Who We Are
We share a common desire to be healthy and live well no matter where we come from or what our life experiences have been. Every one of us wants to live in a vibrant community where we feel safe and can be active, in a home that is stable and affordable, and in a place that gives us opportunities to support our loved ones through quality education and work.
There are certain fundamentals to building a vibrant community. Just like a house that can weather storms, a truly vibrant community has neighborhoods and places where everyone can live, learn, work, play, and connect – and provides access to services that help us through life’s inevitable ups and downs.
To help people stay healthy and live well, local health and human services organizations collaborate with community partners, combining resources and strengths to help provide opportunities for everyone to live well. Through innovation and a focus on prevention and key supports, local health and human services organizations work with residents, schools, health care providers, judges and mayors, owners of small businesses and large corporations, law enforcement, neighborhood groups, librarians, parks and recreation staff, and more to build capacity in our communities and enhance well‐being across the nation.
When times get tough and towns and cities are challenged with problems like industries shutting down, increases in drug use and violence, housing prices rising out of reach, and more people under more stress, health and human services professionals see these problems emerging — we are an integral part of a community’s early warning system. We spot these growing challenges and design and test new approaches right away. And whether times are better or worse, health and human services professionals continue to look for ways to prevent problems that could impact individuals and families. If problems do occur, it is our mission to solve them early on and keep them from surfacing again.
Through APHSA’s National Council of Local Human Services Administrators, health, housing, and human services leaders are working on the ground to advance sound policy and practice—together generating solutions that are building thriving communities across the nation.