Abode Receives CalWORKS Award from the County of Santa Clara

Abode received a prestigious award at the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting in late 2015, when it was honored for its work helping low-income families in the South Bay leave homelessness behind.

Abode received the Santa Clara County CalWORKs “Community Partner of the Year” Award.   

The Fremont-based organization received the honor at the 25th annual CalWORKs Client Achievement Awards ceremony held in the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors Chambers.  The ceremony showcased the inspiring testimonies of 10 resilient and tenacious clients who have overcome significant challenges to create better lives for themselves and their families.  Abode was honored for its commitment to supporting CalWORKs clients.

The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program provides a safety net for low income and financially struggling families throughout Santa Clara County. The program helps participants customize their own plan to develop the necessary job skills and tools to increase employment opportunities.  With the program offering a path to self-sufficiency, families receive cash assistance to help meet their basic needs and supportive services while they participate in employment related activities. Services include: educational and vocational training, job placement, child care, transportation, housing support, counseling and substance abuse prevention counseling.

In October 2014, Santa Clara County selected Abode as the housing provider for its new CalWORKs Housing Support Program, which aims to stabilize a family’s income and employment by first providing housing. Since then, Abode has housed about 90 families receiving CalWORKs, complementing the employment services these families are accessing through the County.

Housing stability is the key to helping families maintain employment and income. So, by rapidly re-housing homeless CalWORKs families, Abode has helped Santa Clara County address the issue of homelessness through housing and employment services. 

“The county is great at employment services, and Abode is great at re-housing people,” said Louis Chicoine, Abode’s chief executive officer. “This really is what collaboration should be — combining partners’ core competencies and working for homeless families.”

“This is the pinnacle of partnership,” said Vivian Wan, Abode’s chief operating officer.

The award ceremony held on Nov. 16, 2015, also featured Legacy Transportation as an “Employer of the Year” recipient.

“The incredible resilience of CalWORKs clients, combined with housing and employment services, brings a lot of success,” Chicoine said.