“The private sector underestimates the desire of the public sector to get it right”
– Mike Wilkening, Special Advisor on Innovation and Digital Services in the Office of the Governor
Call to Action
Create a culture of sustained innovation across CHHS to demonstrate how a government agency can be more responsive to the needs of Californians
Goals
- Create a more engaging work environment for our staff- an environment that encourages staff to better utilize data, seek out new professional development opportunities, and create innovative solutions to improve their programs
- More effective programs and services built around the needs of Californians
- Service delivery that begins with user needs from the onset so that government can better support them
- Gained efficiencies through scaling models that demonstrate agency-wide impact and break down existing department silos
- Faster delivery of products and services through adoption of agile methodologies and an emphasis on iterative improvement

Innovation Themes
- Human/user centered design approaches and principles
- Usage of data and analytics
- Creation and adoption of digital services
- Replication of transferable investments
- Demonstration of cross departmental collaboration
The Teams
60% Department Participation
12 Nimble Teams Across Two Cohorts
120+ Innovation Change Agents
Team Values
- Collaborate (with departments and external partners)
- Value (demonstrate to end-users and departments)
- Test Small, Fail Small, Scale Big (create an environment where intelligent risks are encouraged and rewarded)
- Customer-Oriented (human centered design principles)
- Consultation (consensus building with rapid decision making)
- Partnerships (public and private sectors)
- Analytics (data driven decision making)
- Digital Services (creation and adoption of to create programmatic efficiencies)
- Delivery (focus on execution and doing the work)
- Scalable (sustainable agency-wide benefits)
The California Health and Human Services Agency oversees departments and offices that provide a wide range of services in the areas of health care, mental health, public health, alcohol and drug treatment, income assistance, social services and assistance to people with disabilities.