Policy & Practice August 2018

staff spotlight

Name: Malik D. Baker Title: Policy Fellow Time at APHSA: 2 months

substantially to the advancement of all people who would benefit from informed policy decisions. It is also my priority to ensure that my work product assists APHSA in helping members achieve their respective goals. What I Can Do For Our Members: In my current role, I would like to keep our members informed on all federal legislative matters pertinent to their roles. Through detailed bill tracking and analysis, I am confident that I can help keep our members up to date on any advance- ments or changes on important legislative matters. Best WayTo Reach Me: By email at PolicyFellow_1@aphsa.org. When Not Working: In my free time I enjoy spending time with my loved ones, playing basketball, going to the movies, and exploring DC history. I also love food so I spend a lot of my free time searching for new places to eat. MottoTo Live By: “The time is always right to do what is right.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life Before APHSA: I am a rising second-year student at The Howard University School of Law where I serve as Secretary of the Intellectual Property Student Association. Prior to my fellowship with APHSA, I com- pleted a congressional internship in the office of U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) where I conducted policy research focusing on education, criminal justice reform, police oversight, and immigration. Following that intern- ship, I graduated cum laude from the University of New Mexico where I studied Political Science, Philosophy, and Criminology. Go Lobos! Priorities At APHSA: As a Government Affairs/ Policy Fellow, my priority at APHSA is to provide accurate and timely updates on federal legislative matters to ensure our members are fully informed. I hope to contribute

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The favorable federal funding of CCWIS and the significant practice and process changes in Family First provide an opportunity for states to redesign processes and systems that more appropriately support the needs of child welfare agencies. Reference Notes 1. The Family First Prevention Services Act: Historic Reforms to the Child Welfare SystemWill Improve Outcomes for Vulnerable Children. Retrieved from http://fosteringchamps.org/wp-content/ uploads/2018/02/family-first-detailed- summary.pdf . 2. Best Practices In ChangeManagement— 2016 , 9th ed. Prosci, Inc. Fort Collins, 2016. Shell Culp is a Senior Advisor for Public Consulting Group and former Agency Information Officer for the California Health and Human Services Agency.

Training —Your organization will need to know the services covered by Family First, how to determine eligibility, how to identify and provide appropriate services and programs, and how to oversee and evaluate the ongoing appropriateness of the programs. Training should consider these options:  Improve your organization’s ability to be data driven and evidence based. Now that you have data, what can you do with it? Make sure your organization knows how to use your data and, just as important, knows how NOT to use your data.  Don’t forget external stakeholders. Pay attention to partners in the continuum and develop a comfort level with the ancillary services that your organization may not directly provide.

Culture —To quote Peter Drucker, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” There is more than a hint of truthful- ness in that. Great ideas for improving organizations very often wither on the vine because an organization’s culture does not support the improvements they were trying to implement. You can improve your chances by:  Investing in organizational change management (OCM). There are proven methods that get results and the data show that investments in OCM paid off—94 percent of projects that met or exceeded objec- tives correlated with project’s OCM program rated as “excellent.” 2  Staying in for the long haul. Culture change toward “data driven” or “trauma informed” takes a long time and must be managed over a period of years.

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