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SonomaWORKS
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SonomaWORKS

SonomaWORKS

Helping You Support Your Family

SonomaWORKS provides temporary help for families with children who have little or no money. We also help adults caring for a child prepare for a job, then find and keep a job, so they can support their families. 

Support while on the program may include housing, food, utilities payments, childcare or medical care. Monthly cash benefits are added to an ATM-style plastic card, called an Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT card, which you can use to make purchases.

SonomaWORKS is a Sonoma County program that is also known as CalWORKS in California and Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) by the federal government.

For Pandemic EBT Clients

For information on P-EBT, including questions about eligibility and card support, please visit the P-EBT website at https://ca.p-ebt.org/ or call the P-EBT Helpline at (877) 328-9677. Representative are available to assist callers Monday-Friday from 7am-7pm

The county does not have access to P-EBT eligibility information.

Who Is Eligible

  • An adult caring for a child
    • under age 18, OR
    • under age 19 if the child is in high school or vocational school.
  • One or both of the child’s parents must be unemployed, disabled, continuously absent or deceased.
  • You must meet income and resource limits.
  • You may also qualify if you are:
    • pregnant in your second trimester
    • a mother under age 18 
    • a relative caring for a child.

How SonomaWORKS May Help

Going through the program builds your skills toward getting and keeping a job, so that you can support your family into the future.  

During your program, SonomaWORKS staff may:

  • Assess you for types of jobs you might do
  • Help you make a plan to get work and increase your job skills
  • Support you in training for various jobs, including taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College
  • Help you manage your cash aid, CalFresh benefits and Medi-Cal benefits
  • Provide childcare while you are completing the program
  • Help you get such services as: mental health services, alcohol or other drug services, legal help, learning disability support and/or support for those affected by domestic violence.