|
|
|
|
Dear CSD Team,
It’s an exciting time for the Harris County  Community Services Department as we prepare for the CSD organization of the future. In this edition of CSD Insights, we will share information on the department’s reorganization, including the new business sectors and those selected to lead them.
We have identified ways to capitalize on our talents and arrange our business units to best leverage our expertise to deliver our programs more efficiently and effectively. Additionally, we have a few new leaders and some of our longstanding leaders will shift roles to provide fresh perspectives to help build upon our capacity to serve.
The reorganization of CSD's business units, paired with the upcoming strategic planning process and the reimagining of our digital platforms, will put us in a better position to not only streamline our processes but to enhance our productivity to serve more Harris County residents.
In the ten months since my arrival, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many of you who make a difference in the lives of county residents every day. Thank you for your dedication and willingness to support our mission! Our story is a great one! We want to continue our efforts to help make Harris County the best place in the country to live, work and thrive!
In Gratitude,
Dr. Adrienne Holloway
Executive Director, CSD
|
|
CSD Launches Department Reorganization, Looks Forward to Strategic Planning Process
A new day is dawning for the Community Services Department as the organization transitions from a group that functioned as a "catch all" for any programs having anything to do with “people” to an organization with an intentional and strategic mission focused on the areas where CSD excels.
“Generally, what we do is improve the lives of residents,” said Dr. Adrienne Holloway, CSD’s executive director. “Our work is carried out primarily through direct services, housing and disaster recovery.”
|
|
- Direct Services: Providing assistance to Harris County residents who are struggling or in need
- Housing: Providing affordable and moderate-level housing (both single-family and multi-family) to county residents
- Disaster Recovery: Provide services to residents impacted by any federally-declared natural disaster
|
|
|
Under Holloway’s leadership, CSD is undergoing a departmental reorganization. Additionally, CSD is embarking on a strategic planning process that will solidify the department’s mission and vision by allowing for a more discerning approach to how its delivers programs and services for the benefit of residents and to how CSD can invest in, improve and elevate other offerings to have a better impact. Additionally, the department will take a more proactive stance on communicating with its base (both internally and externally) and on utilizing data from recent surveys and workshops to better inform its decision-making.
“Moving forward we are looking at community services in a more holistic way,” said Holloway. “The department reorganization and strategic plan will allow us to hone our expertise, articulate it and implement it for the people of Harris County.”
A review of the “old” structure revealed a need to position leadership in a manner that better aligns their expertise with the sectors for which they are responsible and accountable. CSD’s “new” structure highlights five business sectors (formerly known as divisions), three of which are seeing significant changes, and the divisions that fall under them.
|
|
These organizational changes also reflect the need/desire to leverage our internal resource by pooling together complementary work units to make the best use of our talent and knowledge base. This will allow for greater opportunities to create more meaningful partnerships with other county departments.
The strategic plan will articulate long-term objectives and provide a roadmap for implementing these objectives over the next 10 years, allowing CSD to focus on its core areas of housing, infrastructure and critical community services.
“Everything we do begins with a plan that will flow through the organization,” said Holloway. “We start with a plan to help inform what we do and then each business sector actually facilitates the execution of that plan by bringing programs or services to the people of Harris County who are in need.”
Please see the accompanying briefs below, which go into more detail about each of the new business sectors and their plans for the future.
|
|
Familiar and Respected Leaders Take Roles as Sector Chiefs to Guide CSD into the Future
Now that you understand a little about the “why” of the CSD reorganization, we’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the individuals who will be leading the charge for our newly formed business sectors. Learn about the plans each “chief” has for their respective sectors and what you can expect as the plan is rolled out.
|
|
Name: Martin Negron, Ph.D.
Business Sector: Community Services
Divisions:
- Social Services
- Transit
- Legal Services
While Dr. Martin Negron is no stranger to CSD’s Social Services Division, the department reorganization allows him the opportunity to focus on “what more we can do” to meet the needs of the residents of Harris County as CSD's new Chief Community Services Officer. Negron will not only lead Social Services, but Transit and our new Legal Services division, as well.
“We’re no longer just playing catch up," said Negron. "We can move things forward now." He plans to spend time with each division learning what’s working and what’s not and delve into how we can improve our services whether it be through the implementation of new technology or the refinement of processes.
He echoes the sentiment of other chief officers with the notion that the strategic planning process will provide CSD with a “roadmap of accountability.”
Martin intends to lead by example and make sure his team has the necessary tools they need to get the job done. He’s excited to see where CSD is headed and looks forward to what the future has in store.
|
|
Name: Daphne Lemelle
Business Sector: Operations
Divisions:
- Human Resources
- Information Technology & Logistics
- Outreach & Engagement
- Marketing & Communications
In her new role as Chief Operations Officer, Daphne Lemelle will use her vast knowledge of policy, programs and all things CSD to connect our services to the people of Harris County. Creating meaningful collaborations internally between business sectors and divisions and externally with stakeholders – both for the greater good of our community – is top of mind.
“My experience will allow me to turn policy into action for the department,” said Daphne. “Essential to our future growth is making sure the people of the county who are in need know that we exist and know how to connect to our services.”
With the results of the recent comprehensive housing plan and study presenting a 10-year projection and roadmap for improving the housing circumstances for county residents, Daphne initially plans to prioritize her focus on IT and how it can be best positioned to help CSD use data as a planning tool for the entire department. She believes General Services will be critical to the department’s growth moving forward and wants to help this team implement recommendations from a recent IT assessment.
Daphne plans to support her team by aligning her divisions to work together to better support the department overall and by developing a method of regular communication among internal business sector stakeholders so information flows not only internally but externally, as well.
|
|
 Name: Rene Martinez
Business Sector: Housing & Community Development
Divisions:
- Housing Programs
- Housing Development & Special Initiatives
- Planning & Development
- Grants Management
Rene Martinez is doing what he does best – developing relationships within CSD and with our external partners. In his new role as Chief Housing and Community Development Officer, he’s bringing together four different divisions that will work together for the residents and businesses of Harris County. The groups represented under his leadership are Housing Development and Special Initiatives, Housing Programs, Planning and Development and Grants Management.
“I like to work with leaders and their teams,” said Rene of his leadership style. “I want to engender trust and creativity in an open, communicative and collaborative way.”
Rene’s intends, as his first order of business, to deepen the relationships between his divisions, strengthen operating systems and establish best practices to facilitate community investment. He'll focus on how we assess and deploy funding for programs and projects. He is seeking projects that are investment-and-construction-ready.
Moving forward, Rene’s goal is to have CSD be evermore deliberate and discerning with how it makes investments to ensure we are delivering the most benefit to Harris County residents.
|
|
Name: Craig Atkins
Business Sector: Financial Services
Divisions:
- Grants Accounting
- DR Accounting
- Financial Monitoring & Reporting
- Admin & SS Accounting
While the CSD reorganization doesn’t change the structure of the Financial Services business sector, Craig Atkins, Chief Financial Services Officer, plans to take this opportunity to evaluate how his staff aligns with the divisions his unit supports. Because changes happening within CSD will almost always have an impact on the Financial Services operation, his unit must be adaptable to the nature, skill set and level of support needed.
Craig’s business sector takes its pledge to heart: To provide exceptional support with integrity, accountability and objectivity. This is the driving force behind how he leads his team. But if you ask Craig, he prefers to think of himself as another team member.
“I take true interest in the people who work with me and I let them know it,” said Craig. “I can’t be good if the people around me aren’t better.” He is a big proponent of promoting development within Financial Services and believes if they adhere to a well-defined mission, there is no room for error.
Craig believes the upcoming strategic planning process will reveal areas of strength and challenges for CSD that may have been overlooked. He is looking forward to improving efficiency within Financial Services and continuing to innovate and stay ahead of the curve as finance supports the rest of the department.
|
|
Names: Christy Lambright, Planning (director)
Judit Haracsek, Contract Compliance & Support (director)
Nicholas Catechis, Housing Operations (director)
Business Sector: Disaster Recovery & Resiliency
Divisions:
- Housing Programs
- Contracts Compliance
- Planning
- Infrastructure & Resiliency
At this point, the reorganization at CSD won’t change much about the operational aspects of Disaster Recovery. But that doesn’t mean they won’t have a significant role to play in shepherding the department into this next phase of growth.
Christy Lambright will be instrumental in transferring her institutional knowledge of CSD to many of the new divisional leaders. CSD has a lot of new talent on board and ensuring they are aware of how our funding strategies and projects best benefit the people of Harris County is of the utmost importance.
Compliance plays a pivotal role in all that we do, not only contract compliance but procurement, as well. And Judit Haracsek is right there with her team to make sure we are crossing the "t's" and dotting the "i's". They work very closely with our Financial Services business sector and DR program operations to effectuate compliance, as well as identify and mitigate audit risks.
Nick Catechis believes that the operations side of Disaster Recovery is very agile and adaptive. They have the foresight to determine how changes (based on funding source) may affect programming and they are flexible enough to roll with the punches to make things happen.
|
|
Missing in Harris County Day 2021 Offers Assistance to Families of Missing Loved Ones
Harris County CSD’s Bereavement Program participated in the annual Missing in Harris County Day 2021 last month, which is hosted by the Texas Center for the Missing, to help families who have been impacted by the disappearance of a loved one connect with organizations dedicated to locating the missing.
Along with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department and the Houston Police Department, Dr. Adrienne Holloway spoke at the press conference held two days prior to the virtual event.
|
|
CSD’s Bereavement Program is led by Jessica Cooper. She and her team work with referring agencies to ensure that every unknown, indigent or abandoned person in Harris County receives a simple and respectful funeral service and burial.
There are a total of 440 unknown decedents between the two county cemeteries – 407 from as far back as 1938 at the Oates Road cemetery and 33 dating back to 2014 at the Crosby Eastgate cemetery.
Through our community partnerships, we can help provide much-needed closure and peace to families with missing loved ones.
|
|
Commitment, Perspective and Experience Describe CSD's New AD for Legal Services
Dulce Islas has found herself in the literal position of having her worlds collide – in the best way possible – in her new role as the assistant director of Legal Services for the Harris County Community Services Department.
You see, Dulce is an immigrant. As a teenager, she came to the United States from Mexico with her parents and after helping them complete all the necessary paperwork during the naturalization process, she has been passionate about immigration, its laws and assisting people with navigating the system ever since.
“I’m just an immigrant. I’m not even a first-generation American,” said Dulce. “My life experiences, interest in immigration and the fact that I am an  immigrant all came together for this position.”
After changing her major in college from engineering to political science and sociology (she double majored at the University of Houston) because of her interest in the immigration system, Dulce went on earn her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center where she focused her coursework on government and policy and often volunteered for immigration clinics. Upon graduation, Dulce worked for the Harris County District Attorney’s office as a prosecutor handling human trafficking and domestic violence cases, which gave her a great deal of exposure to the way criminal law and immigration law intersect and this is pivotal to her new role.
For the first time in Harris County – one of the most diverse counties in the U.S. – there is a synthesis between immigration and available services. Dulce is excited to bring a different perspective to Legal Services and about the prospect of developing programs where community voices are heard.
“I know the struggle of immigrants because I lived through them myself,” said Dulce. “It’s very difficult to be an immigrant in the U.S. and not know your rights.” She believes CSD and Harris County can create substantial change with this new program.
“I’ve been a public servant my entire life and I want this program to be successful because I care about people and I want the people of Harris County to have access to affordable immigration representation should they find themselves or their families in need, often through no fault of their own,” said Dulce.
|
|
|
Spreading the word about the programs and services we offer is paramount to making an impact in the lives of the Harris County residents we serve. If you’d like to see more of a particular news piece that was covered by our local media, please “click” on an image below.
|
|
|
KPRC Channel 2: Newsmakers
August 22, 2021
|
|
|
|
North Channel Star
July 15, 2021
|
|
|
Houston Apartment Association
HAA THIS WEEK
August 16 & September 7, 2021
|
|
|
Let’s shine a light on all the fantastic things happening! In upcoming editions of the newsletter, we’d like to celebrate not only birthdays but other events or milestones that are important to you. Maybe you were recognized in an article or with an award for the great work you’re doing at CSD. We want to hear about it! Is there a new baby in the family or maybe a new graduate? Did you get married? Tell us more!
Please send information and photos to piowebedit@csd.hcts.net. We look forward to receiving your good news!
August Birthdays
|
|
Tonya Manning - August 1
Charla Gilliam - August 2
Sylvia Ramirez - August 4
Mary Rangel - August 6
Desi Canela - August 7
Sandra Baker - August 10
Sonya Newsome - August 10
Rodney Dickens - August 11
Jenn Garrett - August 11
Esmeralda Starns - August 11
Demetra Davis - August 13
Linnzi Partow - August 15
|
Desiree Dodd - August 16
Paralee Robinson - August 16
David Cornejo - August 18
Donald Hughes - August 18
Victoria Quilantan - August 18
Winona Valencia - August 18
Steven Dimayuga - August 20
Kent Hadnot - August 21
Cindy Martinez - August 22
Vernon Chambers - August 27
Alicia Graves - August 30
Nellie Cruz - August 31
|
|
Debra Hayes - September 1
Michelle Herran - September 1
Paul Weisser - September 2
Maricruz Luna - September 3
Mamadou Thioune - September 3
Jacqueline Thomas - September 6
Evelyn Casey - September 7
Mabel Cervantes - September 9
Maria Chacon - September 11
Kimesha Sonnier - September 12
Linda Hudson - September 13
Jorge Padilla - September 15
Loretta Solomon - September 15
Paige Strunk - September 15
|
Loretha Greene - September 16
Judit Haracsek - September 16
Yvonne Maldonado - September 20
Debralyn Berindean -September 21
Michele Shaw - September 21
Mirna Elias - September 22
Madeline Santa - September 22
Carlos Rodriguez - September 23
Tromy Batiste, Jr. - September 24
Laura Partida - September 24
Hector Guzman - September 26
Rosette Pickney - September 28
Gladis Bailey - September 29
Candice Copes - September 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
