This program is designed to provide an opportunity and the corresponding support for Pennsylvania's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to pursue a degree or credit or noncredit-bearing certificate at a Community College in Pennsylvania. Working in partnership with Pennsylvania's Commission for Community Colleges, KEYS was developed in response to growing research that demonstrates that TANF participants, who earn a certificate or degree, are better able to get jobs with family-sustaining wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

Services offered include academic services, financial services (e.g., tax assistance, financial literacy), referrals to supportive services, coaching/counseling/mentoring, financial/material supports (eg. scholarships, emergency funds, computers).

A limited number of individuals enrolled in the SNAP program (20 percent of KEYS slots) and all TANF participants planning or currently attending one of Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges are eligible to participate in the KEYS program. Participants are provided with a KEYS student facilitator who assists with course scheduling and career guidance. Special allowances for supportive services are also available to support students' participation in KEYS. DPW's Special Allowances for Supportive Services can pay student registration fees for education and training programs and provide students with transportation and childcare assistance, books, and clothing.

KEYS participants have 30 months to complete their studies, though a range of shorter-term options, including one-year certificate programs, is also available. DPW has instituted a system for documenting and verifying KEYS students' work participation hours. Each student is provided with a schedule that includes classes, independent and supervised study hours, and all other countable activities. KEYS facilitators document and verify KEYS students' activities. This system of verification has increased the number of reported work participation hours.

The KEYS program reports that participants have shared that facilitators are the most crucial aspect of the program. Facilitators help in identifying careers with available jobs and assist in designing a course schedule that prepares students for these positions. Facilitators assist with financial aid applications, transportation and childcare arrangements, and maintain an open line of communication with DPW public assistance staff to ensure KEYS students are meeting requirements and receiving needed support services.

Since 2005, WeCARE has provided a comprehensive, individualized and integrated approach designed to not only evaluate an individual’s functional capacity, but also to truly help clients achieve their highest levels of health, functioning, and self-sufficiency.  A Holistic biopsychosocial (BPS) assessments which highlight a client’s strengths as well as functional limitations. The BPS assessment identifies all relevant clinical and social barriers thereby minimizing the need for reassessments and often diagnoses serious conditions of which clients were unaware; some requiring emergency intervention. 

WeCARE has developed a continuum of services including assessment, vocational rehabilitation, job placement, wellness planning and disability advocacy under one umbrella thereby reducing duplication and fragmentation of services. • Proactive wellness plans which link clients to treatment, facilitate treatment adherence, and monitor clinical progress to help clients become more functional. • Begins the vocational rehabilitation component with a comprehensive evaluation that results in an individualized plan of employment and a continuum of case management services.

The KEYS Auto Loan Program is the Employment & Human Services Department’s (EHSD) low-interest auto loan program for employed CalWORKs participants who have difficulty obtaining an auto loan from other sources.

Referral to the KEYS program is through the CalWORKs participant’s EHSD case manager.

In its 20+ years as a program KEYS has provided 150 loans to CalWORKs participants in Contra Costa County to assist them in maintaining their employment. The program has a maximum loan amount of $7,000.00 and an average monthly loan payment of $180.00 a month. All vehicles financed through the program are diagnostically inspected by a certified mechanic at no cost to the loan participant. The program also provides budget management material to all loan participants as well as car maintenance on their vehicle that they finance through KEYS.

Responses from the participants in the program were very positive.