Change Story: Xavier Becerra | HHS.gov

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra talking on the Lincoln Memorial.

A Message from the Secretary

My mother and father, Maria Teresa and Manuel, by no means received an opportunity to open the door to a school classroom, however they despatched all their youngsters to varsity and the army. What they’d, they earned. their onerous work opened doorways for my three sisters and me. Like so many generations of People with an identical story, my mother and father constructed this nation and strengthened our democracy. They did their greatest, and so they did IT whereas battling discrimination.

There have been actually indicators in storefronts the place they lived that learn “No canines or Mexicans allowed.” The indicators could also be gone, however the boundaries stay: entry, availability, affordability.

Because the son of immigrants and the primary Latino to carry the workplace of Secretary within the historical past of america, I perceive what IT means to see illustration in management and throughout our workforce. If the core mission of HHS is to boost the Health and well-being of all People, then we should be capable to attain and join with People from each stroll of life. There’s a mountain of proof to indicate that unequal remedy and unequal entry to alternative are unhealthy — for us as people and for the nation.

HHS has a protracted historical past of valuing range, fairness, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) throughout our divisions and packages. And there’s extra that we will do to replicate and signify the complete range of the individuals we function we search to advertise higher Health for all.

To mitigate Health inequities throughout our nation, we should mitigate disparities throughout our workforce and prioritize illustration in any respect ranges. To unlock the complete potential of our crew, everybody should really feel welcomed, valued, included, seen, heard, and revered. All of us deserve, and profit from, the sensation that we belong.

President Biden on his first day in workplace delivered a strong and unprecedented mandate for all federal businesses to launch a whole-of-government strategy to DEIA. At HHS, we now have embraced the President’s name to motion and made this one in every of our Division’s highest strategic priorities. At its coronary heart, our imaginative and prescient for DEIA integration is about making a office for everybody to persistently take part pretty and totally. We created the HHS DEIA Strategic Plan and guiding Plan Ideas as a roadmap to a future the place no alternative is out of attain, and nobody is left behind.

We’re making good progress. We’re partaking with stakeholders and studying about new views. We’re welcoming the traditionally marginalized to be a part of our decision-making. We’re incorporating all experiences and contributions into our DEIA learnings and functions. We’re using data-driven approaches to research the state of the Division and implement options to boundaries. We’re enhancing packages to include evidence-based practices and lift our collective DEIA consciousness. And we’re assembly individuals the place they’re via steady teaching and conversations.

After all, there’s rather more work to do. Now we have recognized areas of alternative throughout three key pillars: Management Accountability, Organizational Tradition, and Attracting and Retaining Expertise. To achieve success, we depend on our leaders to articulate the boundaries we should remove and alternatives we should decide to act upon. We glance to HHS leaders to mannequin the behaviors we wish to see embodied throughout our workforce. And we are going to proceed to carry our leaders accountable for our DEIA progress and priorities.

All staff throughout HHS share some accountability for this work being profitable as effectively. Every of us ought to perceive our important function in reaching our imaginative and prescient of tradition transformation and a office of belonging. With intentionality, we should establish, appeal to, and rent expertise that displays the nation we serve. We should make use of these skills broadly and pretty within the growth of our packages and companies and promote and ship help in an equitable method. We’re all accountable for weaving DEIA deeper into the material of HHS for our workforce at the moment and sooner or later.

“To unlock the complete potential of our crew, everybody should really feel welcomed, valued, included, seen, heard, and revered. All of us deserve, and profit from, the sensation that we belong.”

Thanks for becoming a member of the crew on this journey. Let’s preserve working collectively to make sure everyone seems to be welcomed and has a possibility for development in our workforce. Let’s proceed to problem ourselves and one another, to domesticate a profound sense of belonging throughout our Division. Collectively, we are going to create a various, equitable, inclusive, and accessible office the place everyone seems to be supported to indicate up as their most genuine self in service to our nation.

Once we succeed, we could have constructed an enduring tradition of inclusion and shared excellence and confirmed HHS as a pacesetter in DEIA throughout authorities and business. We could have constructed, like my mother and father, a stronger nation ready to just accept the subsequent era of People.

Xavier Becerra
Secretary, U.S. Division of Health and Human Companies

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Persevering with our DEIA journey

The DEIA journey is a steady means of studying and enchancment. Committing to DEIA is not only the precise factor to do—IT is the good factor to do. IT makes HHS a stronger federal company, a simpler chief and accomplice in advancing the Health of the nation, and a horny house for the nation’s greatest and brightest expertise.

Management change tales will evolve as we collaborate throughout HHS and make shared progress. We are going to transfer ahead with a concentrate on steady enchancment and addressing present and rising management wants.

For questions, assets, or extra Information, please e-mail DEIAStrategicPlan@hhs.gov.

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