Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello DHS,
It’s the last week of June, and this week marks an important milestone for us as a new
organization. On July 1, we officially become the new Department of Human Services.
Milestones like this are a great time to think about the past, present and the future, and
I don’t know if all of you know this but our organization, as a department, goes all
the way back to 1971. We’ve expanded and contracted as the Department of Human Resources
– The Department of Corrections left us, the Employment Division, the Youth Authority,
Housing and Community Services.
We’ve done lots of things, been lots of things, served many people and grown up into
the present where we’ve celebrated a lot of successes together with our partners in
the Oregon Health Authority.
We’ve accomplished great things, like Oregon Healthy Kids, a partnership with CAF and DMAP.
We’ve done some outstanding work in individual program areas. This week is also a milestone
for the Staley settlement agreement in developmental disabilities -- a ten-year path to helping
support people with developmental disabilities in their own homes and in communities.
There’s been some great work that we’ve done as a department and some of that I want
to especially acknowledge today as we transition. I want to really recognize the folks who worked
on the transition team.
You know, when we started this transition, Bruce Goldberg said something that really
stood out to me. He said, “This time when we transition as an agency, we want to come
out on the other side and turn on the light switch and have the lights go on, not have
the toilet flush.”
A lot of people spent a lot of time making sure that the operational supports, the infrastructure
of our two agencies, a lot of which will be shared, will work. That the lights will come
on -- and not the toilet.
I want to recognize those folks who participated in the technical transition teams, who worked
on how to share things like our IT infrastructure, our contracts and procurement group, and many
others. So thank you for all that work. It really will bode us well, and I think we’re
positioned better than ever because of the work you’ve done.
Moving into the future and thinking about some lessons learned, a couple of things stood
out to me:
One is that our agency has but been successful not because of what we do but really because
of how we do it. That’s why I’ve spent so much time talking about the Core Values.
They represent what we stand for. Our words, our actions reflect our attitudes and beliefs
about who we are as an agency. So I think our success in the future really depends on
us holding true to not just the what, but the how.
The second big lesson for me is that our successes, all those things I mentioned and many, many
more, have come because we have an organization full of people who are truly passionately
committed to excellence and to the work that we do. Not one single win has happened because
it just happened to happen, but they happened because people care, and I thank you for caring
and for your work.
So I hope you’ll take a little time this week to think about where you’ve been and
where we are and where we’re headed as an organization and how you fit into that.
And I just would close by reaffirming my commitment to you and to the organization as we move
forward. My commitments around being honest, being transparent, being accountable and communicating
well. And my commitment and true belief in what we do and how we do it.
So thank you. Have a great week, and take a little time to celebrate. Take care.