Policy & Practice | April 2021

PRESIDENT’S MEMO continued from page 3

through multiple state agencies. The timelines for obligating resources and fully expending the dollars also vary by funding stream—some requiring funds to be spent within the next two years and others extending through 2024 and beyond. These are a just a few of the chal lenges. Health and human services leaders need to plan, prioritize, and act based on this complicated terrain. The path forward remains unclear. Hence, it is critical that all levels of government run in the same direc tion and work to connect immediate pandemic relief efforts to longer term systems-level change. Federal agencies need to provide quick, clear guidance to states to assure imme diate, effective delivery of critical supports now and to make informed investments for the future . States must work with local jurisdictions and through public–private collaborations to support dollars getting into com munities while working to modernize our delivery systems in ways that are human centered and have impact for everyone. Congress also needs to be prepared to make mid-course adjust ments as new needs or barriers arise. This is a comprehensive government and community effort. It will be critical to have strong communica tion channels for everyone to solve problems and co-create together. We all have a role to play—and APHSA is committed to working along side our members and partners to make the most of these investments— so that all communities can thrive. 2. See https://bit.ly/LayingTracksAPHSA 3. Numerous studies point to the extended and far-reaching economic impact of the pandemic on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities of color; workers with low wages; young workers; and women. 4. See https://bit.ly/COVID_APHSA Reference Notes 1. See http://bit.ly/ARP_summary

braiding funds across programs—we can leverage additional administra tive dollars to make upgrades to integrated IT platforms creating seamless data systems available to individual consumers, staff, and partners. Beyond efficient online portals, we can leverage tools like virtual agents and telehealth models to meet families in ways that are least disruptive to their lives. We can reinvent organizational structures and work environments. For example, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, in its Service First model, has closed dozens of its in person service offices and has co-located in more than 150 programs across the state, including nonprofit organiza tions, sister-state agencies, schools, and law enforcement agencies. The agency is nowworking on a plan to keep this model in place even after the pandemic. We can accelerate intergovern mental efforts—both horizontal (across agencies) and vertical (fed eral-state-local)—as well as bolster public–private partnerships to tap the expertise from all sectors. Building on the extraordinary innovations and collaborations witnessed across the country in response to COVID-19, we can broaden the impact and reach of services provided on the ground. 4 We have the opportunity to use data and resources to connect with people and families before they reach a crisis. We can build capacity for the equitable use of data across systems, focusing resources to those hardest hit—not just from the pandemic but from historic structural bias and inequities. In particular, we need to account for the “additive impact” on people who have been most affected by the pandemic. We must collectively exercise the muscle of collecting and disaggregating data by race, ethnicity, gender identity, dis ability—and by other dimensions. It must become our standard practice to ensure a data-informed evidence focus that is human centered and equitable.

long-term payoff of these invest ments. We can strengthen the resiliency of our public health and human services infrastructure, and, in turn, substantially move the needle on social and economic mobility so families succeed for the long run. For state and local health and human services leaders and, by extension, the team at APHSA, implementation of this legislation is very much top of mind. Leaders want to ensure agency services are meeting the immediate needs of people in the community and begin to advance the systemic change laid out above. The very nature of how the ARP came to be creates a tension point on how best to make good on both of those objectives. The ARP was passed through budget reconcilia tion, a vehicle explicitly designed to be transactional—not transforma tive—in nature. At the same time, the ARP is broad in scope with investments touching nearly all aspects of the social determinants that are founda tional to health and well-being. As a result, multiple sectors are involved— public health departments, labor and commerce, regulatory authorities, and the people-serving systems that exist across health, education, housing, and human services. In sum, state and local agencies face a major short-term influx of funds across a multitude of agencies with decisions about if and how they can make long-term or per manent systemic improvements—not knowing whether there will be funding to sustain those changes. There are many outstanding ques tions about who will make spending decisions, their timeline, and what exactly is allowed. For many parts of the ARP, states must first wait on guidance frommultiple federal agencies. And the multiyear nature of the funds does not necessarily fit neatly into state annual budget cycles nor with state legislative session timelines. This is further com plicated by the fact that some resources will flow directly to local communities. For both new and existing supportive services, the eligibility rules vary across programs that are administered

We have the opportunity to evaluate and document the

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