Cash Assistance - CalWORKs

California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) provides temporary financial assistance and employment related services to needy families with minor children who are deprived of parental support or care due to absence, disability, unemployment/underemployment, or death of a parent. The program is designed to help families meet their basic needs in difficult times, while helping them to enter or reenter the workforce and become self-sufficient. Aided adults must participate in the Welfare-to-Work program unless exempt.  A variety of supportive services are available through the Welfare-to-Work program, such as supervised job search, child care, transportation assistance, and referrals as needed to Mental Health, Mental Health Prevention Programs, Public Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD), and Domestic Abuse shelter. If you are not exempt from participation and you do not participate in assigned activities, your cash aid may be lowered or stopped. Special services are also available for pregnant and parenting teens through the Cal-Learn Program. 

CalWORKs – Changes

• EBT cards look like DEBIT cards and make benefits easier than ever to access.
• Effective April 1, 2015, no person will be denied aid because they have a prior felony drug conviction.
• Effective January 1, 2017 no child will be denied cash aid because the child was born into a family receiving CalWORKs. The Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule has been repealed.
• Effective July 1, 2018, the Statewide Fingerprinting Imaging System (SFIS) will no longer be required.

You may be eligible for immediate assistance if you have an Immediate Need.

• You are homeless, have an eviction notice, a notice to pay rent or move; or
• Your food will run out within three days; or
• Your utilities have been or will be shut off; or
• You don’t have sufficient clothing or diapers; or
• You have another kind of emergency important to health and safety.

For Immediate Need, only identification is required for the first month’s benefit and other verification can be postponed. The second month of benefits cannot be granted until the postponed verification is provided.

Benefit Amounts

The amount of a family’s monthly assistance payment depends on income, relationship and the number of eligible people in the home.

Eligibility Factors

• Deprivation; A child may be determined to be deprived of parental support or care if either parent is deceased, either parent is physically or mentally incapacitated, the principal earner is unemployed, either parent is continually absent from the home in which the child is living,
• Residency; must be a California resident, 
• Citizenship; must be a United States citizen or of lawful immigration status
• Social Security numbers for each applicant (or verification that one has been applied for)
• Resources; must be less than $2,000 ($3,250 if 60 years or older),
• Property; if you own a home that you are not living in, it will count in your resources,
• Cooperation with Child Support Services,
• Verification of immunizations for all children under the age of six
• Participation in welfare-to-work activities, or meet exemption criteria,
• Care, Custody and Control of a relative child that is not your own; caretaker relatives may apply for benefits as a needy or non-needy caretaker relative,
• Pregnancy in 2nd trimester (if no other eligible children are in your care),

Items that will not count against your eligibility

• The value of your home will not count as a resource as long as you live in the home,
• Personal and household items such as furniture, appliances, computers, etc.,
• Tools needed for self-employment,
• Federal relocation and disaster relief benefits,
• Property, if it is owned with someone else who is not in assistance unit.

How to Get Help

Apply Online: Visit Benefitscal.com to apply  

Benefitscal is an online application system that allows you to apply for benefits. Once you create an account you can apply for benefits, open saved applications, check messages, view forms, check benefits, and view things to do.

If you apply online, a letter will be mailed to you for your face to face interview. All parents of children in the home must be present at the intake interview.

In Person:

• Applications are available and accepted during regular business hours
• 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
• Monday through Friday
• Our office is located at 880 Northcrest Drive, Crescent City

You can request an application be mailed to you by calling 707-464-3191 during regular business hours. Your application will not be processed until it is completed and returned as well as the initial face-to-face interview with all parents, of the children for whom they are applying, in the household.