ORANGE COUNTY CONSERVATION CORPS (2) - 2009

Home Browse Search

Orange County Conservation Corps Santa Ana Workforce Investment Board -The Youth Service Provider Network Request for Proposal PY 2009/2010 The OCCC also offers support services to assist corpsmembers in overcoming the barriers they have to maintaining their employment and achieving their educational goals. Support services also ensure that they are able to obtain and maintain employment post-000C. The OCCC primarily employs and serves the hardest-to-reach and neediest segment of our youth population, the 18-25 year old high school dropout. OCCC serves those youth that fit the description of "at-greater-risk" as defined by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The OCCC is not a court mandated program. OCCC corpsmembers come to the OCCC of their own free-will because they need to work and want to earn their high school diploma. OCCC corpsmembers may have been ex-offenders, affiliated with gangs, on probation or parole, emancipated, recovering from drug or alcohol abuse, pregnant or parenting, or homeless. Almost all are low-income, basic skills deficient, and have multiple barriers to employment and/or furthering their education. With all the services the OCCC offers, our cost-per-participant is understandably higher than most programs. For the program year 2007-2008, the approved cost-per-participant is $10,379, and covers a 9-month period. The annualized expense would therefore be $13,839. For this proposal, the cost- per-participant will effectively decrease to $10,983, a 21 % reduction, despite the annual Cost of Living Allowance (COLA). OCCC Matching funds will increase over 75% from $67,039 in PY 08-09 to $117,079 proposed for PY 09-10. As an open entry/exit transitional work and school program, corpsmembers may remain at the OCCC for up to two years to earn...learn... and serve. This gives corpsmembers time to develop the necessary skills to achieve the self esteem necessary to enter the workforce. The OCCC provides an opportunity for corpsmembers to earn a living through paid work experience, learn job skills and further their education, while they serve the public by completing work projects that benefit our local communities. 1. Which WIA population will the proaram recruit and serve ~ For PY 2009-10, the OCCC proposes to serve Out-of-School WIA eligible youth who are Santa Ana residents with the legal right to work; are low-income; a high school dropout; or, a high school graduate/GED recipient that is basic skills deficient, or is unemployed/underemployed. While Out-of- School youth maybe between the ages of 14-21, the OCCC will also recruit and serve older Out-of- School youth primarily between the ages of 18-21. This population will most benefit from the OCCC's program design that combines work and school in a structured, supervised, forty-two (42) hour work/school week. The OCCC recruits and serves the neediest youth population that the Santa Ana Youth Council is committed to serving as identified by the DOVETA New Strategic Vision for the Delivery of Youth Services Under the Workforce Investment Act (RFP page 9);out-of-school youth who are primarily high school dropouts, youth who are or have been homeless and/or runaways, in foster care, are court involved, and had incarcerated parents. The most recent survey results obtained by the OCCC for the provided the following information: • 283 young adults enrolled in the PY 2007-2008 • Average age of those enrolled was 20.0 years • 81 % had not completed high school at the time of entry • 30% live in Santa Ana • 65% are or have been court-involved, including on probation/parole • 26% are parents • 13% are or have been in foster care Page 2 of 21