This article is written by Gary Pettengell and appears in the December 2021 issue of Policy and Practice, a publication of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). You can read the full article here.
Dedicated human services professionals within agencies and departments across the United States are helping people, families, and society at a critical time. From the far-reaching repercussions of the recent pandemic to the long-term devastation of the opioid epidemic to the onslaught of natural disasters—the leading teams across sectors, from education and housing, to employment and criminal justice, play an essential role in facilitating recovery.
However, to achieve collective impact, no agency, department, or even stand-alone team can do it alone or afford the time and expense incurred by working in a silo. Taking a digital transformation approach to how human services agencies and departments interact, share files and information, and empower their constituents to be part of the solution can help teams standardize a cross-sector approach to collaboration in 2022.
As agencies look to maximize their impact at a critical time and are under time and budgetary constraints to do so, here are four ways that a tech-driven approach can help them collaborate to create better outcomes for their clients.