ALAMEDA COUNTY

SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY invites your application for

ASSISTANT AGENCY DIRECTOR

While the current fiscal climate has proven to be challenging for County government, it has also proven to be a time of new possibilities and opportunities. Along with the Agency’s Executive Team, I am seeking ways to broaden collaboration with outside partners and be creative in how services are delivered efficiently to our customers. To be successful in this endeavor, we will need to work cohesively as a team. The Social Services Agency has a great staff and an enormous capacity to improve our work with and for the community and clients we serve.

In general, my goals are to increase visibility of the Social Services Agency in the community, to deepen current partnerships and to increase collaborations with communities and other public agencies. Together I hope that we can create an Agency that is responsive to the needs of the community and that provides growth opportunities for its staff. Should you become a part of our team, I look forward to you assisting in the development of these partnerships, collabora-tions and the anticipated growth of our staff.

Lori Jones, Agency Director

Alameda County Social Services Agency is searching to fill multiple Assistant Agency Director positions. The

current vacancies exist in the following departments: Economic Benefits Administration, Children and Family Services, Adult and Aging Services and Employment Services.

The Social Services Agency consists of the following five departments whose mandated services include:

Economic Benefits Administration administers the eligibility and disburse-ment of mandated assistance programs.

Employment Services Department provides the required employment and support services for public assistance recipients.

Children and Family Services provide emergency response and shelter services as well as investigative, maintenance, reunification, and permanent placement services and administer the Foster Care Program.

Adult and Aging Services (AAS) provides Adult Protective, Public Guardian /Conservator/Administrator, and Older American/Californian Acts services. AAS also administers In‐Home Supportive Services (IHSS), Medi‐Cal Long Term Care programs and operates the Area Agency on Aging and Veteran Services Office.

Administration and Finance provides support to Agency departments and staff through various administrative areas such as Information Technology and Services, Human Resources and Training, Finance and General Accounting and general Office Support Services.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS DEPARTMENT Purpose To promote enrollment, retention, and participation in publicly‐sponsored benefits programs; promote self‐sufficiency; and provide continuing economic assistance through public and private sector partnerships while fostering a workforce development system which supports individuals and families.

Services The Economic Benefits Department provides cash assistance and benefits through mandated programs which include: Medi‐Cal, Cal‐Learn, CalFresh/Food Stamps, California Food Assistance Program (CFAP), General Assistance (GA), Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), and California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs). Discretionary services include health assessment and case management services for disabled General Assistance (GA) recipients as they transition onto Supplemental Security Income (SSI), as well as safety net services such as food and emergency shelters for residents in crisis.

The Mission

of the Social Services Agency is to promote the economic and social

well‐being of individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities.

OVERVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENTAL SERVICES AREAS

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT Purpose

To motivate, support, and prepare families and individuals receiving public assistance to achieve economic self‐sufficiency through employ-ment. The Employment Services Department carries out mandated services that include employment assistance, social services to individuals and families, and referrals to appropriate support services to promote self‐sufficiency. Programs include General Assistance (GA) and California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), whose key components include employment, transpor-tation, child care, domestic violence services, substance abuse, mental health, and safety net services, as well as refugee employment services. The Department also provides discretionary services to meet the needs of the community, including employment assistance to General Assistance recipients through the Food Stamps Employment and Training (FSET) program. The Employment Services Depart-ment (ESD) focuses on providing employment case management services.

Services

California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) is California's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program that provides time‐limited assistance to employable adults with children. CalWORKs is a Work First! model that emphasizes labor market entry as the key to self-sufficiency. The department estimates 8,000 recipients to be eligible for employment in 2012, with a service goal of employing 3,900 of the eligible recipients. With few exceptions, CalWORKs parents must participate in job services, training, education, or community service that leads to self‐sufficiency. Services to support the transition to work and job retention include child care, transportation, alcohol or other drug counseling, mental health, and domestic abuse services. Most CalWORKs families also receive Medi‐Cal and Food Stamp benefits. Services are provided through in-house job club and assessment, partnerships with community providers, refugee employment services, Stage I Child Care, General Assistance (GA), Food Stamp Employ-ment and Training Program and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES Purpose

All children in Alameda County will have the opportunity to grow and develop in a safe, healthy, nurturing and stable home. To reach this goal, we strive to ensure that all children receive the support and security that a family, an extended family, or an alternative family can provide. There are four components to Child Welfare services in California in compliance with federal mandates. These are Emergency Response, Family Maintenance, Family Reunification and Permanent Planning. In Alameda County, services extend significantly beyond what is mandated to fill gaps in funding for prevention services. Due in large part to the successful implementation of the Title IV‐E Child Welfare Waiver Capped Allocation Project, a wide range of innovative and preventive programs have been developed.

Services

The department’s participation in the five‐year federal waiver demonstration allows federal dollars to be used more flexibly to improve child welfare outcomes. This has resulted in the implementation of a range of innovative programs and strategies. It has also meant that Alameda County is able to expand staffing and service resources at a time when most counties are experiencing severe budget reductions and cutbacks. Mandated and discretionary service programs include:

ADULT AND AGING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Purpose

To provide a coordinated, consumer‐focused, accessible high quality service delivery system that protects, supports, and advocates for dependent adults, particularly those with disabilities and the vulnerable elderly and aging population, and promotes their social, economic, and physical well‐being.

Services

The adult and aging services department carries out mandated services that include Adult Protective Services, Public Guardian‐Conservator‐Administrator, In‐Home Supportive Services (IHSS), the Area Agency on Aging, Medi‐Cal Long‐term Care and Qualified Medicare Benefits (QMB) programs, and services under the Older Americans and the Older Californians Acts. Discretionary services, such as municipal senior centers, adult day care, and nutrition programs are provided to the elderly. Other discretionary services, which include the non‐elderly, are the Veterans’ Services Office, which assists veterans and their family members, and the Public Authority, which administers the delivery of services and a registry of service providers to IHSS consumers.

ABOU T THE ASSISTANT AGENCY DIRECTOR POSITIONS

Child Abuse Prevention,

Child Welfare and Family Support Services

Family Preservation

Emergency Response (ER)

Dependency Investigation (DI)

Emergency Placement

Family Maintenance (FM)

Family Reunification

Permanent Youth Connections

Guardianship

Adoptions

Eligibility Determination

Foster Care

Recruitment/Training & Licensing

ILSP - Independent Living Skills Program

Family to Family

Another Road to Safety (ARS)

Paths 2 Success (P2S)

The Assistant Directors plan, organize, and administer client programs and operations of the Economic Services, Child/Family Services, Adult/Aging Services, and Employment Services Departments

in the Social Services Agency and determine and interpret departmental policies, direct the activities of assigned units and

personnel and act for the Agency Director as Department Head of specific client programs. Assistant Agency Directors function at the second highest operational level client program of management in the Social Services Agency and may report to the Director of the Social Services Agency. The incumbents are responsible for providing coordination of programs, personnel, internal management, and administration of the department to which assigned, and are responsible for the design of new programs in response to changes in the public domain.

Key Areas of Responsibility

Acting on behalf of the Agency Director on matters related to client services programs and representing her at meetings with administra-tive officials, Board of Supervisors, legislative bodies, boards, commissions, and various community groups and other organizations.

Setting goals and objectives for client service programs in compliance with the Agency's Mission Statement, State and Federal law and County policy and consulting regularly with department managers so that appropriate goals can be identified and achieved.

Establishing department work priorities, reviewing reports to monitor department activities, and evaluates the performance of depart-ment managers including managing serious personnel issues and administrative grievance reviews.

Developing the operating department budget and requesting appropriate staff, equipment, and space as well as allocating resources and monitoring spending to keep within appropriate limits.

Conferring with the Agency Director to plan the work of the department, exchange information and to ensure consistency of Agency policy in the area to which assigned.

Qualifications include

Two years of full-time experience in the classification of Division Director or higher level classification in the Alameda County Social Services Agency, or the equivalent of three years’ experience as a Program Development Manager or higher level classification in the Alameda County classified service which included responsibility for major program administration and policy direction.

OR

A bachelor's degree and a master's degree from an accredited college or university and in a field directly related to human resources administration, such as MSW, MPA, or MBA. Additional experience may be substituted for the master's degree on a year-for-year basis.

AND

The equivalent of three years of full-time, increasingly responsible administrative ex-perience, two years of which must have been as an administrator in public welfare admini-stration or a closely-related program, with direct responsibility for major program op-erations, budget or policy direction.

ABOU T THE ASSISTANT AGENCY DIRECTOR POSITIONS

In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications and possessing the programmatic experience required in any one of the vacant service areas, the ideal candidate for the Assistant Agency Director will be a(n):

Individual with a track record of providing high quality service management based upon a strong understanding of programmatic elements within Social Service areas with a focus on leveraging state and federal resources.

Visionary and passionate administrator with a sound understanding of Social Services programs and the needs of our clients and our community.

Strategic planner with a sound understanding of designing, developing and implementing programmatic modifications based on legislative changes.

Sound decision maker with the ability to identify & understand complex problems and concepts, apply logical thinking and quantitative methods of gathering and analyzing information and exercise good judgment based on available data, design solutions to problems, formulate and articulate action plans proactively and collaboratively.

Strategic and creative administrator who can forecast program needs of a variety of service areas and collaborate with organization leaders to develop and manage resources.

Strong leader who aligns the organization’s vision and values and manages work groups by inspiring, advising and delegating subordi-nates, facilitating goal accomplishment and tracking and evaluating performance to ensure success and inspires supports, monitors and acknowledges front line staff.

Team builder who develops effective teams at the senior manager and supervisor levels.

Great communicator and listener, quick and clear thinker, calm under pressure.

Advanced user of computer applications who champions technology and adapts to the latest trends in order to maximize performance management processes; uses data to inform and set program priorities and identify policy challenges/opportunities.

Politically astute leader, possessing the skills necessary for identifying, navigating and successfully interacting within the dynamics of the organization while maintaining sensitivity to the competing needs of a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders.

Strong collaborator, adept in identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships to help achieve agency goals.

Innovative thinker who combines ideas in unique ways and can explore situations from multiple perspectives while quickly calculating risks and initiating action to achieve a recognized benefit.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

Thank you for your interest in the position of Assistant Agency Director, SSA. This supplemental questionnaire is designed to evaluate your experience as it relates to the current vacancies. Your completed response to this supplemental questionnaire must be submitted with your electronic application in order to be given full consideration for the next phase in the recruitment process. Please keep your answers concise, no more than a few paragraphs. However, you are encouraged to provide as much detail as possible in your answers. We are searching for specific examples of some of your past accomplishments and challenges and request that you formulate your answers to describe the specific situations, your role and actions taken and the impact your actions had on the organization or particular project outcome.

Describe a specific experience you’ve had with strategic planning, strategic process management, and/or streamlining processes for efficiencies. Please provide a specific example of time when you implemented or used strategic planning.

Describe your experience and management approach to maintain effective working relationships, including the development and maintenance of collaborative work groups and working across different functional areas within an organization. Tell us about a specific time when you have leveraged your working relationships to accomplish a goal.

Tell us what you have done to recognize your staff when their actions supported the vision and values of the organization. Conversely, describe what you have done to manage the performance of an employee or group of employees that have resisted a departmental process change or performed in a way that did not support the organization’s vision.

Tell us about a strategic plan initiative that you developed and implemented. How did you determine what was needed? Describe your methodology for communication and implementation of the initiative. Explain the outcome and the impact on the organization.

Please explain your experience with overcoming bureau-cratic barriers in order to efficiently implement a major initiative or achieve a major objective. Explain the initiative or objective and explain what steps you took to overcome the barriers and achieve the goal.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

In addition to a competitive annual salary range of $120,744.00-$146,556.80 yearly, the Assistant Agency Directors will enjoy an attractive benefits program with the following elements:

MEDICAL, DENTAL & VISION

LIFE INSURANCE & ACCIDENTAL DEATH & DISMEMBERMENT (AD&D) INSURANCE

COUNTY FLEX DOLLARS

COMMUTER BENEFITS

HEALTH FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT

DEPENDENT CARE ASSISTANCE

HOLIDAYS: 11 paid plus four (4) floating holidays. Unrepresented management employees are entitled up to seven (7) days of management paid leave.

VACATION

SICK LEAVE

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (EAP)

DISABILITY INSURANCE (INCOME REPLACEMENT)

RETIREMENT

DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLAN

Applications will be screened according to the qualifications outlined in the Ideal Candidate section of this brochure. The most qualified candidates will be invited to participate in the selection process.

If you would like to request an accommodation at any point in the recruitment/selection process please contact Jennifer Brizel, Principal HR Analyst at (510) 272-6472.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs

Please submit your application and supplemental questionnaire by

5:00 pm, Friday, September 23, 2011 to

www.jobaps.com/alameda

Tentative Selection Schedule: Deadline for Filing: 5:00 pm, Friday, September 23, 2011

Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Review for the “Best Qualified” Candidates: September 27, 2011

Panel Interviews: The week of October 10, 2011

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer