spexcell 

Missouri 

Missouri Department of Social Services,
 

Family Support Division
 

� Sandra Nelson, regional manager for St. Louis County 

� Pat Wilbur, St. Louis County manager 

Missouri Department of Economic Development,
 

Division of Workforce Development
 

� Julie Gibson, director 

� Mark Bauer, assistant director 

Rockefeller Institute Page 58 www.rockinst.org 
Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

� Gilbert Hake, deputy program administrator 

� Susan Peterson, Self-Sufficiency Programs manager 

SLATE 

� Michael Holmes, executive director 

� Mary Bell, TANF liaison 

� Jeff Serocke, WIB chair 

North Oaks One-Stop Career Center 

� Gene Gorden, executive director 

� Marilyn Robinson, director of human services for St. Louis 

County 

� Fredrick Douglas, WIB chair 

� Beneva Brooks, vice president of Workforce Programs, 

MERS/Goodwill 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

Endnotes 

1	 Thomas L. Gais, Richard P. Nathan, Irene Lurie, and Thomas Kaplan. “Implementation of the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996” in The New World of Welfare, ed. Rebecca Blank and Ron Haskins (Washington, DC: 

The Brookings Institution Press, 2001), 35-69. 

2	 Richard Nathan and Thomas Gais. Implementing the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996: A First Look. The 

Rockefeller Institute Press, January 1999. 

3	 These principles are from the WIA implementation white paper available at www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/ 

documents/misc/wpaper3.cfm. For more on the provisions and implementation of WIA, see Burt S. Barnow 

and Christopher T. King. 2005. The Workforce Investment Act in Eight States. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, Albany New York. 

4	 Mark Ragan with Richard P. Nathan. 2002. Welfare Reform and the Development of Comprehensive Human 

Service Systems Prepared for the August, 2002 Conference of The American Political Science Association. 

5	 Workforce Investment Act: Coordination of TANF Services Through One-Stops Has Increased Despite 

Challenges. Statement of Sigurd R. Nilsen, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, U.S. 

General Accounting Office before the Subcommittee on Employment, Safety, and Training, Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, U.S. Senate. GAO 02-739T, U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, DC., May 16, 2002, p. 23. 

6	 University of California, http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/economy/clusters.html. 

7	 California Employment Development Department, 

http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/cgi/databrowsing/localAreaProfileQSResults.asp?selectedarea=Sa 

cramento+County&selectedindex=34&menuChoice=localareapro&state=true&geogArea=0604000067&county 

Name=. 

8	 California Employment Development Department, http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=152. 

9	 California Employment Development Department, 

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/indproj/sacr$_highlights.pdf. 

10	 Sacramento Works, Inc./Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, “Critical Occupations Clusters Report for 2009-1010” found at http://www.seta.net/pdfs/employer/clusters09-10.pdf. 

11	 U.S. Census Bureau, 2006-2008 American Community Survey. 

12	 California Economic Development Department, 

http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/cgi/databrowsing/localAreaProfileQSResults.asp?selectedarea=Sta 

nislaus+County&selectedindex=50&menuChoice=localareapro&state=true&geogArea=0604000099&countyN 

ame=. 

13	 California Employment Development Department, http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=152. 

14	 California Employment Development Department, 

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/indproj/mode$_highlights.pdf. 

15	 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, 

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/data-reports/caseload/2008/2008_recipient_tan.htm. 

16	 Georgia Department of Labor, Labor Market Explorer (select Muscogee County), 

http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/analyzer/mappages/map.asp?paramx=&blnFirstGeog=True&mapcode=04. 

17	 Georgia Department of Labor, Labor Market Explorer (select Muscogee County), 

http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/lmi/area/areadetailreportx.asp?session=areadetail&geo=1304000215. 

18	 Georgia Department of Labor, Labor Market Explorer (select Lower Chattahoochee Workforce Investment Area), 

http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/analyzer/mappages/map.asp?paramx=&blnFirstGeog=True&mapcode=15. 

19	 DFCS data, 2007. 

20	 Georgia Department of Labor, Labor Market Explorer (select Bibb County), 

http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/analyzer/mappages/map.asp?paramx=&blnFirstGeog=True&mapcode=04. 

21	 Georgia Department of Labor, Labor Market Explorer (select Bibb County), 

http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/lmi/area/ areadetailreportx.asp?session=areadetail&geo=1304000021. 

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Urban and Metropolitan Studies Workforce System One-Stop Services 

22	 Georgia Department of Labor, Labor Market Explorer (select Macon-Bibb Workforce Investment Area), 

http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/analyzer/mappages/map.asp?paramx=&blnFirstGeog=True&mapcode=15. 

23	 DFCS data, 2007. 

24	 Division of Workforce Development, WorkSmart Missouri’s Web site can be found at 

https://worksmart.ded.mo.gov/index.cfm. 

25	 Missouri Department of Economic Development, Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, Looking To The Future: Missouri Targeted Industry Clusters (2007), found at 

http://www.missourieconomy.org/pdfs/MO_Target_Clusters07.pdf. 

26	 Missouri Department of Economic Development, Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, Saint 

Louis WIA Region Demographic Summary (June 2009), found at 

http://www.missourieconomy.org/pdfs/dem_stl_summary.pdf. 

27	 Missouri Department of Economic Development, Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, Local 

Area Unemployment Statistics, August 2009, found at 

http://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/laus/default.aspx. 

28	 ACS 2005-2007 Estimates, U.S. Census Bureau. 

29	 Statement of Michael L. Thurmond, Commissioner of The Georgia Department Of Labor Before The Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Senate, July 16, 2009, found at http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Thurmond.pdf. 

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research and special projects on the role of state governments in American 

federalism and the management and finances of both state and local governments in major areas of domestic public affairs. 

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