New DHS boss aims high

Justin Brown brings youth (he is 40) and an outsider's approach to the Department of Human Services, both of which may prove valuable in directing Oklahoma's largest and most consequential state agency.

Brown, hired by Gov. Kevin Stitt in June, came to DHS after running a company with seven assisted living and memory care centers in three states. Roughly one-fourth of Oklahoma's population is served by DHS, running the gamut from child welfare to elder care.

“It's a big ship, but it's also a big opportunity,” Brown said in an interview with The Oklahoman.

Much of the news about DHS has focused on child welfare, particularly the agency's efforts since 2012 to comply with the conditions outlined in the state's settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Status reports by three experts who are overseeing the reforms have run hot and cold, although the latest report was encouraging.

Brown says DHS made “significant progress” under former director Ed Lake,

and that in his talks with the experts, “the good is overwhelming compared to the bad.”

Moving forward, Brown's goal is to improve Oklahoma's national rankings in the areas DHS manages, something he says is especially important given the agency's scope. “That means we have to innovate,” he said. “We cannot do the same things we've done forever. We have to do new things.”

He is looking at practices in other states to see if they can be implemented here. Brown is hiring a chief innovative officer. He is meeting with other agencies whose duties intersect with those of DHS to work on ways to collaborate.

On this point, Brown said he has found — no surprise here — a territorial culture in state government that creates barriers. He hopes to remove those and “really be intentional and thoughtful about how to create a set of, almost, policies to where we can work well with one another.”

Within DHS, he said, he plans to give the workforce of 5,700 — “an incredible group of people” — a chance to provide their ideas for change, while ensuring that the customer is at the center of every decision. Division heads have been charged with determining that division's four or five most important programs, and focusing on improving those. Brown also intends to implement systems that provide for solid evaluation of programs.

“That's an environment where you can be truly innovative,” he said.

DHS is so large because the need for its services — food stamps, or foster care, or child abuse, the list goes on — is so great. However, Brown says he believes there are ways, working with partner groups, to “really promote the opportunity for families to lift themselves out.”

“There will always be a need for those programs,” he said, “but I do think we can make some impact on that, moving people from people being consumers of the state and being contributors to the state.”

Unrealistic? Maybe. Then again, you never know unless you try. Brown, to his credit, is intent on giving it a go.