California Trickle Up Program Wins Awards

Trickle down is an often-heard term for how economic programs benefit society at all levels, but have you ever wondered where the trickle dries up? People at the lowest income levels can tell you it rarely reaches them.

That was the inspiration for Trickle Up, founded in 1979 by former United Nations workers Mildred Robbins Leet and her late husband, Glen. An international nonprofit organization, Trickle Up is dedicated to reducing poverty by helping the lowest-income people around the world start or expand their own businesses. Since its inception, the organization has helped low-income entrepreneurs start or expand more than 70,000 businesses in 115 countries.

Launched in the United States in 1994, this program has become an important tool in the welfare-to-work transition. It enables the poor to create their own capital, provides non-formal education, and partners with a network of sponsoring community groups that provides coordinators to administer the program.

Upon acceptance into the program, entrepreneurs work with their coordinators to create a business plan; once that is approved, the entrepreneur receives an initial grant of $500. Grant recipients must spend a minimum of 250 hours during a three-month period working in their enterprise, undergo 25 hours of business counseling, and save or reinvest at least 20 percent of all profits in the firm. When these latter requirements are met, the entrepreneur receives another $200, a total of $700.

Last year the Soroptimists of Historic Auburn partnered with the Sierra College Small Business Development Center, the Sierra Economic Development District, and child care service agencies in Placer and Nevada Counties to bring the first Trickle Up to California.

Because childcare is one of the biggest obstacles faced by parents transitioning from welfare to work, this program helps those who wish to start or expand licensed childcare facilities. In addition to fulfilling the usual Trickle Up program requirements, entrepreneurs must also agree to accept children of parents in the welfare-to-work program. The program has just been named the 1999 Welfare to Work Program of the Year by the SBA's Sacramento District.

The program's first entrepreneur has also won acclaim. Pamela Weaver Baker has been named 1999 Welfare to Work Entrepreneur of the Year for the SBA's Sacramento District. The mother of two small children and a former aid recipient, Ms. Baker went back to school while on public assistance. Taking early childhood education classes, she graduated with honors in 1997 from California State University, Sacramento.

With limited resources, she established her childcare center, The Playhouse. That's when she discovered the Trickle Up program that has helped her obtain the seed money and business skills she needs to succeed. Her $700 grant funded new equipment and liability insurance necessary to work with state-funded programs to care for children whose parents are beginning to work or attend training programs.

Ms. Baker and her Playhouse clearly validate the Leets' vision that with only a minimal investment, poverty can be eradicated-one business at a time.

The Healthy Families Program

Ensuring Care for California's Children

From tabloids to talk shows, from magazines to mega-selling books, the topic of health has captured the public's interest as never before. As a small business owner, there is likely one variation on this theme that most draws your attention: health insurance.

People are concerned about their health and how it will be provided for. For your company to attract the best workers, being able to offer your employees quality health care options is key. Unfortunately, as a small business owner you may not be able to afford much. In the past, this may have meant that your employees' families would go without health insurance. This situation can be particularly damaging to children, for whom preventative health care means the most.

Healthy Families Is Started

California's Department of Health Services is trying to change that scenario with the Healthy Families Program, which was created to help families who slip through the cracks of the health care system. According to the March 1996 Current Population Survey, California's children fall into four categories: 53 percent are covered through employer-based plans, three percent through privately purchased health plans and 25 percent through Medi-Cal. Seventeen percent of children in California have no health insurance at all.

Your employees may have children who comprise this last category, because as workers they earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal, but do not make enough to purchase their own insurance.

Where Do These Children Go?

Approximately 580,000 children in California qualify for the Healthy Families Program. These are children whose family income levels fall between 100 to 200 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL), equivalent to an annual income between $16,500 and $33,000.

Nearly 75 percent of uninsured families are low income and earn less than 200 percent of the FPL. Hospitals and emergency rooms bear the brunt of uninsured children's health problems, when preventive and primary care could have easily remedied their illnesses or kept them from developing. The high cost of caring for uninsured children in emergency situations is deferred with taxpayer money.

Some may think it would be easier to expand Medi-Cal coverage to include this demographic. However, Healthy Families provides affordable health care for working families who may have employer-based insurance under other circumstances.

The program also helps participants avoid "welfare stigma" because coverage is subsidized, not entirely funded by government money. Best of all, it provides enrollees with the opportunity to choose from a wide range of health plans, much as if they were shopping for private coverage.

Healthy Families Needs You

The success of the Healthy Families Program depends on the Department of Health Services getting the word out to those who qualify. Since many of the people whose families qualify work for small companies, California small business owners play a key role in the outreach process.

While Healthy Families is California specific, similar programs are underway throughout the United States. For more information on the Healthy Families Program, call (800) 880-5305. If you live outside California and want to know what's being done in your region, contact your state health department

Details about the Healthy Families Program

Eligibility:

• Family income between 100 and 200 percent federal poverty line--$16,500 to $33,000 for a family of four.

• Not eligible for no cost Medi-Cal.

• Currently uninsured and not covered by employer plan for prior three months.

• Citizenship and immigration status of child--not the parent--must be verified.

• Children must be between the ages of one and 18.

Cost:

• Monthly premiums of $4 to $9 per child.

• Maximum monthly premium per family is $27.

• Fourth month free if three months paid for in advance.

• Disenrolled for non-payment of premium with a 60-day grace period.

Program Benefits:

• $5 copayments for most services ($250 annual limit per family).

• No copayments for preventative or --inpatient care.

• Dental and vision plans.