David Thielen, Executive Director of Linn County Community Services (LCCS), was recently appointed to the National Association of County Human Services Administrators (NACHSA) Board of Directors for the upcoming 2019/2020 year.
Serving alongside county elected officials, NACHSA works to formulate national human services policy. Those forums and conferences provide members with an excellent opportunity to network with other administrators nationwide. NACHSA members are active in several NACo steering committees and task forces.
NACHSA supports the professional development of administrators committed to delivering quality services to county residents in need. NACHSA provides information from a variety of sources to help county human services navigate the ever-changing federal legislative landscape and access other county-based information to tackle new challenges and opportunities in the human services arena.
NACHSA members represent the broad spectrum of human services agencies throughout the country, including agencies that provide public assistance, child care, child protective services, adult protective services and a variety of other services. The organization is staffed in Washington, D.C. by NACHSA consultant Tom Joseph who has over 30 years of national experience representing county associations and individual counties.
Last year, NACHSA advocated on behalf of counties on a number of human services issues. Those efforts included:
- SSBG: NACHSA met with Senate offices to once again ensure that Congress rejected efforts to eliminate the Social Services Block Grant.
- SNAP: The Association worked to ensure counties continued to have administrative flexibility in administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to serve families and individuals who depend upon it during times of financial stress. As the 2018 farm bill was debated, NACHSA sent letters to the House and Senate to protect the fundamental nature of SNAP –to address food insecurity.
- TANF: For the first time in years, both the House and Senate began to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. While the process stalled in both chambers, NACHSA worked closely with the National Association of Counties to respond to Committee requests on bill drafts.
- Public Charge: NACHSA submitted comments identifying the increased administrative expenses and harmful effects on legal immigrants of a proposed rule expanding the list of government programs which would affect the ability of a legal immigrant to extend or change their status.
Among this year’s federal efforts, NACHSA will continue to monitor and shape the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act, the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and respond to proposed federal rules affecting the administration of programs and the clients we serve.
Thielen, who has served as the LCCS Executive Director since April of 2017, has over 20 years of management and volunteer experience in the social service, non-profit agencies that served homeless, domestic violence victims, childcare/childcare assistance, housing assistance, disabled individuals, and wellness at the YMCA, Waypoint Services, Willis Dady Homeless Shelter, Big Brother/Big Sister, and The Arc of East Central Iowa before coming to Linn County.