Welcome members, partners, and friends! As our country continues to face both new and longstanding challenges, it’s important we take time to reflect so we can capture the many lessons and opportunities we can build from together in 2022.
Check out insights from our President and CEO,
Tracy Wareing Evans, included in our final blog post of 2021.
Our 2021 report includes the many highlights from our work last year and the ways in which we continue to advance our mission by influencing modern approaches to sound policy, building the capacity of public agencies to enable healthy families and communities, and connecting leaders to accelerate learning and generate practical solutions together. Our commitment to advancing race equity should also shine through our 2021 actions seen below as we continue to work to end structural inequities in our systems.
We are humbled and grateful to work in support of health and human services leaders across the country. Thank you for being a part of our collective journey to advance the well-being of all people!
INFLUENCE
INFLUENCE
Cornerstone: Our Latest Policy Framework
Our Cornerstone series, first published in November 2020, set forth why human services sit at the Cornerstone for Resilient Communities and a Revitalized Economy and how federal policymakers can help meet the most pressing needs while laying the necessary tracks for all communities to thrive. And in 2021, we published additional Cornerstone policy briefs drawn from the on-the-ground expertise of our members.
Published December 2021
Additional Publications
Additional 2021 publications supported key priorities such as COVID-19 response efforts; the urgency for a food system that meets immediate and long-term needs of children and families; transforming family well-being through primary prevention and keeping children and families safely together; and addressing systemic inequities to advance race equity.
APHSA also submitted comment letters with and on behalf of our members to address:
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Race equity including methods and leading practices and identifying barriers in USDA programs and services
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Major policy recommendations to improve access and ensure sustainability of SNAP by making revisions to the Thrifty Food Plan and adopting language that ensures its availability
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Modernizing technology to address the delivery of WIC and EBT
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Fulfilling the potential of the Family First Prevention Services Act through Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse standards and procedures
All recent comment letters are available here.
Our 2021 blog posts also included an array of policy related insights from members and partners across the country. A multi-part series on the American Rescue Plan Act took a detailed look at the ways we can leverage it to strengthen the resiliency of our public health and human services infrastructure, and, in turn, substantially move the needle on social and economic mobility so families succeed for the long run. Check it out!
Advancing Productive Narratives
We continue to use framing science and research to build common ground and drive our solutions. Launched in 2021, our Advancing Productive Narratives webpage shares our framing approach, resources, and examples that can help us better understand what we are up against in our field as we work to drive more effective policy solutions that advance well-being for all.
Join APHSA President & CEO Tracy Wareing Evans for an overview on effective framing.
BUILD
Our Organizational Effectiveness (OE) team continued to build the capacity of public agencies so they could continue to enable healthy families and communities during a year of increased demand. Several of the OE team’s priorities shine through in the work below including:
Workforce Well-being and Health
Place-based Opportunity Ecosystems
Advancing Race Equity
APHSA and the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (AAICPC) continue to develop, manage, and administer the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise (NEICE). A groundbreaking, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution for states, NEICE has transformed the way that many states conduct and monitor interstate placements of children and has significantly shortened the timelines for placing children safely and securely across state lines.
At the end of 2021, NEICE had MOU agreements with 45 states committed to using NEICE. Read more here.
NEICE was awarded a 2021 Best of NIEM Award! Learn more here.
CONNECT
BRAND NEW IN 2021
We launched a new podcast series, Our Dream Deferred: Fulfilling the Nation’s Promise, exploring the question posed by poet Langston Hughes 70 years ago: What happens to a dream deferred? Alluding to the American dream that feels elusive for many—he asks what might happen if our nation’s offer of endless possibilities remains out of reach and unrealized? We explored these prescient questions by engaging with brilliant minds from a wide range of fields.
Quickly catch-up on all of season 1 on YouTube, our podcast page, or by searching for “Our Dream Deferred” on your preferred streaming platform. We are excited to bring you season 2, and other podcasts, in 2022!
We continued our virtual series, Leadership Corner, designed to spark inspiration and innovation amongst human-serving professionals leading the way in their communities. There’s more to come in 2022. Catch up on the 2021 sessions below and stay up to date here!
Leadership Insights from
Dr. Darrick Hamilton: Unapologetic about Advancing Inclusive Economic Rights
JULY 27, 2021
- FEATURING -
Darrick Hamilton, PhD
Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy
Founding Director, Institute for the Study of Race, Stratification, and Political Economy
The New School
The Sum of Us | What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
MARCH 23, 2021
- FEATURING -
Heather McGhee
Author
Third Thursday 360, a mini-series of health and human services collective learning, offered rich content with an array of sessions and networking opportunities. Each monthly event brought policy, practice, and program together on one virtual platform that showcased best practices and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic focusing on agency management in child welfare, SNAP, TANF, IT, performance management, and child care, covering important themes including moving health and human services upstream; advancing social and economic mobility; and building field capacity.
The Economic Mobility and Well-Being Conference brought together members from three APHSA affinity groups, including the American Association of SNAP Directors (AASD), National Association of TANF Administrators (NASTA), and National Association of Program Information and Performance Management (NAPIPM), in partnership with the National Association of Welfare and Research Statistics (NAWRS), in a hybrid format. It showcased the work of agencies, researchers, and the private sector to advance our collective goal of achieving economic mobility and well-being for all.
With the challenges of the pandemic still in play, we chose a hybrid format for our annual Information Technology Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM) Conference and Expo.
Two of our other annual conferences, the National Staff Development and Training Association (NSDTA) Education Conference and the American Association of Health and Human Services Attorneys (AAHHSA) Education Conference were held virtually.
All conference materials remain accessible to meeting registrants through their conference websites linked above.
Webinars
In addition to podcasts, virtual series, and conferences, we also continued to host webinars throughout the year alongside agency leaders across the country, our strategic industry partners, and more. Catch up here.
We’re looking forward to staying connected in 2022!
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