Department of Social and Health Services - Employment Pipeline - Open to anyone receiving services from DSHS
- We’re matchmakers – we try to connect people to resources they need to be successful.
- If they are looking for schooling, we refer them Basic Food Employment and Training (BFET)
- For employment, refer to other agencies and to some employers who are participating.
- Can travel to provide interviewing skills and help fill out job applications – meet at local libraries. Can meet outside lunch hour, can often help on the phone.
- Have 4 navigators in the region.
- Who are you looking to work with? Karleen – will work with anyone who wants to work with us. If they are not job ready, will work on the skills they need to be job ready.
- Carlene focused on Pierce County. Have others around.
- Best candidates: working with anyone looking for services, including those who are not job ready. Will phone at least 3 times to try to connect. Need to be 18 and receiving services from
- Terra Gilmore – DSHS - Pierce County Basic Food Employment and Training program - gilmota@dshs.wa.gov
- Basic Food Employment and Training (BFET) – help single individuals, 16 and up, as long as you are receiving food or on a food case (household member receiving food).
- Goal - help individuals get to self-sufficiency with a livable wage job – so they can be sustainable - middle skill jobs that require more than basic HS.
- Have about 52 partners (a full deck –ed.)
- Community partnerships are key – who work together to provide wrap-around services.
- All tech colleges and many other agencies work with Basic Food Employment and Training
- We are looking for any agency that is interested in working with Basic Food Employment and Training.
- Service delivery: BFET provider provides employment and training services, DSHS determines eligibility
- You have to be on food assistance to access Basic Food Employment and Training.
- Don’t need to choose between food and schooling and employment.
- Basic Food Employment and Training must be Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (often called food stamps or EBT by clients –ed.) recipient. Must be a citizen to receive
- Food Assistance Program (FAP) is a State program similar to SNAP, but for folks not eligible for SNAP because of immigration status. Can’t access Basic Food Employment and Training if in FAP.
- Clients must be able to work 20 hours per week. If folks indicate they can work 20 hours per week, we will work with them. Will work with 16 and 17 year olds, but their education must be their priority.
- Can’t be a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipient, but can be Aged, Blind or Disabled (ADB – support while waiting for Social Security disability payments) or Diversion Cash Assistance (DCA).
- Will work on Individual Employment Plan (IEP) to create an overall goal. Will work to identify barriers and needs you have. Will put you in an activity or component. You can choose to do your education component. There is no timeline as long as you are progressing (and receiving SNAP). You can go off the program and come back on it if needed.
- Support services
- Job Search – for work ready individuals. Will provide child care and transportation costs.
- Job Search Training – work on resume and interview skills and job search process. To be competitive really dive in to a client’s need.
- Basic Education – English as a Second Language (ESL), General Education Development (GED) – anything to get basic level education
- Vocational Education
- Job Retention – work up to 90 days after – work on licensing, car repair, work clothes, transportation.
- And many more
- Child care assistance for when looking for work is valuable. To get the child care assistance from DSHS you have to have a job, so having childcare during the job search is valuable.
- There is also a childcare program through DSHS for families experiencing homelessness (I googled for this program for a bit but just got lost –ed.)
- I am out in the community a lot and have a good handle on where to refer folks.
- Al – we know how hard it is to go out on a lonely job search. Do you use the job club model? Terra – our partners do. Some providers have job clubs.
- My job is to support our partners – with marketing or sending folks their way. This year we are looking for anyone that wants to join the team.
- We lost some funding in Pierce County – We’d love to bring some other groups on board in Pierce County. We need a group in Puyallup.
- (I probably didn’t get some of this quite right – there were a lot of acronyms flying around there. –ed)
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