Ep. 1 - Susan Dreyfus: Causing Disruptions: Upping the Social Services Game Across the Sector

Summary: If the social services sector is going to make a greater impact, then leaders must work together to elevate preventative services to the level of healthcare. Sector leaders need to help advocates who are not typically involved in direct client care (e.g., policy makers, philanthropists, etc.) proximate to our work in order to experience what it takes to holistically and sustainably improve lives. To reach this level, it will take a collective disruption by sector leaders to push towards increased partnerships including mergers and acquisitions, data and information sharing and more robust funding across the board.

LSS President and CEO Héctor Colón speaks with Susan Dreyfus, a respected social services thought leader, to discuss her thoughts and experiences on how the sector as a whole can up its game. The time is now. Let’s go!

Highlights:

7:12– Social and environmental determinants of health are more important to your health and my health than all of the primary care services that we could be providing to people. (7:22)

11:55 – If you gotta make one investment, make it in early childhood, because it’s our one hope. (12:00)

16:12 – In order for us to do our very best work and to put investment in things like advocacy; to put investment in things that build our capacity through the lens of innovation and technology….We can’t do that without margin. (16:28)

19:36 – What we’re stewards of is a mission. The organization is the mechanism to which that mission is achieved. If we can create a better mechanism to achieve that mission – and not just for the provision of programs and services, but larger influence and capacities in our organizations – that’s what we’re stewards of. (19:55)

22:28 – I think our boards of directors – we like the who’s who of community – they have a level of access that I think we underestimate and underutilize. (22:37)

26:21 – Identify your core policy champions. Get them proximate to your organization. Not just for the mission moment at a board meeting. Get them proximate to the neighbors and the communities that you engage and support, and you will have a champion going forward. (26:38)

27:23 – And I think our sector competes too much with one another. We’re competing for contracts – bottom line. And I think we have to understand we’re stronger together. (27:33)