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Polk County CSD reviews three‑year strategic plan as cycle nears end
Summary
Staff from Polk County Community Services Division reviewed progress on a three‑year strategic plan, highlighting training, process standardization and interagency partnerships across economic support, business services, children and families, behavioral health and public health.
Tanya, a Community Services Division staff member, told the Health and Human Services Committee the division is in the final year of a three‑year strategic plan and provided a department‑by‑department progress update.
The presentation organized goals into three buckets — people, process and purpose — and summarized recent work across units. Economic support staff reported an average of about eight training opportunities per worker (described as “about less than one a month”), and the division said a recent management evaluation review (secret‑shopper style testing required under the federal/state food‑share contract) had positive findings for local call center and in‑person service delivery.
Business services staff described efforts to move authorization and record requests to electronic workflows, produce standard operating procedures for drug‑screening records and contracted crisis services, adopt a shared‑leadership model and improve fleet vehicle reservations. The team also completed a resource guide for staff and described outreach to food pantries, 2‑1‑1 and churches to build referral relationships.
Department of Children and Families (DCF) reported templates for new‑hire training, contributions to a statewide caseload study, rollout of a youth assessment screening instrument (YASI) used for youth justice screening, and a recently implemented youth justice diversion program. Staff said monthly face‑to‑face all‑staff meetings and on‑call training for new hires had resumed after the pandemic.
Behavioral health described standard operating procedures, a Department of Health Services (DHS) Chapter 75 rewrite implementation (surveyed in early 2022), work to become a trauma‑responsive agency and development of a local provider network to address service deserts.
Public health noted maintenance of Level 3 status after a 140 review, completion of annual reporting, a community health assessment and community health improvement plan under way, and renewed collaborations with schools and medical centers through a “roadshow” of leadership visits.
Committee members asked about out‑of‑county juvenile placements (Tanya reported a juvenile at Lincoln Hills and another at Northwest Passage), the DHS Chapter 75 survey (two minor citations, corrected via plan of correction), and how the division will present the next strategic plan cycle. Tanya said the division will present the new three‑year plan to the committee and provide annual updates during each cycle.
