As the second quarter of 2026 begins, the social sector is navigating a complex landscape of both opportunities and challenges. The gap between service demands and organizational capacity is widening due to diminishing funding and continued funding disruptions. Community needs have increased significantly, exacerbating critical access gaps in affordable housing, financial security, youth programs, and mental health and substance use services. Looking ahead, 85% of organizations anticipate that this demand will continue to climb throughout the year, and a sobering 54% of these providers do not expect to have the capacity or resources to meet the needs of those they serve.

To effectively strategize, organizations must identify relevant trends, analyze their potential impacts, and understand their implications for community well-being.

Social Current has released a new trend report on topics that our subject matter experts and Knowledge and Insights Center staff will be following closely in the second quarter of 2026:

Download the full trend report for insight and related Social Current solutions.

Specialized Research Tools for Human and Social Services

Social Current’s Knowledge and Insights Center offers a robust resources portal, which includes a digital clearinghouse library with over 20,000 records; aggregated research and business databases; diverse topic collections and library guides; original content summarizing complex information; and coaching that helps users maximize these resources.

As you plan for 2026 and beyond, make sure you’re utilizing all the tools in your toolbox. For more information about available tools and support, visit our website or contact the Knowledge and Insights Center.

The social sector is built on values of empathy, trust, and shared advocacy. Additionally, the ability to navigate complex human dynamics and sustain interpersonal relationships can take service delivery and workplace dynamics from transactional to transformative.  

However, face-to-face conversations are increasingly replaced with asynchronous communication, like email, and we are juggling ever-increasing workloads. This can leave us feeling like our interpersonal “connective tissue” is fraying. While technology can facilitate communication, it can also erode our active listening skills, which are essential for building relationships. Because reclaiming these interpersonal skills is necessary for achieving our goals and creating an impact, it is the focus of this month’s recommended reads. 

To help develop your interpersonal communication skills, Social Current’s Knowledge and Insights Center (KIC) recommends these books. Through KIC access, organizations can easily gain insights from top resources: 

Staff at Social Current Impact Partners and organizations that have achieved private, Canadian, and public COA Accreditation should log in to access these resources. 

KIC access can be purchased individually or as a benefit of an Impact Partnership or COA Accreditation. 

Business Book Summaries  

Conversations Worth Having – Jackie Stavros & Cheri Torres  

Conversations Worth Having introduces professionals to the transformative power of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) – a strengths-based approach to communication that shifts the focus from fixing problems to fueling possibilities. Through engaging real-world stories and evidence-based techniques, authors Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres reveal how the two simple practices of positive framing and generative questions can fundamentally change the trajectory of any interaction. The strategic communication tools in this book will help you unlock creative thinking in your team and ensure that every meeting and one-on-one becomes a “conversation worth having.” 

Access the business book summary. 

In the Moment – Niel Mullarkey 

In a world of rigid scripts and endless slide decks, the most effective professionals are those who can think on their feet. In the Moment draws on the principles of improvisational theater to help you navigate the unpredictability of the modern workplace communications with poise and agility. In the Moment helps you strengthen your professional relationships through active listening, adopting a “Yes, and…” mindset, and replacing defensive communication with a collaborative approach. Stop over-preparing and start engaging! Turn every meeting and conversation into an opportunity to lead with confidence and creativity. 

Access the business book summary. 

Communicate with Courage – Michelle D. Gladieux  

In Communicate with Courage, executive coach Michelle Gladieux identifies the four hidden challenges that quietly sabotage our professional potential: 1) Avoiding risk, 2) Needing to be right, 3) Shielding ourselves from feedback, and 4) Settling for “good enough.” By confronting these psychological barriers, you can transition from safe, scripted interactions to brave, intentional dialogue. Gladieux’s strategies will help you strengthen your interpersonal bonds through radical self-awareness and engaging in healthy conflict to build interpersonal connections that last.  

Access the business book summary. 

Learning Community Courses 

If you prefer a more interactive format, take one of Social Current’s on-demand courses. Through the self-paced, multimedia learning platform, you’ll gain a deep understanding of the key concepts and practices of effective interpersonal communication. 

On April 13, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published a Dear Colleague letter with sample program language and program requirements for well-supported home visiting models. States and Tribes may incorporate these services into existing Title IV-E five-year prevention plans through the established plan amendment process.  

Integrating pre-reviewed language and requirements will accelerate approval for Title IV-E prevention purposes, streamlining review and facilitating more timely deployment. While not required, States and Tribes may also add information about state and tribal-specific implementation plans to add new home visiting services. 

ACF Announces 15 Jurisdictions Have Joined a Home for Every Child 

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) recently announced that 14 states and the District of Columbia have joined A Home for Every Child, a bipartisan initiative to increase the number of licensed foster homes relative to the number of children in care. The states include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Rhode Island. 

The Home for Every Child Initiative aims to: 

Nationwide, there are 57 licensed foster homes for every 100 children in care, a gap the initiative aims to close. Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams stressed the importance of the metric for states to meaningfully pursue improving this ratio while tracking permanency outcomes, kinship placement rates, and prevention services. 

To advance a Home for Every Child and support collaboration with states, tribes, and grantees, ACF has announced key staff appointments. 

House Ways and Means Committee Hosts Roundtable to Discuss Bipartisan Foster Care Reform 

The United States House Committee on Ways & Means held a roundtable discussion with First Lady Melania Trump and foster youth to discuss modernizing the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood. 

The discussion follows the introduction of six bipartisan bills to support current and former foster youth as they exit foster care and transition to adulthood and independence. As a whole, the legislation aims to improve state utilization of Chafee funds, strengthen coordination between child welfare and federal housing programs, expand access to education and workforce training opportunities, improve support for foster youth who are parents or soon-to-be parents, expand access to legal services, and modernize the purposes of the Chafee program.  

The Ways & Means Committee has published a brief summarizing the bills. 

HRSA Announces Critical Grant Funding to Expand Nutrition Services and Strengthen Rural Health Workforce 

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced more than $135 million in grant funding to expand nutrition services and strengthen the rural workforce, improve access to care, enhance preventive services, and reduce the burden of chronic disease. HRSA-funded health centers serve more than 32.4 million patients at over 16,000 sites nationwide, including one in five rural residents. 

Expanded Nutrition Services will receive $125 million to support more than 350 HRSA-funded health centers in expanding access to nutrition services and food-based interventions within primary care settings to prevent and manage chronic diseases. 

The Rural Residency Planning and Development Program will receive $11.25 million through as many as 15 grants of up to $750,000 each over three years. The funding will support new rural residency programs in high-need specialties, including psychiatry, family medicine, internal medicine, OB-GYN, general surgery, and preventive medicine.   

CMS Issues Guidance to Implement New Limits on Federal Medicaid and CHIP Funding Following H.R. 1 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued letters to states, offering guidance as a key provision of the recent tax and reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, will take effect Oct. 1. The provision will limit states’ ability to claim federal matching funds for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for certain populations of immigrants. The guidance exempts green card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and citizens of certain Pacific island nations. 

The guidance is expected to impact health care access for immigrants, especially as states will no longer receive full federal matching funds for the Medicaid or CHIP benefits of refugees, asylees, parolees, and victims of trafficking following H.R. 1. However, federal matching funds remain available for emergency Medicaid. States will also not be required to provide state-only coverage where federal funding is unavailable.  

The guidance outlines the required state actions to implement these changes, including eligibility redeterminations for current enrollees, updates to eligibility and verification systems, managed care and financial claiming procedures, and the submission of Medicaid and CHIP state plan amendments.  

Sector Updates from the Judiciary 

Federal Courts Determine Changes to Continuum of Care Grants Are Illegal 

The United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island determined that the sudden funding conditions attached to the Continuum of Care (CoC) program were illegally implemented. 

The CoC program is the largest resource for federal homelessness assistance funds. Research conducted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) estimates that the imposed limits to permanent housing would lead more than 170,000 individuals to experience homelessness. Additionally, surveys among grant recipients conducted by the NAEH detailed potential delays in program referrals, increased uncertainty for program participants, and exacerbated staffing challenges. 

U.S District Judge Mary McElroy similarly detailed the harm that the amended grant conditions would have and found that the notice announcing the funding opportunities, the new criteria used by HUD when deciding to issue grants, and the one-week application period for the grants were all unlawful. The court also ordered that the funding already approved by Congress must still be awarded.  

In addition to the lawsuit filed by a coalition of nonprofits and local governments, several states filed lawsuits challenging the sudden and extensive changes to the CoC program. The First Circuit Court of Appeals also prevented the Trump administration from imposing restrictions on homelessness funding. The First Circuit’s decision keeps an existing injunction in place, allowing billions of dollars in funding to continue to housing-first solutions while the lawsuit continues.

Subscribe to the Policy and Advocacy Radar to receive our biweekly policy roundup, which includes commentary on issues in Social Current’s federal policy agenda, opportunities to take action, and curated news and opportunities.

For human services CEOs, preparing for board meetings can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. Leadership teams often spend significant time preparing presentations when they could be working on other important projects. Additionally, the board meetings themselves can be taxing, rather than collaborative, productive, and energizing.

This guide from Zeck examines the challenges that CEOs and board members face in preparing for and conducting board meetings and provides five critical elements that CEOs must address to transform ensure board meetings are engaging, collaborative, and highly valuable.

The recommendations include:

  1. It all starts with the board materials and the pre-read. They have to be focused, organized, and engaging.
  2. The value of pre-meeting communication cannot be understated.
  3. Set the stage to be collaborative and productive.
  4. Always include at least one ‘deep dive’ conversation and be honest about where you need help.
  5. Ensure transparency by looping in your operating team about the board meeting and the board’s feedback.

Dig into these five recommendations by reading the full guide.

Webinar on the Future of Social Sector Governance

The Future of Social Sector Governance: A Conversation with Edward Norton
May 14 from 2-3 p.m. ET
Register now to join Jody Levison-Johnson, president and CEO of Social Current, in conversation with Edward Norton, Zeck co-founder and chief strategy officer and award-winning actor, for a candid, forward-looking discussion on the future of governance. They’ll explore how to evolve your board to be collaborative, strategic, and entrepreneurial, rather than focused on compliance and operations.

Visit the Zeck website to learn more about the cloud-based software platform and how it is transforming the board meeting and driving better decision making.

 

Social Current recently submitted comments to the General Services Administration opposing a proposal that would require all applicants to agree to three new certifications when registering in the System for Award Management and during each annual renewal. The certifications aim to prohibit grantees from supporting illegal immigration, engaging in illegal activities that threaten public safety or national security, and violating federal antidiscrimination laws.

However, the proposed certifications include vague and complex language that could create significant compliance challenges. Without clear definitions or implementation guidance, the requirements could put human services organizations at risk and lack sufficient safeguards to ensure applicants can reasonably meet the terms.

The proposed changes would broadly affect federal grantees, as nonprofits and state and local governments rely on the System for Award Management to apply for and manage federal funding. The General Services Administration is expected to submit the proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

Executive Order Introduces Notable Changes for Elections

On March 31, President Trump signed an executive order, Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections. 

The order introduces key requirements: 

However, the executive order’s implementation remains uncertain. A coalition of 23 attorneys general has since filed a lawsuit, arguing that the order violates the Constitution, which grants states the authority to oversee elections. 

Trump Administration Releases FY27 Budget Proposal 

The Trump Administration released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2027. While the proposal is nonbinding, it offers a glimpse of the executive branch’s priorities and serves as a guide to Congress. 

The proposal recommended drastic increases to military funding alongside a 10% reduction in non-defense discretionary spending. The greatest funding reductions were made to the Small Business Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Key recommendations include: 

For further information regarding the administration’s priorities, the White House published a fact sheet. 

Congress Announces Plan to Fund DHS, Ending the Historic Shutdown, If Passed 

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lapsed Feb. 14 and has yet to be restored, threatening the department’s essential functions, including disaster relief. The leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate published a statement on April 1, announcing a pathway to end the partial government shutdown. 

The proposal suggests funding most of DHS, excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Funding to the agencies would be restored and approved for the three years through a future reconciliation bill, which the president has stated would need to be passed by June 1. 

Although both chambers of Congress have recessed, the Senate unanimously passed a similar bill, H.R. 7147, March 27.  House leadership is expected to return next week to vote on the bill, but Republicans have expressed key concerns regarding its approach. 

ACF Continues Deregulatory Efforts Using a Zero-Based Regulation Approach 

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) recently announced the rescission of a grant program no longer in effect, State Legalization Impact Assistance Grants (SLIAG). SLIAG operated from 1987 to 1994 to help states cover costs associated with legalization under federal immigration law, including education, public health, and law enforcement. Although the program has been inactive for decades, it has remained in federal regulations. ACF will remove the regulation, effective May 26, unless the agency receives significant negative comments, which may be submitted through the Federal Register.  

Additionally, the agency also issued two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking to remove duplicative regulations involving Native American programs and services for repatriated nationals with mental illness. Both comment periods end April 27. 

The Administration for Children and Families rulemaking actions follow a comprehensive review using a Zero-Based Regulation approach, which evaluates whether existing rules are still necessary. ACF program offices assess regulations for relevance, duplication, and burden, identifying those that are obsolete or no longer serve their intended purpose. For further information, Alex Adams, the Assistant Secretary of ACF, authored a brief through the Manhattan Institute. 

ACF Announces the Addition of New Evidence-Based Interventions to the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse 

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the addition of new evidence-based interventions to the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) conducted rigorous reviews of each evidence-based intervention to ensure that only programs with demonstrated effectiveness are eligible for federal reimbursement under Title IV-E prevention services funding. 

The approved programs and services include: 

In the press release, the Assistant Secretary of ACF, Alex J. Adams, stressed the importance of prevention within the agency’s initiative,  A Home for Every Child. The Home for Every Child initiative aims to safely lower the number of children entering foster care through effective prevention, while also increasing the number of foster homes through diligent recruitment, prioritizing kin, and improving retention of existing caregivers. 

Department of Education Announces Next Steps for Borrowers Enrolled in the SAVE Plan 

On March 27, the U.S. Department of Education began issuing guidance to all borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, directing them to exit the plan and enter a legal federal student loan repayment plan. 

The guidance follows a court decision approving a joint settlement between the Department of Education and the State of Missouri. The settlement ordered the Department of Education not to enroll any new borrowers in the SAVE Plan, deny any pending applications, and move all SAVE Plan borrowers into legal repayment plans.  

The SAVE Plan was first implemented in February 2024 through a provision of regulations that provided loan forgiveness for borrowers who had been in repayment for 10 years and borrowed $12,000 or less in student loans. The plan would have granted nearly $1.2 billion in loan forgiveness for almost 153,000 borrowers.  

Departments of Education and Treasury Announce Partnership to Guide Student Loan Borrowers in Default 

On March 19, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the Federal Student Assistance Partnership to enhance the administration of Federal student aid programs and facilitate the return of defaulted borrowers to repayment. 

The Department of the Treasury will assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted Federal student loan debt and provide operational support to the Department of Education’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment. In subsequent phases, Treasury will work to provide operational support for non-defaulted Federal student loan debt, while also seeking opportunities to support the Office of Federal Student Aid’s other functions. 

The decision arrives as the Department of Education reports that fewer than 40 percent of borrowers are in repayment and nearly 25 percent are in default. 

For further information, the Departments issued a fact sheet. 

House Appropriations Committee Discusses Leveraging Federal Funding for Adoption Programs   

The House Appropriations Committee recently held a hearing entitled, Advancing Permanency in Child Welfare: Leveraging Federal Funding for Adoption Programs. Members and witnesses alike highlighted the importance of adoption in providing children with safe, stable homes and supporting community well-being.   

Witnesses detailed the challenges states face in facilitating timely, safe, and stable adoptions for children in need. Recommendations to improve post-adoption outcomes included: 

Sector Updates from the Judiciary  

Federal Court Upholds the Johnson Amendment  

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas rejected a proposed consent agreement between the Internal Revenue Service, churches, and religious organizations. 

Had it been accepted, churches would have been permitted to endorse political candidates while maintaining their tax-exempt status. However, the district court dismissed the lawsuit, determining that federal law prohibits it from interfering in matters of tax assessment. 

The Johnson Amendment stands as a foundational protection for the nonprofit sector by prohibiting tax-exempt organizations from participating or intervening in political campaigns.  

The lawsuit was filed by the National Religious Broadcasters, Intercessors for America, and two churches. The plaintiffs maintained that the Johnson Amendment violates their 1st Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion. 

Supreme Court Overturns Colorado’s Conversion Therapy Ban  

The Supreme Court, in an 8 to 1 decision, overturned a Colorado law, which bans conversion therapy for minors.

Colorado is one of 27 states with laws completely or partially banning conversion therapy for minors. The eight concurring justices cited free speech concerns, noting the Colorado law prevents therapists from saying they can help a minor change their gender identity or same-sex attraction, but permits them to say that such a goal is impossible. 

The majority disagreed with Colorado’s contention that the law does not violate the First Amendment because therapy is different from other types of speech as a form of health care that the state has a responsibility to regulate.  

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the lone dissenter, spoke to the dangers of the majority opinion. She argued that the majority’s opinion “could be ushering in an era of unprofessional and unsafe medical care administered by effectively unsupervised healthcare providers.”  

Researchers have consistently found conversion therapy to be linked to greater symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidality. Major medical and mental health organizations, including the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have also advocated for the end of conversion therapy given the practice’s profound harm and violation of core ethical principles. 

The future of the laws and their enforcement will depend on a lower court’s verdict after the Supreme Court ordered the 10th Circuit to reconsider the lawsuit with greater concern for the permissibility of regulating free speech. 

Federal Court Rules Against Grant Requirements Related to DEI Initiatives 

The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a preliminary injunction against the Department of Justice, preventing the agency from forcing any grantee or contractor nationwide to certify that they do not operate programs related to diversity, equity, or inclusion initiatives to receive funding. 

Additionally, Judge Matthew F. Kennelly prohibited the implementation of funding conditions that would have required organizations applying for grants through the DOJ’s Services for Victims of Human Trafficking program to agree to cooperate with immigration enforcement. 

The lawsuit was brought by Freedom Network USA, the nation’s largest alliance of organizations and individual advocates working with survivors of all forms of human trafficking.  

Federal Court Determines HHS Secretary Exceeded Authority in Declaring Gender Affirming Treatments Unsafe  

The US District Court for the District of Oregon determined that the Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to follow proper administrative procedures before issuing a declaration regarding the safety, effectiveness, and professional standards of care for gender affirming care procedures for children and adolescents. 

The verdict follows a lawsuit filed by 18 states, which claimed that the declaration exceeded Kennedy’s rule-making power and improperly threatened federal funding for clinics and health care providers that provide gender-affirming care. 

Subscribe to the Policy and Advocacy Radar to receive our biweekly policy roundup, which includes commentary on issues in Social Current’s federal policy agenda, opportunities to take action, and curated news and opportunities.

In November 2025, Social Current convened cross-sector leaders for Lessons from Within Our Reach: A Cross-Sector Conversation on Child and Family Well-Being. This multiday virtual event explored what we know about preventing child fatalities from maltreatment and what it will take to build a 21st-century system that truly centers families.

The Within Our Reach report made a clear case for upstream prevention and meaningful investments in family support. One of its most enduring messages is that a true investment in familial support is the most effective way to prevent serious child injury and fatalities.

Throughout the virtual convening, Social Current’s Romero Davis reinforced that prevention requires a whole-community approach. Fatality reviews consistently identify breakdowns in coordination across systems, including law enforcement, health care, education, and community-based organizations. Cultural differences, communication gaps, and interpersonal dynamics can weaken collaboration, even when shared goals exist.

The event kicked off with an introductory Q&A with Social Current President and CEO Jody Levison-Johnson, participants discussed how purposeful partnership, shared values, and stronger coordination across systems can address barriers and create more responsive, sustainable supports for families.

Learn more about the sessions and access the individual recordings below. The convening slide deck also is available for download.

Centering Protective Factors and Family Strength

Within Our Reach underscores the importance of strengthening protective factors that reduce the likelihood of abuse and neglect. Rather than focusing solely on risk, the framework calls on communities to build the conditions that help families thrive. Protective factors include:

The shift from crisis response to family strengthening requires intentional policy change and strategic communications. The Building Better Childhoods toolkit, developed by Social Current and Prevent Child Abuse America, uses the “overloaded” metaphor to reframe how we talk about family stress: Just as a vehicle can carry only so much weight before it breaks down, families facing compounding challenges can become overwhelmed.

For this session, presenters Kara Georgi of the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and consultant Regina Dyton were joined by parents with lived experience. They explored how prevention means lightening the load through accessible child care, economic supports, mental health services, and community-based programs that promote stability, health, and security.

Watch the session recording.

The Power of Narrative in Policy Change

A central theme across sessions was the value of community voice. Social Current’s Senior Director of Government Affairs Blair Abelle-Kiser shared that while data is essential for effective policy, it leaves critical gaps when used alone. Stories are necessary to fill that gap. They build connection, humanize challenges that are created by complex systems, and help decision makers understand how policies affect real families.

Participants explored how to translate lived experience into action using a clear framework:

Value + Problem + Solution + Call to Action

By leading with shared values such as safety, health, and security, advocates can ground policy conversations in common purpose. In her presentation, Blair encourages advocates to keep their stories focused, make specific asks, use strengths-based language, and remain bold and values driven.

Watch the session recording and access the slide deck.

Supporting the Workforce That Supports Families

Workforce strain was another key topic. For this session, Social Current’s Karen Johnson and Kelly Martin were joined by Michael Cull of the Center for Innovation in Population Health and associate professor at the University of Kentucky. Across child- and family-serving fields, including child welfare, education, health care, and community development, professionals are experiencing high levels of burnout and organizations are struggling with retention and recruitment. When workforce well-being suffers, prevention efforts are harder to sustain.

This conversation elevates the importance of promoting self-care and organizational wellness. Sustaining a prevention-oriented child and family well-being system requires investing in the people who carry out this work every day.

Watch the session recording.

Expanding the Circle: Fatherhood and Family Engagement

In his session, Churmell Michell, founder of A Father’s Voice Matters, emphasized fatherhood engagement as a critical prevention strategy. Supportive policies, inclusive programming, and father-friendly practices can strengthen outcomes for children and improve family stability.

Michell discussed how policymakers, child welfare leaders, community-based organizations, and educational institutions can all play a role in advancing father engagement through training, collaboration, and legislative action.

Watch the session recording.

Continuing the Conversation

The final session included collaborative conversations between cross-sector professionals, such as Scott Allen of Cordata Healthcare Innovations and Dr. Rachael J. Keefe of the Baylor College of Medicine.

As collaborative conversations such as these take place, Social Current’s Within Our Reach policy education and communications toolkit evolves as we learn alongside communities and partners. The toolkit offers practical, research-informed resources, including messaging guidance, policy context, and customizable tools, to help organizations effectively communicate and advocate for child and family well-being.

Together, through collaboration, storytelling, and coordinated advocacy, we can build a proactive, equitable child and family well-being system rooted in shared responsibility.

Additional Resources

Download our free reflection and coloring book, which was shared with convening participants. It offers space to pause, process, and reflect on the themes of prevention, protective factors, and shared responsibility.

Social Current also developed these one-pagers related to the convening:

Preventing child fatalities is within our reach. Learn more about Social Current’s expertise in Child, Family, and Community Well-Being.

Social Current has launched a brief national survey on challenges impacting child welfare providers. The information shared will help inform recommendations for system improvements, policy advocacy, and sustainable models of care that better support children, families, and organizations. 

Multiple staff from organizations may complete the survey, including: 

Take the survey online by April 23. It should take about 10 minutes to complete.  

Insight from this survey will support the work of Five & Rising pilot community Progressive Life Center (PLC)  to improve the sustainability and effectiveness of foster care and the broader continuum of family services. The organization looks to inform their efforts with national data on the experiences of staff delivering services every day.  

Five & Rising is a Social Current initiative designed to spark bold, community-driven solutions that reimagine the social sector. 

Through COA Accreditation, a service of Social Current, we seek to empower organizations to implement best practice standards to improve service delivery and achieve better outcomes for individuals and communities. COA Accreditation provides a framework to help organizations manage resources, incorporate best practices, and strive for continuous improvement.

We believe there is rich expertise in our field, so we ground the COA Accreditation process in our human and social services community. Our volunteer peer reviewers conduct our site visits and finalize accreditation decisions.

We are proud to spotlight the latest Volunteer of the Quarter: John Prior

About John Prior

After graduating from Niagara University in 1975, I started my career as a recreational worker, and then progressed to become a direct care worker, cottage chief, and supervisor. I graduated with my master’s in social work from SUNY Stony Brook in 1982. That same year, I went on to become a therapist at Beech Brook in Ohio, where I provided individual and family therapy in residential and community settings. I later worked at Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois in Chicago and Naperville Community Outreach in Illinois, where I served as executive director.  

I became familiar with COA Accreditation in the late 1990s with my association with Harris County Protective Services for Children and Adults (HCPSCA) in Texas. Initially, I was consulting with HCPSCA to develop new programs and services to respond to the needs of abused and neglected children. In 2000, the HCPSCA executive director asked me to assist them in developing a response to the new quality improvement (QI) standards from COA. In 2004, HCPSCA institutionalized its QI/PQI efforts by establishing its program improvement team, and I served as team leader. In 2014, I began serving the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as director of quality and compliance. This included operation of their PQI program, strengthening of performance goals and data collection capacities, and contract compliance. 

Q&A

Who is your role model? 

This is a tough one, as I have many people I admire during my journey. My parents were kind and caring people who ran the local grocery store in a small town in New York. It’s amazing how that small store was in a place for the community to not only buy groceries, but also where people shared their life stories, the good, the bad, and the ugly. My parents responded with kindness and support when others experienced tough times. I saw foundational social work values intermixed with the running of a small, successful family business. 

Professionally, I was quite fortunate in the early years of my career to have some exceptional supervisors as my role models. John Langseder and Fred Steffen were two supervisors who not only provided me with practical skills and supervision, but also perspective on how to approach the work with clients and colleagues with respect and dignity.  As John and Fred would often say: Regardless of your degree or training, the one tool everyone in this field shows up to work with every day is ourselves. In my opinion, knowing how to integrate that professional knowledge with one’s own unique strengths is the sign of a truly professional social worker.  

What led you to become a COA Accreditation Volunteer? 

While a department of a public county entity, Harris County Protective Services for Children and Adults (HCPSCA) has been COA-accredited for many years. They were accredited long before the standards for public organizations were even developed. When the quality improvement standards (later changed to PQI) were published, I was doing consulting work for HCPSCA in program development. Their executive director asked me to delve into these standards and suggest some ways they could be implemented within their organization. My work with them resulted in their developing a dedicated team to implement PQI throughout the entire department. As that team’s leader, it was clear to me that becoming a COA Accreditation peer reviewer would greatly strengthen my knowledge and understanding of the standards and that knowledge would greatly benefit the organization and my own professional development.  

What are your strongest beliefs about the value of COA Accreditation? 

In building a PQI system from the ground up at a multiservice public organization, I saw firsthand how the COA Accreditation standards provide a sound foundation for program development and implementation for the entire organization. At HCPSCA, some programs had to comply with state licensing or regulations, but other programs had no such guidance beyond contract requirements (which were mostly financial reporting) or staff knowledge and experience, which varied program to program. The COA Accreditation standards provided a common platform for us to develop a better understanding of our work across all program services. This included providing a common approach, expectations, and language for the organization to develop and implement its programs, evaluate performance, and achieve organizational excellence. 

What excites, surprises, and/or challenges you the most about the work you do as a COA Accreditation peer reviewer? 

I always say during site visits’ entrance meetings that I truly enjoy meeting good people doing great work in their communities. COA Accreditation and the network of accredited organizations are filled with those kinds of people and great organizations that support their dedication and commitment. I see it all the time on each of my site visits! 

Share a memorable place, person, or experience from a site visit. 

On one site visit several years ago at a residential treatment facility, I met a 19-year-old young woman who was following us around during the facility tour. I struck up a conversation with her and learned she was a resident and waiting for placement in an adult facility. However, due to the nature of her needs, finding an appropriate placement was proving difficult. Everyone was frustrated with the situation. She asked if she could follow along on the tour, and staff agreed that she could join us. As she and I continued our conversation, she shared how she “hated” the place, but my observations were quite different. As we came across staff throughout the tour, she demonstrated all the characteristics of having strong personal, healthy, therapeutic bonds with staff. It was evident to me that those relationships with staff were important to her. Staff clearly demonstrated a level of care that was nurturing, meaningful, and therapeutic in nature. For me, this was a clear example of my premise of finding good people doing great work. 

What advice would you give someone interested in being a COA Accreditation volunteer peer reviewer? 

Being a peer reviewer undoubtedly benefits your organization. Being able to observe how others approach the standards is an enlightening experience for me. I have always found that COA Accreditation reviews are a great source of new ideas to bring back to my organization.  

More so, being a peer reviewer is a tremendous source for professional and personal development. COA Accreditation reviews are a constant source of real-life learning opportunities for me, even now that I am retired. 

Learn more about how to become a peer review volunteer and apply online.

 

The Senate recently passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a significant reform bill that aims to increase housing affordability and availability. The bill passed by a vote of 89 to 10 and will now be sent to the House of Representatives to either approve amendments introduced by the Senate or introduce further amendments. The bill previously passed the House through a vote of 390 to 9. 

For further information, the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has published a detailed summary. 

The bill’s passage also arrives as the president has issued executive orders, Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit and Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction, intended to promote housing affordability and accessibility. The measures arrive as communities continue to experience remarkable challenges accessing affordable housing.  

Children’s Bureau Revises Section 8.1H of the Child Welfare Policy Manual 

The Children’s Bureau recently announced Section 8.1H, Question 21 of the Child Welfare Policy Manual (TITLE IV-E, Administrative Functions/Costs, Training) was amended to remove “cultural competence” and related language from the question and answer. 

The question asks, what are allowable title IV-E training topics related to the role of protective factors in healthy child development, such as resiliency; relational competence; child social and emotional development; trauma; and related areas?  

ASPE Publishes Report Detailing Opportunities to Improve Licensing and Reach of Kinship Care 

The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) recently published a report exploring how states are approaching kinship care by examining states’ definitions of kinship caregivers, the prevalence of children in foster care living with relatives or kin, and states’ adoption of separate licensing standards for kinship homes, and states’ participation in kinship navigator programs through the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. 

Executive Order Establishes a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud

On March 16, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud that encompassed several departments and agencies, including the Departments of Justice, Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Veterans Affairs. The Task Force was designed to coordinate a national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs, including by strengthening eligibility verification processes, developing controls before funds are disbursed, and auditing to ensure prospective compliance monitoring.

VA and DOJ Sign Agreement to Guide Post-Acute Transitions of Care for Certain Populations of Veterans  

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) authorizing the DOJ to appoint VA attorneys as special assistant U.S. attorneys. VA attorneys will then be empowered with the legal authority to initiate and participate in state court guardianship or conservatorship proceedings in cases where a legal decision-maker is required for post-acute transitions of care for Veterans in need. 

In certain cases, the appointment of a legal guardian or conservator can be a lifeline for Veterans. They can aid Veterans by preventing unwarranted continued hospitalization, advocating for their rights, and promoting appropriate transitions of care from VA hospitalization to other forms of VA care or care in the community, if appropriate. 

However, guardianship and other forms of involuntary intervention are serious legal actions. The decisions significantly limit personal autonomy and, accordingly, merit extensive consideration to determine whether they are truly necessary and beneficial.   

Caution is especially important due to key challenges Veterans face in accessing community services and housing, as many concurrently continue to navigate complex health challenges. Health and human service organizations offer essential expertise to aid in policy development to grow access to essential services to support their holistic health, well-being, and recovery while prioritizing trust and transparency.  

 

Sector Updates from the Judiciary 

HUD Appeals Federal Court’s Decision to Temporarily Pause Proposed Changes to the Continuum of Care program 

The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), recently appealed a federal verdict that temporarily prevented the federal government from implementing changes to the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program. 

The changes were initially announced in November and would have drastically shifted eligibility requirements. The initial Notice of Funding Opportunity markedly reduced funding from permanent housing and mandated that the majority of the funds be directed to temporary transitional housing assistance with conditional work or service requirements.  

Following a lawsuit filed by a coalition of nonprofits and state and local governments, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island issued a preliminary injunction preventing the amended grant conditions from taking effect. 

Federal Court Blocks Key Sections of a Proposed Regulation Expected to Drastically Alter the Deportation Appeals Process 

The US District Court for the District of Columbia recently vacated the main provisions of a proposed regulation, Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals. 

The regulation would have introduced sweeping changes, including allowing the Executive Office of Immigration Review to determine which cases to review. All appeals would be dismissed, leading the deportation order to become final, unless a majority of permanent members of the Board of Immigration Appeals vote to consider it. Additionally, the rule would reduce the time individuals have to file their appeals from 30 days to 10 days. Appellants would have been required to comply with a waiver provision requiring them to raise all issues in the notice of appeal or risk forfeiting them. 

Judge Randolph D. Moss prevented the above requirements from taking effect, finding that the administration failed to comply with public comment requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act. However, other sections that the Judge determined wouldn’t cause immediate harm have since gone into effect. The procedural changes include simultaneous briefing schedules, limits on extensions and reply briefs, and other case-management adjustments.  

First Circuit Upholds Lower Court’s Actions to Stop the Government-Wide Funding Freeze 

The First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the preliminary injunction issued by the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The decision upheld a critical precedent: the executive branch cannot unilaterally freeze funds appropriated by Congress. 

The appellate ruling followed a March 2025 decision that prevented the White House Office of Management and Budget from pausing trillions in government loans, grants, and other payments. In upholding the lower court’s verdict, the First Circuit Court of Appeals introduced essential safeguards to protect essential funding for federal programs, ranging from Medicaid to child-care programs and infrastructure projects.  

The order also arrives after the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the Trump administration from cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in public health grants to several Democratic states. However, Judge Manish S. Shah clarified that the court could not enforce payment obligations for a federal grant: lawsuits regarding contracts with the US are the domain of the Court of Federal Claims. 

Federal Court Pauses Changes to the Vaccine Schedule  

The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction, preventing changes to the national childhood vaccine schedule from becoming effective. The ruling also determined that the recent appointments to the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) did not follow federal legal procedures. 

The decision arrives as medical providers and families nationwide have faced significant uncertainty, while leading medical experts have continued to advocate against the proposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.  

Notably, the proposed schedule would have reduced the number of recommended vaccines from 18 to 11, excluding hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, dengue, and two forms of bacterial meningitis. Additionally, the changes were accompanied by the removal of 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP is intended to stand as an independent panel of vaccine experts who evaluate the latest research to determine the safety and efficacy of vaccines.   

What Scenario Planning Entails

Scenario planning is a strategic tool used by organizations to navigate an unpredictable future by creating detailed, plausible narratives about what might happen. Originally developed by military intelligence and popularized in the corporate world by the oil industry during the 1970s, scenario planning has now become a vital tool for leaders across all sectors.

It’s important to note that scenario planning is distinct from forecasting. Forecasting relies on historical data to make short-term predictions. In contrast, scenario planning focuses on long-term strategy and sustainability, exploring various “what if” situations that challenge current assumptions. This approach is particularly valuable for organizations operating in volatile or uncertain environments. When historical trends and past performance are no longer reliable indicators of future success, scenario planning allows teams to prepare for sudden disruptions or shifts in funding, policy, and community needs.

Although many teams use this process to brace for negative outcomes, such as economic downturns or workforce shortages, it can also be used to envision “best-case” scenarios as well. By mapping out these different paths, an organization ensures it is not caught in a reactionary cycle.

Why Scenario Planning Is Important

Scenario planning exercises allow leaders to apply their strategic imagination to the broader horizon of possibilities and stretch their risk management muscles. They zoom out, look at macro-level trends, and consider strategies to support long-term sustainability.

For example, one scenario may involve sudden, major funding shortages. Rather than waiting for a grant to disappear or a major donor to withdraw, scenario planning allows an organization to rehearse that exact situation. It forces the team to decide in advance which programs are mission-critical, who holds decision-making authority during a fiscal crunch, how communication should flow to stakeholders, and where unnoticed interdependencies might trigger a domino effect.

By working through these complex webs of cause and effect, leaders can identify specific thresholds that signal when an action plan must be put into motion. Instead of being paralyzed by an unexpected funding shortfall, your team gains the collective muscle memory needed to pivot with agility.

Scenario Planning Strategies and Tools

To illustrate how this process of transforming abstract theory into concrete strategy works in practice, consider the following scenario at your organization: The potential loss of all public funding.

Step 1: Track Far-Reaching Macro-Trends
The process begins by identifying broad forces such as shifting political climates or long-term economic cycles. By analyzing how these trends might impact the sector over a 10-15-year horizon, you can better outline your scenario.

Step 2: Flush Out Biases and Assumptions
Next, the team must work through any organizational denial, cognitive bias, or assumptions to confront the “unthinkable” possibility presented in the scenario. This is the time to abandon the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality and ask tough questions, such as:

This type of questioning helps circumvent the rigidity that can stem from long-term success or tendencies to uphold the status quo.

Step 3: Develop a Sliding Scale of Scenarios
Teams can then create specific narratives, ranking them on a scale of positive to negative extremes. In a funding crisis, these scenarios might range from minor budget uncertainty to a total dissolution of all state grants.

Step 4: Map Impact and Mitigation Strategies
Finally, once the scenarios are developed, use risk assessment frameworks to evaluate the likelihood and severity of each outcome. Map out how the organization would mitigate major risks, what thresholds would trigger a particular action plan, and what roles would be responsible for executing the action plan.

Identifying your risk management approach before a crisis builds the collective resilience needed to protect the mission, and stakeholders should a scenario come to fruition.

Barriers to Scenario Planning

Despite the benefits of scenario planning, there are barriers to meaningfully putting these strategies into practice. When a team is focused on meeting immediate community needs, carving out hours and coordinating schedules for what feels like a theoretical exercise can seem unrealistic. However, without this investment, an organization remains in a perpetual state of reaction, which ultimately consumes more time and resources than the planning process itself.

Another common pitfall is a tendency to get bogged down in the minutiae of a specific scenario. Teams sometimes become so hyper-focused on the exact details of a “worst-case” scenario that they lose sight of the broader goal. The value of this work lies not in predicting a perfect replica of the future, but in building the internal roles, communication channels, and action plans that will bridge the gaps during any disruption. If a group treats a scenario as a rigid script rather than a flexible rehearsal, they may find themselves unprepared when a real-life crisis occurs that isn’t identical to their exercise.

While the process requires an upfront time-investment, dedicating resources to this exercise today can help your team move from a reactionary posture to a position of strategic agility. Ultimately, scenario planning transforms uncertainty from a source of fear into a manageable variable. So, when the unthinkable happens, will your organization survive the storm? Or prepared to lead through the unknown?

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