The Council, on behalf of more than a dozen of its members, sent a letter this week urging the House and Senate Ways & Means Committees to support Competitive Integrated Employment Services.
CIES is the state’s only welfare-to-work program; it helps individuals who are receiving state assistance transition off welfare.
The Council wrote: Over the last two fiscal years for which complete data is available – FY ‘18 and FY ’19 – the CIES program helped nearly 2,800 individuals find and secure jobs. More than 86 percent of those individuals still had jobs 90 days later; they were able to leave the welfare rolls and become taxpaying residents of Massachusetts due in large part to the CIES program.
The majority of CIES clients who come to us are women of all ages from throughout the state who are seeking employment to support their families. Historically, they have been able to secure positions in
the business, early education, customer service, dental and nursing, home health, human services and/or medical industries to name just a few … At a time when so many are out of work due to this global pandemic, the CIES program is – perhaps now more than ever – critical to the employment of individuals in our Commonwealth.”