Policy and Practice April 2019

association news

Department Names Room in Honor of Nannette Bowler’s Workforce Career Development Vision

O ver the past 10 years, the Fairfax County Department of Family Services (DFS) has come to be known as a county agency that focuses a signifi- cant amount of effort, time, and resources toward workforce career development. This workforce-centric culture was the vision and passion of DFS Director, Nannette M. Bowler. She knew that the successful delivery of services to Fairfax County resi- dents needed to be built upon a few vital building blocks, one of which was professional develop- ment of its workforce. With a staffing complement of more than 2,000 employees, Bowler embarked on a mission to provide all DFS staff with the tools they needed to succeed, not only to deliver the most effective and efficient services possible, but also to develop their own careers, knowledge, skills, and abilities. In an effort to achieve these goals, she began to develop and institute a variety of different internal agency initiatives, projects, and academies all geared toward affording staff with an opportunity to develop their professional skills to the highest level. With the need to offer several simultaneous, on-going training opportunities throughout the year for such a large staff, DFS frequently was starving for adequate conference room and training space where they could conduct these varied programs. After years of making due with limited training space, Bowler embarked upon a two-year effort to consolidate and reconfigure existing

space. This effort led to the devel- opment and construction of a dedicated, 612-square-foot DFS training conference room that could accommodate up to 50 indi- viduals, configured for all audio visual and training requirements. For years DFS staff has appreciated Bowler’s sincere and genuine focus on personal career development and it was deemed appropriate to honor and thank her by dedicating the DFS training room in her name on February 28, 2019. This occasion was marked by placing a plaque in the training room. The plaque and its inscrip- tion symbolize the appreciation and sentiments of current staff (and all those in the past) who have enjoyed working for an agency and a leader who cares.

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April 2019   Policy&Practice

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