A pivotal step toward service integration was DCHS's physical consolidation of essentially all department services at 4850 Mark Center Drive in 2023. Co-location lets staff provide warm handoffs to complementary services on different floors, enables clients to schedule multiple appointments in one visit, and helps teams collaborate in real time around interconnected needs.

A catalog of what the department actually offers. It helps staff find the right resource quickly, and it reveals where services overlap and where they run out. For clients it makes plain what exists and how to connect to what they qualify for. This is a foundational asset: the referral system, wayfinder kiosks, screening tools, online resources, call-taker scripts and an AI assistant all draw on the same catalog.

We consolidated physically into one building; the phones did not follow. Intake by phone remains fragmented and often bottlenecked — DCHS advertises at least 60 numbers on its website, and few of them perform to the standard we want for clients. Collaborative work in FY26 traced a call from first contact through to resolution, surfacing what breaks for callers and for agents and identifying the pathways worth piloting and implementing in FY27.

Self-service kiosks in the building that help someone work out where they need to be and what is available to them, without having to ask a person first. Draft description — the real scope, locations and current state need your text.

Once a streamlined referral system and service catalog are in place, we can proactively and holistically screen clients for services they may benefit from beyond the one that brought them through the door. Technology lets us do that in an interactive, targeted, self-service way — for instance while a client is waiting in line, rather than in another appointment.

DCHS is retiring its legacy case management system, Harmony, and replacing it with HCS, a modern platform built on Salesforce. A department-wide case management system can give staff a more consistent view of client information, support coordination across programs, reduce repeated data entry and client retelling, and create a stronger foundation for referrals, follow-through, and shared accountability.

A weekly look back at the previous week, delivered Monday morning to more than 650 staff, in the style of an end-of-year app recap. It carries Resources in Action forward through a rotating program spotlight: one program a week explained in plain language, with the signs to look for and how to refer. The data pipelines that would feed it are running; what is not settled is what goes in it.

Developed in partnership with Virginia Tech, the Service Atlas is an AI-assisted navigation tool that creates a single intelligent entry point into DCHS's portfolio of 200+ programs. It combines a structured knowledge base with AI-powered screening and matching to generate personalized service pathways. With appropriate training, it would roll out first to DCHS staff, then trusted community intermediaries, and ultimately residents—expanding access while managing risk through iterative testing and rigorous quality standards.

The Administrative Services Integration initiative enhances DCHS client service delivery through streamlined tools, trained staff, and efficient workflows. Its aim is to connect residents to the right services immediately while promoting consistent service delivery and advancing a one-stop-shop, no-wrong-door approach to service navigation.

By linking our data and presenting it clearly, we can put concrete numbers behind our service integration efforts. That shared baseline is what lets us identify the programs worth learning from, pinpoint where systemic gaps remain, and see the biggest opportunities. A single source of truth does more than create accountability — it is the practical foundation teams need to build a more connected system together.

A behavioral health dashboard designed for regular use in clinical and operational work. Its Metrics tab provides a quick snapshot of performance, while its Operations tab offers more detailed day-to-day reports. Access is tailored by role: clinicians see their own data, supervisors and managers see the teams they oversee, and center directors see all teams in their center.

Streamlines same-day access intake by combining and standardizing the workflows for adults and children. It is the first service-integration project to span two centers: Adult Services (CAS) and the Children and Families (CCF).

The Community Analytics initiative systematizes the use of community data for community needs assessments and scales up the collection of real-time customer feedback. This work will strengthen shared knowledge about clients across the department and improve DCHS's ability to implement collective accountability for service integration. The project will initially focus on economic mobility, aging, and social vulnerability.

A structured customer experience research practice that uses human-centered methods to understand how clients experience DCHS services, where they encounter barriers, and what would help them move forward. The work would combine direct client listening with journey mapping, service observation, case review, and staff evidence, then translate what is learned into specific service improvements and measures of whether those changes help.

Today, staff looking to connect clients to other programs often rely on personal heroics and informal networks. HCS makes it possible to offer a proper referral system: one that systematizes and streamlines cross-department referrals, carries information forward so clients stop having to retell their story, and produces the data to hold receiving programs accountable.

DCHS annually publishes Key Indicators to communicate department performance. The framework continues to evolve to better capture outcomes and tell the story of impact. Looking ahead, DCHS seeks to standardize quality expectations and add department-wide measures of client interactions, wait times, client satisfaction, and other shared priorities.