Recently, we at the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and our National Council of Local Human Service Administrators (Locals Council) reached out to local agency members and other local agency administrators to participate in a national effort aimed at collecting innovative practices regarding human service program collaboration or integration that is resulting in either lower costs or improved outcomes.
The first set of these local, innovative, and collaborate practices is now available for you to review and use. Practices in the portfolio include some that speak to overarching areas of collaboration and integration while others focus specifically on work related to workforce development, nutrition, service delivery in rural areas, and shifting demographics. Each of these narratives, 15 in all, provides a basic sense of the program improvement that has been implemented, desired outcomes and the results so far, how the programs were funded, what barriers were faced, how the program has saved money or created system efficiencies, and some poignant personal stories of success.
We will continue to gather additional input from our members so that we can use it to “raise the locals voice” in Washington and otherwise. As we continue to receive narratives of such practices from the field, we will update this repository and add features to it.
These narratives can be accessed by clicking on the following link: http://local.aphsa.org/Home/local-voice.asp
If you (or your staff) are interested in participating further in this effort or have questions about this initiative, please contact me or my colleague Jon Rubin. I can be reached via email at pbasso@aphsa.org, and Jon can be reached via email at: jon.rubin@aphsa.org.
