Building the Blueprint: What We Heard in New Orleans and Northwest Ohio

One thing I’ve been noticing as we continue our Blueprint conversations is how difficult it is to talk about any one challenge facing human services without running into several others.

Workforce challenges are tied to funding. Funding decisions reflect how people understand and value the sector. Competition for resources makes collaboration harder. And when services aren’t well connected, people are left to navigate complicated systems on their own.

We heard these connections again in our recent conversations in New Orleans and Northwest Ohio. What I found especially interesting was how participants began moving beyond the challenges themselves to talk about what we could do differently.

A few ideas have stayed with me from these latest conversations as we work to develop a community-defined Blueprint for the Future of Human Services.

How We Talk About Human Services Matters

In New Orleans, storytelling and changing the narrative around human services emerged as the top priority when participants were asked where to focus their attention.

We often talk about storytelling as a way to build awareness, but the way people think about human services has real consequences for how organizations are funded, how workers are valued, and what policymakers consider worth supporting. When we think of nonprofits primarily as charities, spending on technology or appropriate salaries can seem like money being diverted from the mission. When we associate human services mainly with crisis response, it’s harder to make the case for prevention.

Changing the narrative can help change the decisions we make about the sector and the communities it serves.

What Would Make Collaboration Easier?

Collaboration has come up in every Blueprint conversation so far. In New Orleans and Northwest Ohio, participants offered specific ideas about how organizations could work differently together.

They discussed shared intake processes, better referral systems, and regional coordination so people aren’t left moving between organizations trying to find help. In Northwest Ohio, participants also explored sharing administrative functions, including HR, finance, and technology.

We’ve spent years encouraging organizations to collaborate, often while asking them to compete for the same funding. But collaboration becomes more achievable when the systems themselves make it easier.

Accountability Requires Investment

Another part of the Northwest Ohio conversation that stood out was the discussion about accountability.

Participants agreed that organizations should demonstrate results. But how do we expect them to measure their impact if we aren’t investing in the people, technology, and data systems they need? We often judge organizations by how much funding goes directly to programs while expecting them to collect sophisticated data, evaluate outcomes, and continuously improve their work. This makes little sense. Better accountability requires investment and a shared understanding of what success looks like.

The Workforce Is Part of the Answer

Workforce challenges also came through strongly in both conversations. We talked about compensation, benefits, burnout, and the cost of training and licensure. Participants described how difficult it can be to recruit and retain qualified professionals, particularly for smaller community-based organizations.

These challenges are familiar and we should pay more attention to how directly they affect service quality. Experienced staff build relationships, develop specialized knowledge, and help organizations respond to changing needs.

We cannot continue relying on people’s commitment to the mission to compensate for inadequate pay or unsustainable working conditions.

If we want stronger human services, we must make it possible for skilled professionals to build lasting careers doing this work.

What We’re Learning

Thinking back on our conversations so far, I’m struck by how the ideas are beginning to build on one another.

Chicago helped us think about what a stronger human services ecosystem could look like. Maryland and St. Louis raised questions about the funding and organizational structures that shape what is possible.

New Orleans and Northwest Ohio added to that picture, bringing greater attention to how public perceptions influence investment, how collaboration could work in practice, and why accountability must be matched by the resources to deliver.

There is still more to hear, and I don’t expect every community to arrive at the same conclusions. That’s part of what makes these conversations valuable, and why they can help us assemble a blueprint for the future of our sector that is rooted in what we truly need.