Mission Accomplished! Scholarship Recipients’ Viewpoint

Thank you kindly for giving me and my department at DCSS San Mateo County the opportunity to attend the 2019 Annual Child Support Training Conference & Expo. As being a scholarship award winner and first time attendant I would like to say that I enjoyed the 3 days there. At first I was not sure what to expect but after attending the first day workshops I obtained a better understanding fairly quickly.

I began my day at the workshop “Your Money, Your Goals: Budget Tools Training” which I personally enjoyed. The class was very thought of and I was able to tell how much work went in for the preparation. I really enjoyed that I was a workshop that I can use at work and also in my personal life. What stood out the most to me was the pamphlets provided and the spreadsheets. I also had the pleasure to attend ” Improving Settlement Outcomes through Mediation Strategies…” with Hon. Irwin Joseph as the speaker. From all the workshops attended I would say this was the most I enjoyed. There was a lot of information shared that for me in the court team will be extremely valuable. Pointers where given to use at Meet & Confer. I think it would be a great idea to have Hon. Joseph present a class at our office.

I also enjoyed seeing how proud all the counties were of themselves and how many knew each other. If given the opportunity I would definitely attend again.

Thanks, Jennifer Valencia, Child Support Analyst, San Mateo County DCSS

My current assignment in San Joaquin County is to the Program Improvement Team and I am always looking for ways to incorporate new things in to our everyday work and training. Some of my biggest take-a-ways came from the Pecha Kucha, Making Time Possible and Employee Performance Management sessions. I believe the new tools I gained from each of these will enhance the training experience for new and existing employees. My ideas are to incorporate the Pecha Kucha into curriculum training by having the trainee(s) participate by providing a recap of the overall training for a specific topic, such as, financial management (history, basics, and audit) session using pre-selected pictures, or even as an ice breaker. The priority quadrant and time audit log from Making Time Possible is a nice visual for case management training that allows a caseworker to see how they can effectively manage their time and everyday tasks.

Last, I hope to use the three elements of performance and the “Do not take their monkey” concepts from the Employee Performance Management in my career advancement with the department. Overall, the experience was invigorating and everyone at one point in his or her career should have the chance to experience the work we do in a setting of this capacity.

Lisa Mendoza, San Joaquin County DCSS

I am so grateful that I was one of the few child support professionals who received a scholarship this year. This was my third year in a row going to the conference and I cannot imagine not going. It is such an amazing opportunity to dive into whatever excites you about child support, and there’s always something new and different to learn about. This year I went to several informative and useful workshops.

I attended one workshop where I got to go through a simulation of what it’s like to be an NCP who was recently released from incarceration, and it was astounding to see all of the obstacles they face and the hoops they have to jump through. I was nearly in tears during the simulation because I was so frustrated by not being able to make ends meet no matter how hard I tried. It really opened my eyes to that struggle and helped me realize I need to have more compassion towards NCP’s in that situation.

I also attended a workshop regarding the contempt process and the way that it’s currently being used in a variety of counties. In my county, I am in a work group that is currently looking at our contempt process and how it can be improved. I gained a lot of interesting statistics and ideas from this workshop and was able to bring it back to my work group to help us moving forward. I did this in conjunction with one of our attorneys who handles our contempt cases, so it was also a great opportunity for me to collaborate with colleagues who are not in my immediate circle.

I was also fortunate to go to a workshop on Leaders as Coaches, which really helped me improve my leadership skills. I am currently looking to promote to leadership within our organization, so this workshop allowed me to add another tool to my belt and will inevitably help me to be a much more skilled leader when I do promote.

The skills I gained at this year’s conference are invaluable and I truly thank the CSDA for trusting me to take advantage of the opportunity to grow.

Thank you, Ashley Maxwell, Sacramento County DCSS