San Francisco is working to ensure equitable, accurate, and timely access to CalFresh and Medi-Cal benefits for residents navigating significant federal and state policy changes. The FUSE Executive Fellow will strengthen and modernize SFHSA’s training systems so staff can implement new regulations with clarity, consistency, and confidence. Ultimately, this work will reduce errors, improve service delivery, and help ensure that the city’s most vulnerable communities continue to receive essential supports when they need them most.

Fellowship Dates: April 27, 2026 – April 23, 2027

Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual base salary of $95,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. Compensation for this year of public service is not intended to represent market-rate compensation for the experienced professionals in our program.

ABOUT THE FUSE EXECUTIVE FELLOWSHIP

FUSE is a national nonprofit working to expand social and economic opportunities, particularly for communities that have been limited by a history of systemic and institutionalized racism. FUSE partners with local governments and communities to more effectively address pressing challenges by placing experienced professionals within city and county agencies. These FUSE Executive Fellows lead strategic projects designed to advance racial equity and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 250 projects in 40 governments across 20 states, impacting the lives of 25 million people.

PROJECT CONTEXT

Accurate and timely delivery of public benefits plays a vital role in supporting the well-being of San Francisco residents, particularly those who rely on CalFresh and Medi-Cal for food security and healthcare. These programs serve large numbers of low-income households, older adults, immigrants, and communities of color, many of whom face disproportionate barriers to stability and economic mobility. As major federal and state policy changes reshape eligibility requirements, residents risk losing access to essential services or receiving incorrect determinations, which can trigger financial hardship or gaps in care. Ensuring that frontline staff can quickly understand and apply evolving rules is central to protecting vulnerable communities and maintaining a responsive, fair, and accessible safety net.

In San Francisco, the Human Services Agency (SFHSA) has taken significant steps to strengthen its approach to training the workforce responsible for eligibility determinations. The agency operates a comprehensive six-month induction program that combines classroom instruction, business process training, and supervised case practice for newly hired eligibility workers. SFHSA also provides ongoing in-service instruction to help experienced staff stay current with policy shifts and internal process updates. Instructional teams have begun experimenting with shorter training series, unit-based presentations, and multimodal learning tools to keep pace with rapidly changing regulations. At the same time, the scale and speed of upcoming changes, along with unpredictable implementation timelines, staffing limitations, and a citywide hiring freeze present challenges. SFHSA is actively working to address these challenges through strengthening a consistent, nimble, and sustainable training model capable of supporting both new and veteran staff.

San Francisco will partner with FUSE to advance a more adaptive and future-ready training ecosystem that supports accurate benefit delivery for all residents. The FUSE Executive Fellow will: assess the current training landscape across induction and in-service programs; evaluate opportunities to streamline and modernize modes of instruction; develop strategic recommendations for delivering real-time, multimodal learning; design tools that translate complex regulations into accessible guidance; and pilot new approaches in collaboration with training teams and frontline supervisors. Ultimately, this work will help SFHSA strengthen staff capacity, reduce error rates, and build a sustainable culture of continuous learning that improves service delivery and promotes more equitable outcomes for San Francisco’s most underserved communities.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Beginning in May 2026, the FUSE Executive Fellow will work with the San Francisco Human Services Agency (SFHSA) to strengthen and modernize the agency’s training systems that support accurate CalFresh and Medi-Cal eligibility determinations for residents. The fellow will help SFHSA develop content and prototype a more nimble, multimodal, and sustainable learning ecosystem that equips staff to implement complex federal and state regulatory changes, improves accuracy, and supports equitable access to essential benefits.

The fellow will begin by conducting a comprehensive listening tour with stakeholders across SFHSA, including San Francisco Benefits Net (SFBN) leadership, instructional teams responsible for classroom, business-process, and on-the-job training, policy and operations staff, frontline supervisors, and technology partners. Through these conversations, the fellow will assess how information currently flows across teams, identify coordination and capacity challenges, and document how the agency delivers training during regulatory shifts. The fellow will also conduct a landscape analysis to evaluate SFHSA’s existing training tools, curriculum structures, learning management capabilities, and operational constraints shaped by the citywide hiring freeze and limited resources. In parallel, the fellow will research best practices from other counties and states managing large-scale eligibility changes to identify proven approaches for adult learning, multimodal training, and real-time policy translation. At the end of this discovery phase, the fellow will develop specific project goals and deliverables that SFHSA leadership will review and approve before the next phase of work begins.

Using the collected insights, the fellow will design and implement strategies to streamline, strengthen, and modernize SFHSA’s SFBN/Economic Support and Self-Sufficiency induction and in-service training programs and later expand agencywide. This work will include mapping the full training lifecycle for new and veteran staff; assessing opportunities to improve curriculum sequencing, clarity, and modality; and developing frameworks for delivering concise, accessible, and up-to-date guidance on complex H.R. 1 policy changes. The fellow will collaborate with training teams to prototype multimodal learning tools such as micro-learning modules, step-by-step help guides, updated business process materials, and enhanced LMS-based delivery that support real-time application on the job. The fellow will also work with SFBN leaders and operations teams to strengthen communication pathways between policy experts and training staff, improve responsiveness to shifting implementation timelines, and reduce instructional burden on teams already managing high caseloads. Throughout this period, the fellow will pilot training innovations with selected cohorts or staff groups, gather feedback, and refine approaches to ensure scalability, feasibility, and alignment with SFHSA’s operational environment.

The fellow will produce a comprehensive set of work products that support a more adaptive and sustainable staff training ecosystem, including a review and assessment fit for new technologies that could be deployed to improve training. The fellow will conduct a Request for Information from possible technology vendors, as needed, and also develop an evaluation framework to measure training effectiveness, accuracy improvements, and long-term staff comprehension. To ensure sustainability, the fellow will outline recommendations for embedding continuous learning practices not just within ESSS but across SFHSA, strengthening trainer capacity, and leveraging existing tools and systems to maintain instructional quality beyond the fellowship. Ultimately, this work will enhance SFHSA’s ability to deliver accurate benefits, reduce error rates, and support more equitable service delivery for all San Francisco residents.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES

By April 2027, the fellow will have produced the following:

Developed a Strategic Training Modernization Plan – Designed a comprehensive strategy for modernizing SFHSA’s Economic Support and Self-Sufficiency (ESSS) starting with SFBN induction and in-service training programs, outlining recommended modalities, new technologies and tools, workflows, curriculum structures, and sequencing approaches to support timely and accurate implementation of complex policy changes.
Created Updated and Standardized Curriculum Frameworks – Produced revised curriculum frameworks that improve clarity, consistency, and usability across instructional teams, strengthening staff comprehension and reducing confusion during periods of regulatory transition.
Designed and Piloted Multimodal Learning Tools – Developed and tested adaptable training resources, including micro-learning modules, step-by-step guides, policy translation tools, and enhanced LMS-based content that is easy to navigate, update, and deploy to enable staff to quickly understand and apply new rules, improving accuracy and reducing error rates.
Established a Training Effectiveness and Evaluation Framework – Built a measurement system for tracking comprehension, accuracy and timeliness application of learning, and long-term skill retention, providing SFHSA with a data-driven foundation.
Developed a Sustainability and Continuous-Learning Framework – Outlined recommendations for trainer capacity-building, workflow integration, and long-term institutionalization, ensuring SFHSA can maintain and evolve its training ecosystem well beyond the fellowship.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

Executive Sponsor – Anna Pineda, Deputy Director, Economic Support and Self-Sufficiency
Project Supervisor – TBD

FUSE Executive Fellowship | Modernizing Agencywide Benefit Training Systems

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