The COVID-19 pandemic intensified challenges for vulnerable groups in the United States. Human services agencies have been among many groups on the front lines of the crisis, delivering critical services and handling massive new workloads. New research conducted by Accenture between July and September 2020 shows the growing importance of these programs. More than a third (34 percent) of U.S. residents expect to use more human services in the years to come. The same research foretells mounting pressure around modernization. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. residents expect human services to look very different in the future, and 74 percent of human services executives say their organizations have reached a turning point. In this Q&A, Ryan Oakes, leader of Accenture’s global public sector practice, talks about the pandemic’s impact on human services and what the future may hold.
