These recommendations are drawn from the on-the-ground expertise of our members—state and local health and human services leaders responsible for overseeing and aligning services that build resilience and bolster family well-being through access to food, health care, employment, child care, and other key building blocks. Our nation’s human services professionals work with Americans in every community and across the lifespan to advance our shared vision for thriving communities built on human potential.
In good times and bad, human services are the essential bricks and mortar that undergird what allows all of us an equitable opportunity to live our fullest lives. We provide foundational supports to families facing adversity and ensure resilience at familial and community levels that help us weather life’s inevitable ups and downs. We are a stabilizing force when Americans are hit by an unexpectedly severe storm such as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic hardship we are all facing. At a time when our health care colleagues are experiencing unprecedented pressure and challenge, we stand with them in working to strengthen supports for people touched by acute health crisis, financial losses, and other destabilizing events.
Times of crisis and deep hardship call for pulling together, not for pulling apart. As the work to fortify our stressed communities and lay a stronger foundation gains traction, human services leaders are already at work, and look to strengthen partnerships and find new allies in the healing and rebuilding process.
