Counseling Customers About Income Goals, Career Paths and Work Supports

• Seattle/King County Workforce Development Council, WA
• Chicago Workforce Board and Illinois Department of Employment Security, IL
• Maine Jobs Council
• Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, PA

Overview

Following the development of an initial set of goals to increase customers’ ability to achieve self-sufficiency, the Chicago Workforce Board (CWB) refined its goals to focus on helping customers develop career ladders that lead to self-sufficiency. The CWB decided to integrate a self-sufficiency calculator based on the Illinois Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by WOW and Women Employed, a community-based organization.

The calculator helps customers determine what is “adequate income” to cover their expenses, find out if they can get government help with child care, food stamps, etc., and assess if a job they are considering will pay enough to meet their family’s needs. The calculator asks users to enter income and expenses and then produces a report, which includes a Self-Sufficiency level taken from the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Illinois.
Explanatory and supporting materials were developed to help users examine questions of long-term self-sufficiency and planning for achieving self-sufficiency including a guide that accompanies the calculator which includes information on the IL Self-Sufficiency Standard and how it can help the customer as well as information on building a career path and, where necessary, getting more education or training. The calculator and the User’s Guide are available to any individual as well as to WIA career counselors to assist customers in their career planning and budgeting.

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History

The Chicago Workforce Board (CWB) initially adopted a series of measures aimed at increasing customers’ ability to achieve self-sufficiency. As part of a larger career counseling strategy, the CWB adopted an online self-sufficiency calculator developed by the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development in Chicago. The calculator was tailored to the specifics of self-sufficiency wages and work support amounts for the City of Chicago.
The calculator was initially tailored to the specifics of self-sufficiency wages and income supports for the City of Chicago. The use of the Chicago calculator with WIA customers was so successful that the Illinois Department of Employment Security decided to develop a similar tool for the entire state and make it available online. Thus, the Illinois Department of Employment Security adapted the Calculator for use by any workforce investment board within the state—creating over 100 calculators—one for each county and metropolitan area in the state. The calculators were made available on the statewide Illinois Department of Employment Security website. Self-sufficiency wages and information about public benefits are now available statewide on a county-by-county basis.

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Partners and Funding

The development of the Chicago and Illinois Self-Sufficiency calculator is the result of a true partnership between the WIBs and Women Employed, a Chicago community-based organization. The Executive Director of Women Employed served on both the CWB and the Illinois WIB, which greatly facilitated the partnership.

Women Employed initially created the Self-Sufficiency Budget Calculator with the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development. This on-line budget calculator was designed for use by one-stop counselors and customers. The Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and Women Employed worked together to design an easy to use program, taking into account people with low literacy levels.

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Keys to Successful Implementation

The close collaboration between the local and state WIBs was central to facilitating the widespread adoption, development and improvement of the calculator and related counseling resources. In addition, the initiative and leadership of community based organization partners was essential.

Illinois Department of Employment Security funded the development of supporting materials for use by customers and counselors. As noted above the calculator is accompanied by a User’s Guide to help customers get the most out of the calculator (see Guide under Model Materials).
Illinois Department of Employment Security funded the development of supporting materials for use by customers and counselors. The calculator is accompanied by a User’s Guide to help customers get the most out of the calculator – the Guide is available under Model Materials.

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Model Materials

• The Illinois' online calculator is housed on the Illinois Department of Employment Security website at: www.ides.state.il.us/
  calculator/default.asp
• User’s Guide to the Self-Sufficiency Standard [PDF, 934KB] and the Self-Sufficiency Calculator www.ides.state.il.us/calculator/
  SelfSufficiency10_10.pdf

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