Director's Column
By Director Taylor HatchI am incredibly honored for the trust that Governor DeSantis has placed in me to serve such an incredible population of Floridians as the Director of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD). Our mission is to work in partnership with community organizations by supporting individuals with developmental disabilities in living, learning, and working in their communities. While government certainly has a place, our mission statement embraces that government is not the only solution and by collaborating with our local providers we can promote individual and community well-being and create an environment where all Florida families can thrive.
APD is focused on three disciplines: to serve Florida families with compassion, empowerment, and excellence. To ensure our system of care is able to deliver effective and efficient services, we must be in a state of constant pursuit while keeping a spirit of service ever at heart. In other words, we will proactively identify ways to further serve one another and to find opportunities to enrich the experience of the individuals and families that we serve.
We will accomplish this by deepening our partnerships with existing stakeholders, while activating innovative partnerships with sister agencies and not-for-profits, faith-based organizations, private sector partners, parents, providers, and other associations and networks. For APD, we will focus on acting as the facilitator, or the connector of dots, to create a seamless network of supports not only for the person we serve, but for their family as a whole with a goal to achieve greater family well-being.
Finally, we commit to not only being accountable to one another through establishing a culture of completion but also ensuring we hold accountable the entire system of care to deliver excellent quality experiences for Floridians. We will continue to measure and monitor the interactions we have throughout the system, as well as look for new ways to utilize outcome data to inform areas of opportunity in the future.
I look forward to continuing to meet, learn, and engage with the many stakeholders involved in our system of care. Thank you for all of the positive contributions so many of you make to ensure Florida families have the opportunity to thrive.
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