The Employment Services program utilizes Beyond Shelter's team approach, which involves the collaboration between a case manager and employment counselor in finding jobs for clients. The case manager works with the client to address family and personal barriers to success, while the employment counselor helps to find, secure and maintain gainful employment. This highly successful approach has assisted hundreds of former welfare-dependent clients to enter the job market, and obtain and retain employment. 

Clients can visit the department to view current job board listings, access basic skills tutorials, use computers for their job search and improve their typing skills with the Mavis Beacon typing program. The department also hosts several workshops throughout the year to inform clients about particular employment-related issues.

• Employment counseling
• Job readiness classes

• Vocational assessment

• Subsidized and unsubsidized on-the-job training>

• Work experience opportunities

• Job retention skills training

• Job placement

• Computer training

• Transportation assistance

• Post-employment referrals

Beyond Shelter's job placement activities were strategically focused on employment settings and on employers who shared an interest in preparing current and former welfare recipients for employment self-sufficiency. Once a participant was employed or trained, the Beyond Shelter team continued to promote job retention, providing appropriate interventions and support for the new worker and family for up to one year. 

Services provided as part of the Welfare-To-Work Demonstration Project included:

• Creation of Individual Development Plans - Personal and educational testing were conducted by a Beyond Shelter employment counselor upon enrollment to establish a base-line profile of each participant and the specific barriers to address. 

• Provision of Individualized Job Development and Placement Support - All clients participated in a variety of individualized job development and placement activities. These activities included the creation of a functional resume, identification of appropriate entry-level jobs, acquisition of interview clothing and development of a job search strategy. Throughout the interviewing and hiring process, Beyond Shelter staff provided continuous support, as well as complete access to telephones, resource directories, computers, printers and typewriters.

• Job Readiness Program - All participants were encouraged to attend five two-hour small group sessions and additional one-on-one counseling.

• Basic Skills Instruction - Participants who had low reading and math skills received basic instruction and tutoring.

• Child Care Assistance and Subsidies - All participants were assisted in accessing TANF-related child-care subsidy programs and other subsidized child care in the community.

• Clothing Allowance and Transportation Subsidies - All participants received funds for work-related clothing prior to actual employment.

• Post Employment Support - Participants received support from both the employment counselor and Welfare-to-Work case manager for up to one year after they obtained employment.

A variety of resources were provided by partnering agencies, including Section 8 rental subsidies from the City of Los Angeles Housing Authority, transportation assistance (bus tokens) from Shelter Partnership, and child care subsidies and child care vocational training from the Drew Child Development Corporation.

Some of the employers and positions acquired in the project included:

• Kinko's - Copy Assistant, General Clerk

• Ralphs/Food 4 Less - Bag Clerk

• Los Angeles Unified School District - Teacher's Aide, Clerical Assistant, Crossing Guard

• Wilshire Grand Hotel - PBX Operator, Housekeeping

• City of Whittier - Transit Driver

• Robinsons-May - Cashier

• George Chung Realtors - Pre-Escrow Coordinator

By the project's end, Beyond Shelter had exceeded targeted goals, serving 265 participants, with 206 successfully completing the program. Of those, 102 were placed in unsubsidized employment and 86 in subsidized employment.

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