Thank you for your interest in taking part in the CDSS CalWORKs Child Care Consolidation Administrator Workgroup.
If selected to participate, your feedback will help California develop a new, consolidated CalWORKs child care program.
Workgroup Goal
The Master Plan for Early Learning and Care (MPELC) established an action plan for California to create a simplified and aligned system of care for infants, toddlers, and other young children. The action plan includes consolidating CalWORKs child care stages and clarifying local and regional administration responsibilities. A consolidated, coherent system will promote continuity of care and bring children and their early learning and care professionals the support they need to thrive.
The goal of this workgroup is to develop recommendations towards a consolidated CalWORKs child care program. During the workgroup meetings, we will ask you to help us develop a new CalWORKs child care program that is easier to administer and easier for families to access, navigate, and understand.
These recommendations will be submitted to the Administration for consideration in the 26-27 budget cycle. Implementation of this consolidated system will be subject to budget approval by the administration and the legislature.
Workgroup Timeline
The workgroup will meet monthly from September 2025 through February 2026 for two and half hours. All meetings will be virtual, with an optional in-person meeting at the conclusion of the series. The workgroup will include administrators and key staff from Counties and Alternative Payment Programs across different regions of the state, representing counties of various population sizes and with experience in CalWORKs child care programs, while also reflecting the varied cultural backgrounds, languages, family structures, and lived experiences of families served.
This application will be open until July 25th, 2025. All applicants will be notified of the selection of workgroup members via email by August 18, 2025. If you have additional questions, please email us CWconsolidation@dss.ca.gov.
If you are interested, please provide the following information.