Career and Microenterprise Development for Low-Income Women I. TOPIC The Bright Center Low-Income Women's Project II. LOCATION Mendocino County, California III. SUBJECT Career and Microenterprise Development for Low-Income Women IV. SUMMARY North Coast Opportunities, Inc., a community action agency serving Mendocino County, formed a partnership with Mendocino College and the Ukiah Community Center's WEST Company to provide low-income women with job training, job placement, self-employment training, and the other supportive services necessary to achieve self-sufficiency. The Bright Center Low-Income Women's Project integrates personal development, life skills training, and case management into a comprehensive program of employment training and microenterprise development services. In 1989 and 1991, the project partners received Demonstration Partnership Project grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Community Services to implement the Bright Center project. Project services are available to women ranging in age from 18 to 60 who have an average of two children each and earn less than 125 percent of the federal poverty level. The Bright Center has helped 78 women leave public assistance and raise the income of participants by an average of $396 per month. V. SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE Developed a partnership to establish a program that encourages low-income women to take a long-term approach to business ownership or other careers that lead to economic self-sufficiency and integrates personal development, life skills training, peer support, and case management into an employment training and microenterprise development program. VI. CONTACT Ernie Dickens, Executive Director North Coast Opportunities, Inc. (A Community Action Agency) 413 North State Street Ukiah, California 95482 707-462-1954 707-462-8945 (FAX) VII. CASE STUDY The Problem: Many women in Mendocino County are unemployed or underemployed and rely on a variety of welfare and other social service programs to survive. These women need assistance in job training, job placement, and a combination of other areas critical to job success, e.g., access to loans (for those seeking self-employment or microenterprise opportunities), transportation, books, tuition, child care, and other personal or family matters. In some cases, the unavailability of information about opportunities is the primary obstacle to gaining employment. The Approach Adopted: North Coast Opportunities, Inc. (NCO), a community action agency serving Mendocino County, formed a partnership with Mendocino College and the Ukiah Community Center's WEST Company to establish a program that uses a comprehensive case management approach to provide low-income women with job training, job placement, self-employment training, and the other supportive services necessary to achieve self-sufficiency. The Bright Center Low-Income Women's Project encourages women to take a long-term approach to business ownership or other careers that produce incomes high enough to achieve economic self-sufficiency. The Bright Center integrates personal development, life skills training, and case management into a comprehensive program of employment training and microenterprise development services. How They Implemented The Approach: In 1989, the project partners received a Demonstration Partnership Project (DPP) grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Community Services to start the Bright Center project. Project services are available to women ranging in age from 18 to 60 who have an average of two children each and earn less than 125 percent of the federal poverty level. Making Choices Women entering the program first take part in a five-day workshop entitled "Making Choices." During the workshop, women assess their needs, set goals, and develop a plan aimed at overcoming the barriers to these goals. The workshop focuses on values clarification, goal setting, personal effectiveness, and includes a section on what it takes to become an entrepreneur. Participants gain a renewed sense of self, the knowledge that their future depends upon themselves, and an action plan for change. By the end of the workshop, participants are ready to develop a career or self-employment plan and can begin to make the commitments necessary to proceed with the plan. The first step is choosing one of the two training tracks offered by the Bright Center: the Microenterprise Development track or the Career Development track. Some program services are tailored to a specific track, and others are available to clients from either track. Women may move from one track to the other as they become more clear about their goals and aptitudes. Personal and Family Development/Life Skills Training Because child care, breaking out of addictive and dysfunctional family patterns, and balancing parental and work demands are critical elements of job success, both tracks include personal and family development and life skills training and support. Bright Center staff, guest trainers, consultants, and therapists provide services related to parenting skills; co-dependency; addiction; self-esteem development; managing home, family, and work; nutrition; money management; keeping on track; and attaining goals. During the Bright Center's first two years, staff discovered that a large number of clients had been victims of sexual abuse including molestation and/or rape. Recovering from these experiences has been an ongoing topic in group sessions. The Bright Center offers counseling, training, and support in three ways: 1. Personal Development and Life Skills Training: Presented as an integral part of the curriculum of the self-employment training class, "Women As Entrepreneurs." a) 2. Three-Hour Group Sessions: Groups meet weekly, and the meetings are a combination of training on topical issues, group counseling, and peer support. a) 3. Ongoing Case Management and Counseling: Clients are seen individually as needed by their Training Coordinators/Case Managers to work on problems and issues. Job Training Each Bright Center client works with a Training Coordinator/Case Manager (TC/CM) to develop an individual employment plan that takes a long-range view of her situation. Even if immediate income is the issue, TC/CMs encourage clients to pursue education and training while working in a base-level job. TC/CMs provide assistance in securing necessary training, which is provided through cooperative agreements with local educational and training agencies. Available training includes adult literacy and basic skills training, General Equivalency Diploma (GED) readiness, vocational training, and college classes. The Bright Center maintains close working relationships with local adult schools (providers of basic skills training), the Regional Occupational Program (a vocational training agency), and the Mendocino College career development center. Self-Employment Training and Assistance The WEST Company and Mendocino College provide a full program of self-employment training to Bright Center clients pursuing microenterprise development as their path to economic self-sufficiency. The WEST Company, which shares the Bright Center facilities, provides on-site training and technical assistance to low-income women in starting, stabilizing, and expanding small businesses. Mendocino College offers a one-semester course entitled "Women As Entrepreneurs." After completing the course, which is taught by WEST Company and Bright Center staff, the women receive one-on-one technical assistance and business development assistance from the WEST Company. Loan Funds Bright Center clients who aspire to entrepreneurship but cannot qualify for bank loans may apply for funds from the WEST Company Loan Fund. These small loans help cover business start-up or expansion expenses. The fund was originally conceived as a loan guarantee fund, but it evolved into a direct loan program. In addition to individual loans to women, the WEST Company Loan Fund employs a loan circle system. Women who complete the self-employment course form groups of four to six entrepreneurs who are currently self-employed or seeking self-employment. Circle members choose each other, must live in the same community, and should be comfortable with the prospect of a long affiliation with one another. Circles participate in a four-week orientation program before becoming recognized as an official borrowing group. Once recognized as a circle, members meet every two weeks with WEST Company staff to discuss business ideas and help one another with business problems. Circle members decide which one member may apply for a loan and for how much. Five percent of the loan amount is held in a special savings account that serves as an emergency fund for the circle. Circle members also maintain individual savings accounts. The emergency fund may be used to cover defaults, make emergency loans, or meet group needs such as health insurance. Circle members are eligible for loans from the WEST Company Loan Fund only if all members are current in their loan payments. Child Care and Other Support The lack of affordable child care in the Mendocino County area is a key barrier to employment and economic self-sufficiency among low-income women. The Bright Center helps clients overcome this barrier, too. North Coast Opportunities operates the Rural Communities Child Care (RCCC) program. RCCC is the recipient of all state funds coming into Mendocino County for resource and referral services and child care subsidies for low-income families. All Bright Center clients are referred to RCCC immediately upon intake. Although RCCC has a waiting list for subsidies, the program has set aside a limited number of subsidies for Bright Center clients. Also at intake, Bright Center staff determine whether clients are eligible for other child care programs, e.g., Mendocino Department of Employment and Training, Mendocino Department of Social Services, Child Protective Services Division, and Mendocino College. For women not eligible for any child care program, the Bright Center offers limited child care subsidies to cover the hours during which the women are participating in classroom training and other Bright Center services. For other needs, such as transportation, books, and tuition, the Bright Center staff helps clients secure assistance through the local GAIN program (California's version of the JOBS program) or the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program. All clients enrolling in college classes receive assistance in applying for financial aid. If a client does not qualify for any assistance program, the Bright Center provides a limited amount of aid for books, tuition, transportation, and other essentials, e.g., uniforms, shoes, and tools or other equipment. Continuous Support The Bright Center operates under the principal that the women it serves will more likely remain employed and achieve economic self-sufficiency if they receive ongoing support once they have become employed or started their own business. Continuous support is available from TC/CMs, who are available for individual consultation and weekly support group meetings, and the WEST Company, which offers ongoing technical assistance for self-employed clients. Clients themselves take a leadership role by organizing support groups, identifying and inviting speakers, and facilitating group meetings. Results: After two years of DPP funding, the Bright Center project found that the success of the participants in securing and sustaining employment was greater than that of a similar control group that received none of the Bright Center's services. The Bright Center received a renewal of its DPP grant in 1991 to further develop the microenterprise aspect of the program, including a mentoring component. By the end of its second DPP grant, the Bright Center had achieved great success in helping low-income women achieve self-sufficiency. Of the 252 women participating in the program, 141 were receiving public assistance when they entered the program, and 78 of them have left public assistance. Income increased for 150 women, stayed the same for 65, and decreased for 28 (14 of these 28 women are in college or vocational training programs, and only eight of the 28 experienced drops in income of more than 20 percent). Income changes for the other nine women were unknown. Overall (including all 252 participants), the average increase in income was $396 per month. Seven participants had increases of more than $1,500 per month, and 38 had increases of between $750 and $1,500 per month. VIII. KEY WORDS Career Development Case Management Child Care Community Action Agency Counseling Demonstration Partnership Project Department of Health and Human Services Employment Entrepreneurs General Equivalency Diploma (GED) Job Placement Job Training Life Skills Training Loan Circles Microenterprise Office of Community Services Partnerships Self-Employment Self-Sufficiency Unemployment Vocational Training Women ref: bright.L4doc