What if we redesigned America’s safety net to help people truly flourish–and not just track the delivery of benefits? In this episode, Clarence H. Carter, the current Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services and a public servant with 30 years of experience, including roles under four Governors, two Presidents, and a Mayor, joins me to explore the challenges facing our current system and the vision behind Tennessee’s Human Flourishing Initiative. Using the Winchester Mystery House as an analogy, Carter explains how a system built over decades can become complicated, fragmented, and focused on measuring outputs rather than human outcomes.

We discuss the “no wrong door” approach, why county-level leadership and trusted community partners matter, and how government can move from transactions to transformational relationships in collaboration with churches and nonprofits. Commissioner Carter also explains how churches can rethink benevolence, how AI could help government workers become people-helpers rather than clerks, and what it would look like for church (as a movement of believers) to play a greater role in helping individuals and communities move from dependency to flourishing.

Clarence H. Carter is Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services, appointed by Governor Bill Lee in January 2021 to lead the state’s second-largest agency, which serves all 95 counties on a roughly $2.3 billion budget with a staff of nearly 4,000. Before Tennessee, he directed Arizona’s Department of Economic Security and Virginia’s Department of Social Services, led the District of Columbia’s Department of Human Services (where he oversaw a shift from a shelter-based homeless system toward permanent housing outcomes), and held senior federal posts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including Director of the Office of Family Assistance and Acting Director of the Office of Community Services, where he administered seven federal programs including the $16.5 billion TANF program. In 2015 he founded the Institute for the Improvement of the Human Condition, working with safety net agencies on emergency response for vulnerable populations, and he has carried that career-long focus on reforming the social safety net into both his current role and his book, Our Safety Net Has Holes.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Clarence Carter entered public service
• The Winchester Mystery House and the problems with our modern safety net
• The difference between measuring government outputs and measuring human impact
• Tennessee’s Human Flourishing Initiative
• The “no wrong door” approach to serving people
• Why county-level leadership matters
• How government can build authentic partnerships with churches
• Moving from transactional charity to transformational relationships
• Practical encouragement for churches and nonprofits engaging in benevolence
• How AI can help government workers focus on people rather than paperwork

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