Welcome to the Thousand Stories podcast, the Renaissance Series.

Join host Justin Brown, former Secretary of Human Services for the state of Oklahoma, and his new co-host, Luke Williams, President of Tandem Research, as they explore a true rebirth for human services.

The Renaissance Series is dedicated to illuminating the stories and ideas that define this new era of innovation and transformation. We are moving toward a connected, human-centered, and innovative future in health and human services (HHS). We explore how leaders, researchers, and practitioners are building systems that truly serve people.

Justin Brown originally launched the Thousand Stories podcast to share the incredible untold stories happening in Health and Human Services beyond the challenges and negative headlines. Now, the conversation centers on the belief that we are at the dawn of a renaissance in HHS, positioned at the intersection of experienced leadership and new technology innovations that can supercharge this transformation.

The mission is to rethink the current system, which often operates as a "one-size-fits-all approach" that catches people at the bottom. Instead, we advocate for a custom safety net that follows us wherever we go, employing strategic interventions. This shift is essential for promoting dignity, creating better outcomes for future generations, and achieving greater efficiency for taxpayers.

To achieve this, we must focus on delivery model transformation by working to remove systemic barriers (like those related to transportation, language, child care, and stigma) that prevent customers from accessing resources. A core goal is to move upstream to a more preventative posture, meeting people before they fall into crisis, preventing engagement with intrusive systems like child welfare.

This series draws heavily on the research conducted by Luke Williams and Tandem Research, including their national catalog of delivery model innovations that covers 46 cases across over 38 states.

In this episode, the hosts focus on the physical delivery of health and human services and the eight categories of innovation currently reshaping the field:

• Community Partnerships: Services delivered through formal agreements with local nonprofits, sometimes utilizing embedded workers or licensed nonprofit workers.
• Collocation: Partnerships between public entities, such as the one-stop shop model.
• Real Estate Modernization: Strategically streamlining physical office space, often coupled with distributing the workforce into the community.
• Mobile Service Delivery: Utilizing gutted buses or vans to provide intake and eligibility determinations in rural areas, disaster areas, or to alleviate the burden on overwhelmed physical offices.
• Intensive Case Management: Giving workers the tools to develop long-term career or educational pathways.
• Integrated Online Portals: Utilizing tools like robotic process automation (RPA) and AI for proactive intake and eligibility identification across services and agencies.
• Modernized Contact Centers: Using AI as a "switchboard operator" or "front man" to direct callers to specialized human teams.
• Tech-Driven Case Management: Using emerging technologies like AI to analyze customer data for predictive capabilities (e.g., anticipating a life event that changes service eligibility) or detecting fraud.

While technology is a critical component for systems to move upstream, the hosts emphasize that the physical in-person experience is critical and will remain important for the foreseeable future, making intentional planning for the physical footprint essential. Discover how leaders are creating a meaningful and intentional mix of purpose-built physical spaces and distributed models to serve people at their most vulnerable times.