Gov. Riley Forms Task Force to Strengthen Alabama’s Families
Published 12:00 am Monday, March 15, 2004
MONTGOMERY – Gov. Bob Riley today announced the formation of a task force of citizens and government agency leaders who will work to determine the most efficient method of delivering services from the government’s health and human services programs.
“I believe we can do a better job of using the $7 billion in state and federal funds that are now spent on human service agencies to help more Alabama families become self-sufficient and to break out of that cycle of dependency so many families find themselves stuck in generation after generation,” Gov. Riley said.
“Too often, the state measures success in its human services system by how much is spent on these programs and by how many are served by these programs.
Instead,” Gov. Riley said, “success should be measured by how much these programs actually improve the lives of families and by how much we reduce the need for these programs.”
The Governor’s Task Force to Strengthen Alabama’s Families – made up of 13 citizens from across the state and
11 agency directors and members of Riley’s Cabinet – will review programs under a wide range of departments including Medicaid, the Department of Human Resources, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Children’s Affairs, among others.
Barbara Everett of Rehobeth, the wife of U.S. Rep. Terry Everett, will serve as president of the Task Force.
Finance Director Drayton Nabers will be the Task Force’s chairman.
Funding for the Task Force comes from a $250,000 grant the state received from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The foundation is a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the U.S.
Alabama is only the second state in the nation to undertake such a comprehensive review of its human services programs.
Illinois launched a similar effort on human services reform in the mid-1990s with a $225,000 grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Members of the Governor’s Task Force to Strengthen Alabama’s Families:
Phillis Belcher, Executive Director
Greene County Industrial Development Board
Jim Dimas, Senior Associate
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Baltimore, Maryland
Honorable John England
Circuit Judge for Sixth Circuit – Tuscaloosa County
Mrs. Barbara Everett, President of Task Force
Rehobeth
Diane Irby, Executive Director
United Way of Southwest Alabama
Mobile
Vanessa Leonard, Esquire
Rockford
Kate Nielsen, President
Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham
Gary Palmer
Alabama Policy Institute
Birmingham
Lenora Pate, Esquire
Sirote&Permutt
Birmingham
Kathleen Sauer, President
Enterprise Chamber of Commerce
Mayor Loretta Spencer
City of Huntsville
Luther Strange, Esquire
Bradley, Arant, Rose and White
Birmingham
Jim Williams, Executive Director
Public Affairs Research
Council of Alabama
Samford University
Birmingham
Agency Directors and Riley Cabinet Members on the Task Force:
Tim Alford
Office of Work Force Development
Donal Campbell
Department of Corrections
Irene Collins
Department of Senior Services
John Harrison
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs
Carol Herrmann
Alabama Medicaid Agency
Drayton Nabers, Jr., Chairman of Task Force
Finance Director
Kathy Sawyer
Alabama Department of Mental Health and Retardation
Steve Shivers
Department of Rehabilitation Services
Dalton Smith
Senior Advisor to the Governor
Dr. Page Walley
Department of Human Resources
Dr. Don Williamson
Department of Public Health