Top 10 Agency Initiatives: Department of Housing and Urban Development

As part of the special Federal News Radio series, “The Obama Impact: Evaluating the Last Four Years,” we asked more than two dozen federal agencies — including all of the Cabinet-level agencies — for a list of the three most effective, nonpolitical management initiatives or policies they’ve embarked on over the past four years.

Emerging Professionals Program

The Emerging Professionals Program (EPP) is an important succession planning tool. The program is geared towards employees who have been at HUD for at least 3 years. In addition, the applicants must be at the GS-11 grade level or below; in a single grade series (i.e. GS-5, 6, 7 …) with no promotion potential beyond GS-11. The initial EPP class had employees in positions such as office assistant, legal assistant, program support assistant, equal opportunity assistant, clerk, staff assistant, and secretary.

The year-long developmental program includes classroom training, distance learning, rotational assignments, mentoring, and group assignments. The 60-day rotational assignments are a critical component of the program as they allow participants to obtain valuable exposure and experience in aspired occupations. The competencies addressed includes: Career Building, Conflict Management, Customer Service, Interpersonal Skills, Oral and Written Communication, Problem Solving, Project Management, Self and Stress Management, Change Management, and Teamwork. Upon completion of the program, the participants will have increased confidence, as well as an enhance knowledge-base and skill set making them better prepared to compete for upward mobility opportunities that will allow them to move into professional occupations.

HUDConnect

We’re passionate about using technology to better communicate with the public. We also understand that if HUD employees do not have the tools they need in order to communicate with each other more effectively, collaborate on projects and do their work better, the public will be directly affected, which is why as an agency we implemented an intranet social media collaboration platform. The new social media platform which we named, HUDConnect, is a place where employees from across the entire department both in the field and at headquarters can get together and collaborate on projects; it’s where real work is happening and as a result, productivity is increasing. If HUD employees have the tools to do their work faster and more efficiently, the American public is better served.

Transformation Initiative

HUD’s Transformation Initiative has been an innovative tool for identifying and making fundamental enhancements to more effectively achieve the Department’s mission. The Government Accountability Office featured TI in its 2011 report, “Streamlining Government as one of three federal initiatives focused on reexamining federal programs and processes. HUD introduced TI in its FY 2010 budget request, seeking set-asides of a fraction of a percent from most Departmental program funding accounts to advance transformation in a flexible way across a number of areas, including research and evaluation, program demonstrations, technical assistance and IT.

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