The Los Angeles County Department of Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services (WDACS) has been working to extend the outreach and impact of its services, which include connecting individuals and employers, ensuring the well-being of older and dependent adults, improving human relations, and reducing hate crime. To advance these goals, FUSE Executive Fellow Swati Chandra worked with the Department to ensure a user centric approach to measuring effectiveness of service delivery.
Swati assisted the Department in identifying and defining goals that measure the actual social impact/outcome of programs. She worked in close collaboration with teams to encourage a culture of accountability and data driven decision making. She established dashboards to measure performance on a real time basis, along with frequent check ins to ensure initiatives were on track to meet goals. She also introduced programs to foster employee development and cross-functional team collaboration, and helped establish and roll out customer satisfaction surveys and NPS scoring at service delivery locations. As part of a broader effort to refine the Department’s branding and communications, Swati supported the development and execution of a branding strategy and website redesign for the Department and America’s Job Center of California, improving user flow and, ultimately, making services more accessible for residents. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swati’s role expanded to include crisis response and recovery. She helped design and launch the “Great Plates Delivered” program, which distributed upward of four millionmeals from more than 80 local restaurants to more than 8,500 older adults in need. Swati plans to continue her work with WDACS to help the agency become more efficient and responsive to community needs.
