The Workforce Institute is a partnership between ACS and the City University of New York (School of Professional Studies and the Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work). The Institute provides ongoing professional skills development of direct service staff and supervisors at ACS and its many partner agencies across the child welfare and juvenile justice sectors.
Vision Statement
Empowered staff who are responsive and effective in their roles and deliver services throughout NYC with competence, empathy, and respect so that all children are safe and thrive in strong families and communities.
Mission Statement
The Workforce Institute bridges best case practice to child welfare and youth justice outcomes. We provide professional development opportunities and coaching to support a culture of continuous learning among direct service staff and their supervisors. We prepare staff to deliver services that build on family strengths and reflect the unique needs of each child.
Guiding Principles
Guiding Principles are our core values and help to define our organization. These values are how we want to work, communicate, and create community within WI. We understand that our work and staff might change over time but these principles remain unchanged because they are at the core of who we are and how we want to show up in the world. These Guiding Principles are grounded in our recognition that our work has impact on the child welfare community in NYC in support of achieving tangible results for children, families, and communities.
We believe that:
- The coach approach (our desired means of supervision, leadership, and communication) supports learning, growth, and critical thinking.
- A strengths-based approach supports our ability to leverage our talents as we build an inclusive community where every voice is heard and valued in order to strengthen our collective thinking.
- A focus on equity is an essential and central part of our work, including how we work and whom we chose to work with. This includes our work to address the challenges faced by individuals from groups or populations that are vulnerable or marginalized in our society.
- Accountability to quality supports our commitment to excellence in everything we seek to do.
- Transparency supports a culture of courage, integrity and humility.
- A process of self and collective reflection is essential for our individual and organizational success.
- A customer service approach provides the foundation for engagement with all internal and external partners.
- A commitment to learning development including emerging trends and technology supports our ability to stay informed of industry standards and evolving policies.
- Decisions based on knowledge and outcomes, both quantitative and qualitative, keep us on track with changing realities.
- Collaboration—including respect for time, ideas, values and varying points of view—enriches us all.