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California Workplace Outreach Project draws broad support from advocates and sharp criticism from some members
Summary
State officials told the subcommittee CWAP shifted from a COVID response program into a broader worker-outreach initiative that has reached millions of workers in dozens of languages and provided training for community organizations.
State officials defended the California Workplace Outreach Project (CWAP) as an established, multilingual outreach network that connects workers to workplace rights and services, while some committee members questioned whether grantee selection and program scope remain appropriate in a tight budget year.
Sebastian Sanchez, deputy secretary for immigrant and agricultural workforce, told the subcommittee CWAP evolved from the COVID response and has conducted deep, multilingual outreach since 2021, including more than one million direct contacts across 25 languages and capacity-building for community-based organizations. Sanchez said the program will shift from 12-month to two-year grants for its fifth and sixth iterations and will permit outreach on issues beyond COVID-19. He also cited an independent Possibility Lab (UC Berkeley) study due to be released that evaluates CWAP's impact.
Supporters from labor, immigrant advocacy groups and local labor councils told the panel CWAP provides essential trusted-messenger services: wage-claim clinics, tenant and public-health outreach around disasters, and worker education in multiple languages. Sacramento and Kings County groups described using CWAP funds to reach thousands of workers and to run clinics that help file wage claims and navigate the Labor Commissioner's processes. Union and community speakers said the initiative reduces enforcement burdens on state agencies by channeling worker information into claims and inspections.
Assemblymember DeMaio sharply challenged the program and read through a list of grantee organizations, asserting some recipients are politically active and asking the department to provide a full accounting of funds to the 76 grantees since CWAP began. The department said it had provided the grantee list in its report and committed to deliver the historical funding totals for each grantee.
Officials said the governor's current budget does not propose new CWAP funding for the 2025-26 cycle; funding referenced by presenters derives from prior appropriations for 2023-24 and 2024-25. Several committee members expressed support for continuing CWAP or for a scaled model and asked for clarity on future funding timelines and grantee performance metrics.
