SACRAMENTO, Calif., September 10, 2018—The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has awarded a three-year contract to the California State University, Sacramento, College of Continuing Education (CCE) to administer the In-Home Supportive Services Training Academy (IHSSTA). The IHSSTA provides ongoing, comprehensive trainings for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. IHSS provides in-home assistance to eligible aged, blind, and disabled individuals as an alternative to out-of-home care and enables recipients to remain safely in their own homes. The IHSS program serves over 570,000 recipients through services delivered by more than 490,000 providers in all 58 counties. Participants in the IHSSTA include county social services workers, county social work supervisors, quality assurance staff, administrative law judges, CDSS staff, and other staff designated by CDSS and the counties.

“As an anchor university driven to make our communities better through long-term solutions and improvements, we welcome the opportunity to work with CDSS to provide training solutions that will help improve the quality of life for so many people in communities throughout the state,” said Ching-Hua Wang, provost and vice-president of academic affairs. 

CCE will partner with CDSS to create standardized curriculum and training that is aligned with legislative mandates and will ensure quality of care to those served. CCE will coordinate the intellectual capacity of the university and leverage its own expertise in serving adult learners to guide the curriculum development and implementation of the program. Additionally, CCE will develop training materials, conduct train-the-trainer sessions, facilitate stakeholder communications, provide ongoing program review and implement an annual Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement Plan.

“As one of eight colleges at Sacramento State with a long history of working with the State of California, CCE has the expertise in educating working adults,” said Debbi Thomson, Deputy Director of CDSS’ Adult Programs Division. “We are confident in their approach to successfully deliver this important training.”