Liesl Wendt was confirmed as the new director of the Oregon Department of Human Services in November 2025. In her role, Wendt is focused on more effective, responsive and inclusive services and systems that better serve individuals and communities and are efficiently managed. To that end, she has established
100-day goals for the agency, in areas such as customer service, safety, engagement and process improvement.
“In recent months, I have met with hundreds of staff, partners, Tribal officials and legislators, and those discussions have shaped my goals for the first 100 days of my tenure as director,” Wendt said. “I am committed to continuous engagement and updates on our progress toward improving the lives of the people we serve.”
100-day goals
- Develop welcoming spaces and signage in local offices and an overall customer service strategy for local offices that serve the public.
- Improve functionality and up time for the ONE eligibility system, where people can access medical, food, cash and child care benefits.
- Finalize contract with Agency with Choice vendor to provide a new option for people seeking in-home care.
- Improve process for getting services to domestic violence survivors (TA-DVS)seeking safety, so that it is a faster and more supportive experience.
- Conduct an emergency preparedness “table-top” exercise within ODHS to prepare for winter storms; pilot an integrated, jurisdiction-wide seminar in a specific area of the state with human services partners to help them better work together in disasters.
- Increase efforts to help TANF beneficiaries with long-term disabilities become self-sufficient.
- Hire and onboard a new director for the Office of Developmental Disabilities Services (ODDS), to build on and innovate Oregon's system for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- Develop dashboard for child fatalities that demonstrates incident patterns, trends and response outcomes.
- Implement actions to improve quality and safety oversight of long-term care facilities, including protocols for “immediate jeopardy” findings in facilities and a safety data dashboard.
- Implement and monitor effectiveness of local action plans aimed at improving the timeliness of child welfare safety assessments.
- Make improvements to how ODHS manages its large fleet of vehicles to ensure staff have access to the right type of vehicle to keep them and their clients safe on the road. This includes piloting an automated system to track and manage cars and an escalation process for urgent needs.
- Improve engagement and consultation with the nine Federally Recognized Tribes in Oregon:
- Refine Tribal consultation policy by creating standard operating procedures and developing criteria for “critical events” that require consultation with the nine Tribes in Oregon.
- Plan a Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation summit that will include all nine Tribes to foster greater collaboration, participant co-enrollment and shared program outcomes.
- Conduct robust engagement and education around the development of ODHS' next biennial budget (2027-29):
- Develop and conduct legislative and budget training for staff, Tribes and partners.
- Hold budget workshops to seek input from staff, Tribes, partners and the public.
- Develop a staff communication plan to better inform and engage ODHS staff.
- Better support nonprofits who have contracts with the state by establishing a procurement council and implementing CRM (customer relationship management) platform to share contracting opportunities.
- Advance community discussions and implementation of the
Stabilization and Crisis Unit (SACU) redesign project.
- Improve onboarding for executives and staff, including establishing a process with guidelines and expectations to add an in-person option for New Employee Orientation (NEO) in 2026.
- Reduce the length of time of personnel investigations and increase transparency about the process.
- Implement
Senate Bill 296 and changes to eligibility processes for long-term services and supports to facilitate more timely and appropriate hospital discharges.
- Improve on-the-job training for eligibility workers who work with people seeking medical, food, cash and child care benefits.