For Capital & Main from Los Angeles—Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature agreed on a budget last month that preserved most of California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids, also known as CalWorks. That was good news for the state’s poorest Californians because key services — such as subsidized employment, and mental health and substance abuse services — had been on the chopping block. 

Even so, some CalWorks services were scaled back by millions of dollars, a move that has drawn criticism from anti-poverty advocates. In the fiscal 2024-2025 budget, subsidized employment service funds were reduced by 28% from an initially budgeted $134 million to $97 million, mental health and substance abuse services were cut 28% from an earlier earmarked $130 million to $93 million.

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