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Good afternoon, all,
I’m writing today to announce a series of exciting organizational shifts that you can expect to see in the coming months. I know this past year has brought CDHS and our clients a great deal of change. Between shifting needs of the populations we serve, new requirements from the federal government, increased budgetary constraints and ongoing staffing vacancies, we have had to rethink what much of our work looks like in order to continue supporting Coloradans. I, along with the Senior Executive Team (SET), am pleased to be able to now share a few strategic moves that we believe will better address some of these issues.
First, we have determined that our 24/7 operations are currently too far removed from departmental leadership. In order to ensure the needs of our direct-care staff are heard as decision making is happening, we have determined that all 24/7 divisions should directly report to a member of SET. To achieve this, some of you may know that Leora Joseph and Erin Wester have been temporarily serving double duty as Office directors and temporary members of SET since September. I am pleased to announce that effective immediately, Erin and Leora will become permanent members of SET. Their roles will shift to be senior directors of their respective 24/7 programmatic areas, giving these areas increased access to SET. We will not be backfilling their office director roles.
As Senior Director of Civil and Forensic Mental Health, Leora will oversee all Civil and Forensic Mental Health facility operations as an unchanged lane of business. As Senior Director of Residential and Reintegration Services, Erin’s portfolio will oversee the Veterans Community Living Centers and the Regional Centers. Erin’s portfolio will now also include the Division of Youth Services, which will be moving from the Office of Children, Youth and Families, effective Dec. 1. This means all 24/7 facilities will now be grouped together under two senior leaders, and effectively eliminate current complex reporting structures.
As all 24/7 facilities will now be grouped together, the remaining non-24/7 programs in the Office of Adult, Aging and Disability Services will be joining existing offices. Beginning Jan. 1, the Division of Aging and Adult Protective Services (AAPS) will become a new division in the existing Office of Children, Youth, and Families (OCYF) under Acting OCYF Director Robert "Tres" Newport. The name of the office will be changed to reflect this expansion. Also on Jan. 1, the Division of Disability Determination Services will become a new division in the Office of Economic Security (OES) under OES Director Shelley Banker. Please note that with any of these moves, there are no changes to division leadership. This is purely a shift in the larger structure of where the divisions are housed in the larger CDHS organization.
Finally, I am pleased to provide a permanent reporting structure for several critical programs that previously were part of OAADS. In recognition of their community ties and deep involvement with partners across the state, the Colorado Division for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind as well as the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council and Family Voice Council will move to Community Partnerships, effective Jan. 1.
View an illustration of these structural shifts (PDF).
As we approach the end of the hiring freeze, we will also be immediately moving to fill the chief human resources officer position and the OCYF director role, to be renamed to account for new programs.
I cannot overstate how appreciative I am of the many leaders, teams and individual contributors who have stepped up during this time, whether by taking on additional shift work or assuming interim roles, to ensure CDHS continues to deliver top-notch services to Coloradans across the state. Throughout this period of budgetary constraint, you all have truly gone above and beyond to not just ensure continuity of services, but to innovate, address new challenges, and creatively find ways to do more with less. While I know challenges in your work are ever present, it is my hope that these changes can at least provide more certainty in the reporting structure, provide a better support system to our 24/7 programs, and organize our lanes of business in a way that reduces the siloes you experience. Please also know that none of these changes will add to our costs. We continue to reduce overhead at the Department to ensure our resources support direct services as much as possible.
We recognize that these are major changes, and that challenges come with any big shift. Please know that your leaders stand ready to support you, and do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns as we work to implement this new structure.
As always, we are the people who help people. We appreciate all you have done and continue to do to help Coloradans thrive, and are honored to work alongside you each and every day.
Sincerely,
Michelle Barnes
Michelle Barnes
Executive Director, Colorado Dept of Human Services
Pronouns: she, her
Please contact Jessica.bixler@state.co.us if you need to schedule time with me.
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