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The California Budget Act of 2012, through a trailer bill known as Senate Bill (SB) 1041, contained significant reforms to the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. CalWORKs is California's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, a central component of the safety net that provides cash aid for low-income families with children. The SB 1041 reforms to CalWORKs aim to engage participants in more-intensive work activities as early as possible, while also providing more flexibility in work activity options and increased incentives for work as participants move toward self-sufficiency. The California legislature included a provision in the bill for an independent evaluation to determine if SB 1041 achieves its objectives and if there are any unintended consequences. Evaluation of the SB 1041 Reforms to California's CalWORKs Program: Background and Study provides background on the SB 1041 policy changes and an overview of the evaluation plan. The authors highlight the factors that motivated the changes to CalWORKs, summarize the key reforms, delineate the questions underlying the SB 1041 evaluation and the evaluation approach, and explain the evaluation timetable, products, and expected utility. To determine if SB 1041 is achieving its objectives and if there are any unintended consequences, a series of reports will document the way the SB 1041 reforms were implemented across California's 58 counties, how the changes affected the number and composition of CalWORKs participants and their experience with program services, and the impact of the reforms on families and children, as well as the operations of county welfare offices. The multiyear, multicomponent evaluation will draw on primary and secondary data and employ qualitative and quantitative methods. The project was launched in July 2014 and will be completed in December 2017. Results will be made available through a series of reports released at the end of calendar years 2015, 2016, and 2017. Three appendices are included: (1) State Welfare Policies; (2) Sources of Data for Evaluation; and (3) Analytic Approach.

The study identifies some of the greatest disparities for boys and men of color relative to their white counterparts across specific socioeconomic, health, safety, and school readiness indicators in California and provides information about different strategies for reducing the disparities--including effective programs, practices, and policies--that can begin making an important difference in changing the life course of boys and men of color. (Contains 19 tables, 45 figures, and 22 footnotes.) [This work was prepared for The California Endowment and produced within the RAND Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Program (HPDP).]

The Comprehensive Youth Services Act (CYSA), which was enacted in 1997 to fund juvenile probation services, had the following three basic goals: (1) keep probation youths from further crime; (2) help probation and at-risk youths develop essential skills to avoid dependence on public assistance; and (3) help achieve overarching federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Family (TANF) goals. In evaluating the success of CYSA/TANF in accomplishing these goals, the following five areas were explored: (1) program implementation; (2) services provided; (3) services and programs provided in juvenile halls and camps/ranches; (4) the impact at the individual and system level; and (5) the funding environment and county claiming experiences. Overall, county probation departments (CPD) appear to have closely followed the planning guidelines laid out in the CYSA. The 23 services eligible for CYSA/TANF funding were provided in the context of a number of different programs, and the CPDs used their CYSA/TANF funds both to add new services and to enhance existing services in the service delivery areas stipulated by the legislation. Lessons learned during the evaluation occurred in the following areas: (1) tightening legislative intent; (2) demonstrating program effectiveness; and (3) understanding the difference between large and small counties. (Contains 22 figures, 31 tables, and 5 references.) (MO)