Hello SAFHER Community,
As 2023 comes to a close, the SAFHER team wants to share a look back at what we achieved so far:
- Early January — kicked-off the SAFHER project
- Early March — launched SAFHER User Groups comprising 28 agencies and 168 individual users
- July — hosted an in-person SAFHER user group meeting for retail, manufactured and animal food programs
- August — released state pricing calculator to the user community
- Early November — SAFHER Executive Advisory Council met in Denver to focus on SAFHER’s future plans
- November — conducted a beta test of the current SAFHER site with Iowa, Colorado, and Pennsylvania
There are many more deliverables than these, but to sum up SAFHER’s past year — it’s been busy!
The AFDO SAFHER team is proud of everything that’s been accomplished by all our partners. We are grateful to everyone who has helped get SAFHER to where it is today.
As the team looks to 2024, we know there are more programs to talk to, more components to be developed, and more work to do … all driving toward delivering SAFHER to you.
You can expect the next weekly update in 2024!
The SAFHER team wishes you all a relaxing holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!
Kellie P. Isaac
SAFHER Director
P.S. If you are considering sending members of your team to the AFDO Process Improvement course, there is still time to register. This course dovetails nicely with the change management many of you are undertaking in your organizations. See course info below.
You all are great champions of change and process improvement. AFDO is offering a great opportunity for members of your teams to learn a deliberate approach to improving business processes by efficiently identifying, analyzing, and refining each existing process to improve it and then responding to changes in business rules, data, compliance, or regulations. Please consider passing this on.
Participants will facilitate discussions with the Process Improvement tools within their organizations after completing the in-person Process Improvement class. Our approach is straightforward, not overengineered or overcomplicated.
The course is designed for food and feed programs and gives them the tools necessary to facilitate and lead their programs in projects that are new, complex – or both. This course is only available to individuals currently employed by federal, state, tribal, and territorial regulatory agencies.
Note: This course requires an application. Accepted applicants will be notified at least 3 weeks before the course, at which point an invoice will be issued. Selection will be based upon a variety of criteria, including position, geographic and programmatic diversity, and location. This course is only available to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial regulators. You can apply here.
Cost
$750 Non-member (plus travel expenses)
$400 Member (plus travel expenses)
January 30, 2024: 4-hour virtual meeting from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET
February 6-9, 2024: In-person
Four monthly calls following the course