NACHSA and APHSA's Local Council Explore Collaborative Initiatives
I recently met with the staff to the National Council of Local Human Service Administrators (Local Council), an affiliate of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), to identify areas in which NACHSA and the Local Council may collaborate to support local administrators. One of the areas identified is policy development and future advocacy. The NACHSA Board believes that this is a worthwhile pilot and has endorsed this effort. NACHSA members are invited to join their Local Council colleagues in a conference call slated for Thursday, May 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern time to collaborate in this new initiative. Information on how to register for the call is at the end of this e-Alert.
APHSA and the Local Council have invited NACHSA members to help them tackle national policy development and legislative efforts regarding TANF.
The objective of this "Call to Action" is to collect information in the form of real world examples, stories, and data regarding what works to implement TANF-related policies in the day-to- day operations of local agencies and share that compiled and well-organized information with State level policymakers and other decision-makers.
Local examples of expected information to be presented to APHSA's Policy Council as a result of the effort would be such items as:
- What "work participation rates" mean at the local agency level.
- What works and does not work to achieve desired policy objectives.
- What are the "work arounds" regarding state work verification plans.
- What recommendations participants have about how to better measure agency performance.
- What "novel" attempts to improve system performance have been used and what have been the results.
- What data are available about segments of population served and how can policymakers use that data to make services customized or more efficient?
NACHSA will also be able to use this information to inform its overall membership on these issues as well as assisting in developing future NACo policy.
This process is expected to be a national effort organized as a working committee that will meet via conference calls and communicate through web-based activities (mostly email). It is the goal of the Local Council and APHSA to have compiled an initial draft of the relevant information by the end of June 2008. Participation in this project therefore would require immediate involvement but no long term time commitment. If this initial pilot is successful, information will continue to be collected and distributed to APHSA's Policy Council on an ongoing basis and you may wish to remain involved.
If you are interested in participating in this process, please join us in an initial planning call scheduled for Thursday, May 15th, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. The call in number and other specific information will be provided to individuals as the date for the meeting approaches. Although you are encouraged to participate on the call, if you are not available at that time you will still be allowed to participate in the process and contribute to the final products if you desire.
If you have any questions, or to register to participate in this Call for Action, please contact Tom Joseph at NACHSA at tj@wafed.com or 202.898.1444.
