Michele Ahern Assistant Deputy Photo Commissioner NYC Office of - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

2018 NCSEA Board of Directors Election Michele Ahern Assistant Deputy Photo Commissioner NYC Office of Child Support Services www.linkedin.com/in/micheleahernnycsocialservices/

2018 NCSEA Board of Directors Election Michele Ahern Assistant Deputy Commissioner NYC Office of Child Support Services Experience and Achievements • Senior leadership roles, NYC Human Resources Administration, NYC’s principal social services agency serving over 3 million people annually. Expertise in child support, workforce development, TANF & SNAP (2008-present) • Senior Program Examiner, White House Office of Management and Budget (1998 – 2008) • Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program • Acting Chief, Income Maintenance Branch, May – July 2004 • Washington DC Child Support Division, three-month detail, 2003 • Professional Achievement Awards, 2000, 2002, 2005 • Policy Analyst, US Dept. of Health & Human Services (1995 – 1998) • Office of Asst. to the Governor of Illinois for Human Services Reform, six-month detail, 1997 • Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, 1996

Why are you running for the NCSEA Board of Directors? • I am running for the NCSEA Board of Directors because I believe that NCSEA plays a uniquely valuable role in strengthening the child support program. It does so in two key ways: 1. As the primary representative of the nation’s state and local child support programs, NCSEA educates and promotes the program to federal and state policymakers. This work is critical because, despite its wide reach, the purpose and impact of the child support program is not always well understood by those outside of the program. 2. NCSEA is also a forum for child support professionals to come together to discuss common issues and concerns. NCSEA’s conferences, webinars, web presence and newsletters all help to facilitate information sharing so that we can learn together how best to serve our clients. Collaboration and sharing of best practices is integral to the program’s ability to continue to evolve and more effectively support families. • I believe my combination of local and federal child support experience, as well as more than twenty years of experience working across social service programs, will enable me to make a valuable contribution to both of these key roles.

How will you contribute to help NCSEA shape the future of child support? • NCSEA has a vital role to play in educating legislators and policymakers about the child support program and ensuring that policy changes under consideration are informed by the program’s goals and what makes sense on the ground. To that end, I would work with my fellow Board Members to develop policy papers and fact sheets that represent the program and inform the legislative process. • NCSEA’s conferences are the primary forum for the exchange of ideas among child support leaders from across the country. I would work with other NCSEA members to identify workshop topics of greatest interest and importance to the NCSEA membership with an emphasis on sharing of best practices and addressing common barriers to achieving program outcomes.

What are your accomplishments/achievements in child support? For the past four and a half years, I have served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Operations in NYC’s Office of Child Support Services, where I have: • Ensured proper implementation of administrative and judicial enforcement measures, resulting in collections of more than $770 million annually. • Managed NYC’s employment programs for noncustodial parents, placing over 1,000 participants in employment each year. • Launched new initiatives to improve case outcomes, including: o An outreach program targeting noncustodial parents with new orders. o An arrears-reduction program for Support Through Employment Program participants. o An expansion of NYC’s problem -solving court for noncustodial parents. o An occupational skills training program for noncustodial parents as part of Families Forward, a national demonstration program. As Senior Program Examiner for Child Support at Federal OMB (1998 – 2000), I: • Analyzed and recommended federal child support policy proposals, including legislative proposals included in the 2001 President’s Budget, which offered a state option to increase pass-through of collections to families. • Reviewed child support regulations to ensure compliance with the law and sound program management. • Negotiated budget and policy decisions with federal agency staff.

What will you do to help mentor and develop future leaders through NCSEA? • I will assist in planning workshops for NCSEA’s summer and winter conferences, and work to identify topics that will be valuable for the development of future child support leaders. • I will encourage my staff and colleagues to attend NCSEA conferences and web-talks, and actively identify colleagues and staff who would benefit from participating in NCSEA U.

How will you help promote NCSEA to the child support community and public? • I would look for opportunities to increase the participation of leaders, practitioners, and researchers from outside of child support in NCSEA conferences and events. Unlike other social service programs, the child support “world” tends to be more narrowly limited to those who work in the program itself and a relatively small group of researchers and advocates who understand the reach and impact of the program. Expanding participation in NCSEA’s conferences would not only enrich the conference experience, but would also increase knowledge of the program support beyond the child support community. • At the same time, I would also work to identify workshops and webinars that address the intersection of child support with other policy and program areas, topics that might draw participants and interest from partners outside of child support.

Which specific child support issues interest you the most? • I am interested in how the child support program can continue to maximize collections. With the advent of new data sources and enforcement tools under 1996 welfare reform, child support collections grew significantly. Over time, however, maintaining high growth in collections has become increasingly challenging. It now seems especially important for programs to collaborate around and share strategies for making the most of existing data sources, and for pursuing less readily available income and assets. • I am also interested in how the program can continue to improve its support of low-income obligors. While the child support program is largely effective at compelling parents with regular wages to pay child support, parents with a more tenuous labor force attachment are less able to meet their support obligations and more likely to experience a host of problems stemming from their inability to pay. I am interested in how the program can modify the services it provides as well as the order establishment and enforcement processes to better meet the needs of low-income noncustodial parents. • Finally, I am also interested in how state efforts to direct more collections to families can be further supported. Despite strong policy rationale and flexibility within federal law, states have largely not taken full advantage of the option to direct more child support to families for a variety of policy, programmatic and budget reasons.

Candidate’s Closing Remarks – Vote for me because… • I believe that NCSEA plays a uniquely valuable role in strengthening the child support program. • I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to NCSEA’s key roles, both in its outward facing role educating and promoting the program to federal and state policy-makers, as well as through its valuable conferences and events that bring together child support professionals from across the country. • My combination of local and federal child support experience as well as more than twenty years of experience working across social service programs will enable me to make a valuable contribution to NCSEA’s work.