Kenney to appoint new DHS commissioner

Cynthia Figueroa, CEO of Congreso de Latinos Unidos, a nonprofit focused on Latino communities, will be named commissioner of the Department of Human Services Wednesday, sources said.

Figueroa takes over the Department of Human Services after working as a former deputy commissioner of the department from 2008 to 2010.

Mayor Kenney will make the announcement at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Figueroa's appointment comes in a particularly trying time for the department. In May the state downgraded DHS' license to operate citing several violations of state child welfare laws.

The department is also in the middle of a continued transformation to decentralizing its system and outsourcing caseworkers to private, community umbrella agencies for the city's 6,100 children in out of home care.

Partners for Philadelphia Families, a coalition of the city's community umbrella agencies, praised Figueroa's appointment in a release Tuesday night.

"We applaud Mayor Kenney's appointment of Cynthia…She has an excellent track record of success focusing on the city's most vulnerable populations, from her current position at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, during her tenure as Deputy Commissioner at DHS, and before that with Women Against Abuse," a statement released by the group said.

The group also thanked the acting commissioner Jessica Shapiro.

"Under her guidance, we worked closely to protect the city's children, enhance the policies to make that happen, and further coalesce the agencies and organizations committed to this important endeavor."

DHS commissioner was one of a handful of positions for which Kenney said he would conduct a national search. In the end he landed on Figueroa, a Philadelphian. Figueroa served on Kenney's transition committee  and was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal 40 Under 40 list and an Eisenhower Fellow.

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