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January 9, 2015

NACHSA e-Alert

 

Happy New Year NACHSA Members!

NACHSA Dues Are Due: With the new year comes the annual dues notice, sent electronically via the e-Alert. Given the growth in membership, dues have been frozen for ten years. Please do your part today in supporting NACHSA as we face new challenges in ensuring human services programs are protected from federal budget cuts. Don't delay, please pay today.

 

Federal Update: Congress convened this week. Committees are organizing and developing their work plans. Given the GOP control of both the House and Senate, there will likely be more legislation sent to President Obama that he will veto. The Administration already this week issued veto threats on two pieces of legislation moving through Congress, one dealing with the Affordable Care Act and another on the Keystone Pipeline. The Administration also announced that it will submit its FY 2016 budget to Congress on February 2, which will begin the budget battles for the coming months. 


 
Summary of the CWDA Conference: NACHSA Board member Claudia Tuck was one of the scholars who attended the County Welfare Directors Association of California human services conference. She wrote this summary of her experience. CWDA has also posted many of the presentations which may be accessed here


NACHSA Executive Committee Member Named Ohio Director of the Year: NACHSA Secretary Roxane Somerlot was named by the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors' Association as its 2014 Director of the Year. Click here to read about her accomplishments. Congratulations Roxane!

In This Issue
Human Services Resources
Human Services Jobs
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Human Services Resources
Child Welfare Resources Updated: HHS has unveiled a new website for child welfare professionals to access the most comprehensive collection of information they need to help protect children and strengthen families. Some of the more popular resources available on Child Welfare Information Gateway are state statutes on child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption; tips and factsheets for families and caregivers, educators, mental health professionals, and others; Logic Model Builders to evaluate program growth and outcomes; and the National Foster Care and Adoption Directory. Many of these free resources are also available in Spanish.

Elder Abuse Pocket Guide: The U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance within the Department of Justice has published this pocket guide for law enforcement on elder abuse issues which may also be helpful to adult protective services workers. Click here to view it.

SNAP Household Characteristics: USDA has published a two page brief outlining the characteristics of 47.6 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in 2013. 

Home Visiting Programs: Reviewing Evidence of Effectiveness: This HHS home visiting brief outlines the 17 program models determined to meet the Department of Health and Human Services' criteria for an "evidence-based early childhood home visiting service delivery model."

Uninsured Rate Drops Dramatically: The share of adults without health insurance fell again to 12.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, new survey results from Gallup and Healthways show.  This is down from 13.4 percent in the previous quarter and 17.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, before health reform's major coverage expansions - through Medicaid and subsidized marketplace coverage - took effect in January 2014.    It's also the lowest uninsured rate among adults since Gallup started collecting the survey data in 2008. 

Webinar--Simulation Labs for Child Welfare Education and Training: To be held on February 4 at 3 pm ET, the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute is hosting a webinar that will provide an overview of Simulation Labs, an innovative technique being utilized with newly-hired children's services social workers at the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in Los Angeles County, as well as undergraduate and graduate social work students. Simulation is a technique for education and training that has been used in many different disciplines and offers guided, "immersive" experiences that evoke or replicate aspects of the real world professional experience in a fully interactive fashion. Workgroup members will share the strategies involved in creating and implementing this model, including curriculum design, training infrastructure (space, set design, resources) and staffing (facilitators, role-players), as well as lessons learned. Learn more and register for this webinar by clicking here.

Webinar--Building TANF and WIOA Partnerships: HHS is hosting a webinar on Building TANF and WIOA Partnerships to Improve TANF Recipient Employment Outcomes next Thursday, January 15, from 1 pm to 2:30 p.m. ET. Register here.

Webinar--The Challenge of Performance Leadership: All public executives have to produce results. But how? Indeed, what results are you responsible for producing? And what does it mean to improve the performance of your organization? On January 22 at 1 pm ET join Professor Bob Behn, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School for a 45-minute webcast. Bob will not answer these questions for you and your particular organization, but rather help you think through how to approach the challenge of performance leadership. After all, the knowledge that you employ to lead your organization is strictly tacit. Nevertheless, you have developed it, if only through trial and error. This webcast will help you appreciate the tacit knowledge you already have. And it will help you expand that knowledge. By attending the webcast, you'll gain an enhanced appreciation of: The need to identify your organization's key performance deficits; the value of setting targets for eliminating them; the motivational strategies that have proven effective in a variety of organizations; and, the potential of employing a PerformanceStat leadership strategy. To learn more and register, click here.

RFP to Increase Employment for Homeless Jobseekers: The Heartland Alliance has just announced a Request for Proposals for the Connections Project, a three year, place-based, systems-level collaboration and capacity-building invitation to communities nationwide. The goal is to increase employment and economic opportunity for homeless jobseekers. The RFP aims to identify, through a multi-phase competitive process, up to five Connections Project sites that will plan, implement, and strengthen innovative and collaborative systems to meet the goal. Selected Connections Project sites may be awarded funding of up to $125,000 per over the full project period, intensive technical assistance, and peer learning opportunities. To learn more about the Connections Project and to apply, click here.
Human Services Jobs
NACHSA posts senior human services positions free of charge for NACHSA members. Send openings in word or PDF format to Tom Joseph at [email protected].
Tom Joseph
National Association of County Human Services Administrators