2013 Employee Recognition Awards - Human Services

GOLD - Shared by members of the IHSS team

Front row:
Nora Lopez
Olivia Rios
Lisa Stanford
Monica Gomez

Second row:
Whitney Barnes
Cindy James
Arline Harmon
Nora Vazquez
John Milios

Back row:
Lisa Bisby
Bob Wilson
Sara Snyder
Luis Serrano

Not Pictured:
Diana Hodge
Bertha Zamora-Paredez

The In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program serves the most vulnerable residents of our community, ensuring care for low income elderly, blind, and disabled individuals and enabling them to remain safely in their homes. As a result of staffing shortages and a large client population, a year ago only 60% of the IHSS caseload was assessed every 12 months as required by State regulations. To date, IHSS team members have improved their timely compliance rate to an impressive 93% and are well on their way to eliminating the small remaining backlog entirely. The team achieved this extraordinary increase through a great deal of effort and hard work on the part of the social workers and public health nurses who serve the clients of the IHSS program, supported by the integration of a mandatory new information, data, and payroll system from the State of California. Despite many challenges, team members consistently demonstrated their willingness to work together to succeed and excel, while maintaining perspective and staying focused on ensuring that clients are treated with dignity and respect and receive services in a streamlined and efficient manner.

SILVER - Terri German

The Welfare-to-Work Program serves low-income families and their children.  Terri has made extraordinary contributions to this important program through successful implementation of the Metrix Learning online training system.  She also developed curriculum for the new SmartHire Job Readiness Academy which teaches employability skills to Welfare-to-Work participants prior to their placement in subsidized employment with local businesses.  Terri distinguished herself by conducting excellent research on job readiness online curricula, actively participating with staff and community partners in every meeting of the SmartHire Academy curriculum design workgroup, and providing Metrix Learning information to all Employment Services staff to promote the program.  She has worked tirelessly to set up Metrix orientations and acted as a champion of online learning in order to make training much more accessible to program participants.  In addition to this excellent work, Terri maintains an exemplary Work Participation Rate for cases she manages.  As a result of Terri's extraordinary contributions, her caseload of Welfare-to-Work participants is successfully moving toward self-sufficiency and building the skills and experience needed to gain employment and support their families and children.
 

BRONZE - Jim Narragon

Jim is a gifted and compassionate Social Worker Supervisor whose consistently outstanding efforts have resulted in the development of innovative alternatives to the ongoing challenges associated with insufficient housing for participants in CalWORKS and Child Protective Services Programs. Prior to working for the County, Jim was a supervisor at Families In Transition, a local non-profit organization. Through his leadership, a funding collaboration was created between Families In Transition and the Human Services Department to provide affordable housing. Jim continually assists social workers in locating housing resources for families in emergencies and has maintained the department's collaborative relationship with Families In Transition over the years. He also supported the first crossover meetings with staff from Child Protective Services and CalWORKS in order to assure that the needs of families are addressed holistically. Jim always goes beyond the call of duty carrying cases and performing home visits to ensure that participants are meeting requirements and receiving appropriate services. His dedicated and compassionate support on behalf of local families seeking housing and employment merits recognition.