KRA CTWorks Pantry Point Program Update

CTWorks’ Pantry Points Program (PPP), a KRA incentive-based innovation, continues to be wildly successful. Since January 2010, the PPP has distributed more than 41,000 items (more than 7,100 orders!) to program participants. Here’s how it works: participants earn points by complying with certain JFES (Jobs First Employment Service) program requirements (appointments, employment-plan activities, orientations, etc.) and then redeem their points for items from the “pantry”, which stocks hundreds of products…from pacifiers to pencils and diapers to dish-washing detergent. A popular part of the PPP is “Diaper City @ CTWorks”, in which participants can redeem 5 pantry points for 1 pack of disposable diapers or “pull-ups”, a real benefit for parents coping with the increased demands of infants and toddlers, while trying to improve themselves through CTWorks/JFES program participation. To date, the PPP has distributed more than 1,847 packs of diapers/pull-ups. Participants can also redeem their points for educational products…books, flash cards, and workbooks…for their children, as well as personal-care products and everyday household items such as aluminum foil, napkins, and cleaning supplies. Products are periodically changed to keep the program fresh, and to respond to the needs of the participants. For many CTWorks’ participants these non-perishable items are a blessing when circumstances sometime leave them with little to spend on anything other than food and clothing. Participants are very happy with the PPP, as evidenced by KRA’s impressive program participation rate.