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Happy New Year! We hope you enjoy our newest resource, The Compass. This monthly newsletter will provide a comprehensive recap of all things APHSA from the month prior as well as upcoming events to mark on your calendar.
Speaking of new, we look forward to welcoming our new President and CEO next month, Reggie Bicha! Reggie is a social worker, administrator, educator, and national leader with extensive experience in child welfare, education, employment, early childhood, and healthcare at the county, state, and national levels. He will assume his responsibilities as President and CEO on February 5. Reggie succeeds Tracy Wareing Evans who served as APHSA President and CEO for 13 years. Learn more about Reggie in our press release.
Do you want to continue receiving The Compass? Click here to join the mailing list!
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Disrupt the Dialogue Podcast
Season 2 of Disrupt the Dialogue is here! Co-hosts Tina Wright-Ervin and Alexander Figueroa speak to BIPOC leaders in human services who share insights and personal experiences around their work in advancing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB). You can listen to new episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite streaming platform by searching Disrupt the Dialogue.
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How States Used SNAP ARPA Funding
APHSA, in partnership with Urban Institute and Share Our Strength’s Center for Best Practices, published a paper that explores how state SNAP agencies used their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. It documents desired and actual investments made with the funding; progress toward SNAP modernization; and improvements in delivering equitable customer service.
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Navigating the SNAP Cliff
In the sixth publication of our 2023 Farm Bill series, we explore a two-prong strategy to address two separate benefit cliffs in a SNAP E&T participant's journey to unsubsidized employment.
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Strengthening TANF
APHSA Senior Director of Policy and Practice, Matthew Lyons, and Policy Associate for Social and Economic Mobility, Rebekah Sides, contributed a guest column for Barrett and Greene Inc. They weighed in on the emerging window of opportunity for strengthening TANF to better aid families experiencing poverty. If you haven't already, be sure to read and share the article today!
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Supplemental Pandemic Funds Survey Results
APHSA conducted a survey to better understand the impacts of the sunsetting of supplemental pandemic funds to lead child care agencies. The survey results were shared in a briefing in December with members and congressional staff from Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and Education and the Workforce Committees. They’ll also be shared on the upcoming National Association of State Child Care Administrators (NASCCA) All-State Call, with a written brief to follow. Email Raneem Karboji to learn more.
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THRIVE
APHSA's Learning Management System (LMS), THRIVE, is a Training Hub for Resources, Innovation, & Virtual Exchange. We invite you to log in (for free!) and check out our newest e-Learning coaching course.
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Member Briefing with Congress on Summer EBT
This month, APHSA hosted an educational briefing for members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and the House Committees on Education and the Workforce and Agriculture. We provided context on state decision-making ahead of the first year of potential Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children (Summer EBT) implementation.
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Co-Hosting the Summer EBT Track
On January 23, APHSA is co-hosting the Summer EBT Track at Share Our Strength's Summer Nutrition Summit to support state agencies and partners in plans to implement Summer EBT in 2024 and beyond. The event will include a plenary session panel of parents with lived experience using summer nutrition programs, breakout sessions focused on Summer EBT policy and human-centered design, and a state-only session for active peer-to-peer planning.
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Updated OE Handbook
An updated Organizational Effectiveness (OE) Handbook will be released this spring. The handbook features valuable information and resources for you and your organization to help in managing and navigating the changes required by your human services agency. Contact us to learn more about how to use this valuable resource or if you are interested in the corresponding “Organizational Effectiveness Handbook Training” for you or your staff.
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Technical Assistance Packages
The OE team is also creating a menu of Technical Assistance packages full of resources that will allow you to customize a workplan based on your organization’s needs. Examples of focus areas include leadership development, project management, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB), and organizational effectiveness facilitator development.
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Child Care Subsidy Equity Workshop Series
APHSA, in partnership with the Urban Institute, is hosting a series of workshops to support state child care agencies in examining their child care subsidy programs through an equity lens. The workshop sessions, hosted bimonthly, include facilitated discussion from child care subsidy experts from Urban Institute with the purpose of diving deeper into who state programs do not serve and why, and how states can increase access and improve processes to reach target populations.
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New SNAP E&T Strategy Document
Adding to our SNAP E&T Priority Population Toolkit, APHSA has published the SNAP E&T: Supporting Refugees and Immigrants strategy document. The document examines the specific employment challenges immigrants and refugees face while offering strategies and best practice examples from third-party providers of how the SNAP E&T program can provide pathways to employment.
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Supporting Young Families Toolkit Update
APHSA released an update to its Supporting Young Families Toolkit on our Aligning for Families website. The toolkit is mapped onto the four pillars laid out in the “Roadmap to Human Services System Alignment for Young Families,” published in 2021. It provides links to many resources to help human services leaders evaluate and intentionally design programs to meet the unique needs of young families.
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CSNS Program
APHSA and No Kid Hungry published six Impact Reports for the first cohort of the Coordinating SNAP & Nutrition Supports (CSNS) program. These reports showcase projects that focused on aligning SNAP with other federal, state, and local nutrition supports through cross-program coordination, data sharing, and community engagement. In addition to the reports, the project’s funder, Share Our Strength, partnered with the National Association of Counties (NACo) to host a webinar highlighting the counties that participated in CSNS.
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January 23, 2 to 3 pm EST: Join APHSA's Alexander Figueroa, Assistant Director of Learning and Development, and Francesca Robinson, Instructional Designer, for Learn How To THRIVE. This webinar demonstration will walk you through the various features of our new learning management system.
January 26, 1 to 2 pm EST: Join us to learn about the potential of our Aligned Customer-Centric Ecosystem of Supports and Services (ACCESS) project in reshaping government services to better meet the needs of the public. ACCESS is a joint initiative of APHSA and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) meant to align, coordinate, and streamline services across the government’s health, human services, and labor sectors.
February 1, 3 to 4:30 pm EST: Get introduced to the topic of environmental justice and climate resiliency from the perspective of human services leaders and the communities they serve in this APHSA Peer Learning Webinar. We'll take a look at actions taken at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as the ways that data and mapping help tell the story of the environmental vulnerability of Head Start programs to spur community-level action.
February 1-3: The 2024 NCSEA Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., will focus on building community, centering families, and advancing equity. APHSA's Senior Director of Policy and Practice, Matt Lyons, will be presenting on a panel, and Mary Nelson, Assistant Director of Practice, will be moderating a session.
February 28, 3 to 4 pm EST: Our AI-Enhanced Curriculum webinar will explore the transformative potential of Generative AI in training by unpacking the nuances of this technology. We will highlight its practical uses in content creation and knowledge assessment as well as in e-learning.
March 7-8: APHSA will be supporting the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) at the 2024 Thriving Communities and Economic Mobility Regional Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The event is focused on aligning workforce, education, and employment through SNAP Employment & Training (SNAP E&T).
June 9-12: Save the date for the APHSA National Human Services Summit 2024 in Arlington, VA! Every year, the Summit brings together our members, allied human-serving organizations, and key partners to connect with one another and learn about the latest trends and innovations in policy, practice, and programs. Call for Papers is open! Be sure to submit your materials by February 16 and join us in “Shaping the Future of Human Services."
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Meg Dygert - Senior Policy Associate, Child & Family Well-Being
Meg works closely with APHSA’s affinity group, the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA) and co-leads the Economic and Concrete Supports Community of Practice. She works to bring together agency leaders, community partners, and people with lived experience to highlight promising approaches in the use of economic and concrete supports to improve family well-being and stability. To learn more, email Meg.
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Interested in getting involved at APHSA? Click here to learn more about our affinity groups and peer communities, or reach out to our membership team at [email protected].
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