Policy and Practice February 2017

president‘s memo By Tracy Wareing Evans

Creating Modern, Responsive Health and Human Services in 2017

T he theme of this issue—leading change—is the perfect place to set the stage for health and human services in 2017. It illustrates the importance that leaders at all levels of government and across the public and private sectors have in advancing systemmodernization and helping achieve the outcomes we want for all children and families. As appointees of the new federal administra- tion take office and the 115th Congress begins its work, we are pleased to share our members’ report, “Creating a Modern and Responsive Health and Human Services System,” 1 which sets forth howwe can work together and partner with federal policymakers to modernize and strengthen the nation’s health and human services system. We've highlighted our members’ core principles and some of the key accelerators of change below. We hope you will read the complete report and stand with us in our commitment to develop new and innovative service models that are evidence informed and accountable to families, to our communities, and to the nation. We Believe All of us should have the opportunity to live healthy lives and be well regardless of where we live, what our histories are, or what our life experiences have been. The Opportunity We believe that the time is ripe for significant leaps forward to create a modern, nimble health and human services system that leads to stronger, healthier families We must evolve our health and human services system from the traditional “regulative model” rooted in compli- ance and programmatic outputs, to a “generative approach” that works seamlessly across sectors and engages whole communities in addressing the multidimensional socioeco- nomic issues that individuals and families face. We have developed guiding principles for this system change that are captured in our members’ Pathways 2 initiative and are utilizing a tool for charting progress—the Human Services Value Curve (see The Value Curve Gone Viral , page 8). We believe that in order to drive this change, there must be four major outcome areas that require leveraging inte- and communities. Our Approach

Leveraging Integrated Policy Levers

Maximizing Modern Platforms

Creating Space for Innovation

Investing in Outcomes

Applying Science

Partnering for Impact

„ „ Improved population health „ „ Tools we need to be successful Our Federal Partners

Modernization of the health and human services system requires that, together, we identify the enablers and barriers to drive better outcomes and generate an adaptable, nimble ecosystem that can catalyze our collective efforts. In order to accelerate change, we need our federal partners to provide leadership to: Modernize and Reauthorize: „ „ Employment, child well-being, and nutrition programs, such as TANF and SNAP, to meet the real world

grated policy and fiscal levers: „ „ Child and family well-being „ „ Employment and economic well-being

See President’s Memo on page 30

Photo illustration by Chris Campbell

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February 2017 Policy&Practice