Strategic Planning and Policy Development

Building state and local capacity to develop public policy and to engage in strategic planning processes to transform their service delivery systems are core parts of many of the learning activities of the National Technical Assistance Center including Policy Academies, Primer Hands-On Training, Leadership Academies, the National Training Institutes and Search Conferences.

Strategic Planning 

Strategic planning is a continuous process where key persons in states and communities make decisions about the transformation of their service delivery systems, the intended future outcomes of service delivery for children and families, how these outcomes are to be accomplished, and how success is measured and evaluated. Because of the complexity of planning and implementing systems of care across agencies in order to serve children with, or at risk for, serious emotional disturbances, strategic planning is a vehicle for states and communities to determine the vision, goals, and implementation steps necessary to develop integrated and comprehensive services that are individualized for families, culturally competent, and use outcome data for accountability.

There are many models for strategic planning. The National Technical Assistance Center believes that different models are effective and should be chosen based on multiple factors including the audience, the issues, the forum for both learning and planning, time, and resources. Faculty and staff are highly skilled in teaching a strategic planning process as well as in facilitating strategic planning.

Public Policy

Public policy supports the work of those who are planning systems of services and supports for children and families. Policy development and policy implementation are intimately related to quality service delivery and positive outcomes for children and their families. Thoughtful and well-planned policies are vitally important for building and sustaining community-based systems of care. Public policies take many forms including legislation, executive orders, memoranda of agreement, and rules and regulations. The direction that a state or community chooses depends on multiple factors including the type of policy reform proposed, the political climate and opportunities, the history of past reforms, and the specific details and requirements of the reform. The National Technical Assistance Center works with states and communities to design, plan and implement new policies that impact on child and family services. For example, over the last five years the National Technical Assistance Center has conducted a series of Policy Academies that focus on assisting delegations of leaders from states and communities develop, implement and sustain public policies that support the overall strategic, long- term goals of states and communities to better serve children and families.