Policy & Practice August 2017

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Policy&Practice August 2017 38
staff spotlight
Name: Candy Hill
Title: Senior Director, Policy and Government A airs
Time at APHSA: Six months
Life Before APHSA: State Human Services Executive
in Michigan and Executive in national nonprofit orga-
nizations in charge of policy and government a airs,
development, communications, and marketing.
What I Can Do for Our Members: Engage and
support members in leading e orts to advance public policy
that supports the goal that all of us should have the oppor-
tunity to live healthy lives and be well regardless of where
we live, what our histories are, or what our life experiences
have been.
Priorities at APHSA: Build a comprehensive influ-
ence strategy that advances our Pathways work, leveraging
and engaging the expertise and experience of our members.
Best Way to Reach Me: By email at
or text message at - - .
When Not Working: I’m an avid reader, engaged in
my parish community, and a political junkie.
Motto to Live By: Smile often, think positively, give
thanks, laugh loudly, love others, dream big.
PRESIDENT’S MEMO continued from page 3
even in the most troubled of communi-
ties, and enabling evidence-informed
decisions that are human centered and
framed around the social determinants
of health and well-being. The journey
is not an “either/or,” it is a collective
one that brings leaders at all levels of
government, community-based and
social-serving organizations, social
enterprises, employers, philanthropy,
and families together to shift mindsets
and catalyze change in policy and
practice.
More About What
We Learned at the
Local Retreat
Over the course of two days, we
took a deep dive to learn about San
Diego County’s Live Well journey
toward community-wide wellness, and
the ways in which the entire county,
through local partners and leaders at
all levels, is improving outcomes across
indicators chosen by the community
as key drivers of living well. Through
the dimensions of the social determi-
nants of health (or well-being, as we
increasingly like to refer to them), we
heard the incredible accomplishments
of Milwaukee County in nearly elimi-
nating chronic homelessness, and the
power of a community coming together
to build a roadmap for child well-being
in Monterey County (CA).
Dakota County (MN) showcased the
“art of the possible” in connecting its
education and public health systems
to link data and use analytics to
identify children who are at risk of not
achieving third grade reading levels
so that more focused attention can
be directed to them and their parents
in their very early learning years. We
also “zoomed in” on what enabled the
successful development of truly inte-
grated data systems in San Diego and
Montgomery County (MD).
Joined by key national partners
from the Kresge Foundation, the
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action
Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Harvard Government
Performance Labs, we heard how both
philanthropy and academia are sup-
porting systems change through next
generation and ecosystem thinking;
evidence-informed practices; a focus
on root causes; and capturing return
on investment. We also heard how
San Diego’s education, child welfare,
behavioral health, law enforcement,
and many other community partners
have joined forces to tackle the serious
issue of human tra cking through its
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children task force.
We’re committed to lifting these
stories, and many others, up for poli-
cymakers and for the field in general.
You can find these presentations on our
website at and other
stories from the field in our interac-
tive map
en/pathways/INNOVATION_CENTER.
html). We’ll continue to highlight
stories in both feature articles and our
“Locally Speaking” column in Policy &
Practice. Also, look for opportunities
to join webinars to hear directly from
these and other generative leaders at
WEBINARS.html.