CalWIN is an online, real-time computer program that supports the administration of welfare in California. These include CalWORKs (TANF), CalFresh (food stamps), Medi-Cal (Medicaid), General Assistance/General Relief, Foster Care, and case management functions for employment services. It facilitates accounting and management reports, interfaces with the California state government, and satisfies the US federal mandate for the Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS).
CalWin stands for either California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Information Network [1] or California Welfare Information Network. [2] : 30
It is managed by the Welfare Client Data System Consortium joint powers authority (WCDS).
CalWIN has been used in 18 California counties since 2005. It replaced a legacy system, CDS, which lacked sufficient automation to support tracking of time-on-aid federal requirements. CalWIN, like CDS, was purchased from the IT architecture company Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and was originally developed by Deloitte Consulting. CalWIN's design was driven by federal requirements and regulations, largely as directed by the WCDS Consortium.
CalWIN runs eligibility and benefit determinations, case maintenance, application registration, and statistical reporting functions. New client data is entered by the clerical and eligibility staff of county social service agencies. Certain other data is entered by CalWIN Project staff. Despite the goal of automation, CalWIN requires manual interventions to prevent certain erroneous determinations and actions. [3] [4] [5]
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is a control system architecture comprising computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level supervision of machines and processes. It also covers sensors and other devices, such as programmable logic controllers, which interface with process plant or machinery.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested program that provides cash payments to disabled children, disabled adults, and individuals aged 65 or older who are citizens or nationals of the United States. SSI was created by the Social Security Amendments of 1972 and is incorporated in Title 16 of the Social Security Act. The program is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and began operations in 1974.
In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, administered by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), though benefits are distributed by specific departments of U.S. states.
The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 is a United States federal law enacted in 2002 as Title III of the E-Government Act of 2002. The act recognized the importance of information security to the economic and national security interests of the United States. The act requires each federal agency to develop, document, and implement an agency-wide program to provide information security for the information and information systems that support the operations and assets of the agency, including those provided or managed by another agency, contractor, or other source.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill implemented major changes to U.S. social welfare policy, replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
The California Medical Assistance Program is the California implementation of the federal Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and childless adults with incomes below 138% of federal poverty level. Benefits include ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, dental (Denti-Cal), vision, and long-term care and support. Medi-Cal was created in 1965 by the California Medical Assistance Program a few months after the national legislation was passed. Approximately 15.28 million people were enrolled in Medi-Cal as of September 2022, or about 40% of California's population; in most counties, more than half of eligible residents were enrolled as of 2020.
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is a California state agency for many of the programs defined as part of the social safety net in the United States, and is within the auspices of the California Health and Human Services Agency. Federal and State funds for adoptions, the largest SNAP program in the country, CalWORKs program, foster care, aid for people with disabilities, family crisis counseling, subsistence payments to poor families with children, child welfare services and many other efforts are distributed through this department.
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Labor responsible for administering, regulating and enforcing the provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). At the time of its name change in February 2003, EBSA was known as the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA). Prior to January 1986, PWBA was known as the Pension and Welfare Benefits Program.
Proposition 218 is an adopted initiative constitutional amendment which revolutionized local and regional government finance and taxation in California. Named the "Right to Vote on Taxes Act," it was sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association as a constitutional follow-up to the landmark property tax reduction initiative constitutional amendment, Proposition 13, approved in 1978. Proposition 218 was approved and adopted by California voters during the November 5, 1996, statewide general election.
The Arkansas Legal Services Partnership was a consortium of two nonprofit legal services programs, the Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas, that worked together to provide free civil legal assistance to low-income residents throughout Arkansas. While the two nonprofits still collaborate, the Arkansas Legal Services Partnership no longer exists.
In California, the Employment Development Department (EDD) is a department of the state government that administers Unemployment Insurance (UI), Disability Insurance (DI), and Paid Family Leave (PFL) programs. The department also provides employment service programs and collects the state's labor market information and employment data. EDD is one of California's three major taxation agencies, alongside California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Franchise Tax Board. In addition to collecting unemployment insurance taxes, the department administers the reporting, collection, and enforcement of the state's personal income taxes.
In the United States, federal and state social programs include cash assistance, health insurance, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, and education and childcare assistance. Similar benefits are sometimes provided by the private sector either through policy mandates or on a voluntary basis. Employer-sponsored health insurance is an example of this.
The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services is a California cabinet-level office responsible for overseeing and coordinating emergency preparedness, response, recovery and homeland security activities within the state. The agency was created by AB 38 (2008), superseding both the Office of Emergency Services (OES) and Office of Homeland Security (OHS).
Coleman University (1963–2018) was a private university focused on Information Technology education and located in San Diego, California. Coleman had a technology-based curriculum with undergraduate, graduate, and distance education academic programs and was accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
One-e-App is a Web-based system that lets families and individuals apply for multiple health, social service and other support programs from one location. One-e-App is used by consumers themselves or by staff who assist families and individuals at community clinics, hospitals, state and county agencies, food banks and other locations. The system allows individuals to apply for a range of programs such as Medicaid, CHIP, Food Stamps (SNAP), Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, utility assistance, local health insurance expansion programs and more. One-e-App uses Mashup technology to integrate with county, state and other systems to permit electronic submission of applications, supporting documents and signatures.
The California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is the California welfare implementation of the federal welfare-to-work Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that provides cash aid and services to eligible needy California families.
Welfare in California consists of federal welfare programs—which are often at least partially administered by state and county agencies—and several independent programs, which are usually administered by counties.
CalFresh is the California implementation of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program, which provides financial assistance for purchasing food to low-income California residents.
Healthy Way LA (HWLA) was a free public health care program available to underinsured or uninsured, low-income residents of Los Angeles County. The program, administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, was a Low Income Health Program (LIHP) approved under the 1115 Waiver. HWLA helped to narrow the large gap in access to health care among low-income populations by extending health care insurance to uninsured LA County residents living at 0 percent to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Individuals eligible for HWLA were assigned to a medical home within the LA County Department of Health Services (LADHS) or its partners, thus gaining access to continuous primary care, preventive and specialty services, mental health services, and other support systems. HWLA was one of the few sources of coordinated health care for disadvantaged adults without dependents in LA County. HWLA was succeeded by My Health LA, a no-cost health care program for low-income Los Angeles County residents launched on October 1, 2014.
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) is a program managed by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). SAVE facilitates lookups on the immigration and nationality status of individuals in the United States. It is an intergovernmental initiative designed to help federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies, or by a contractor acting on the agency's behalf, to determine eligibility for benefits, licenses or grants, government credentials, or to conduct background investigations. It is one of two programs that uses the Verification Information System (VIS). The other program is the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program, also known as E-Verify, and is used by employers to verify the immigration status of employees. For additional verification, SAVE relies on the Person Centric Query System (PCQS).