Embedded Files
Words to describe Liz:
Do you know a Central Admin staff that goes above and beyond for DYS? Nominate them to be the next Employee of the Month here ! Our nomination form opens on the last Friday of the month
Employee of the Month - January
Employee of the Month - January
Elizabeth Rodriguez, Records Specialist
Records
Liz supports the Five Key Strategies by streamlining processes, improving data management, fostering positive communication, ensuring complicance and modeling profesional conduct, directly impacting better outcomes for youth and families through administrative excellence.
Sanctuary Spotlight
Emotional Intelligence: Liz manages her own feelings well and is attuned to those around her. Liz listens with empathy and patience, helping without judgment and providing support.
Social Responsibility: Liz actively promotes a culture where mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities and jumps into action for finding resolutions. She created a database for searching years of past requests, which helped the team improve efficiency.
Democracy: Liz champions shared decision-making. She actively solicits input from the team and ensures that everyone's thoughts and ideas are considered and valued, which results in more inclusive and effective planning.
Open Communication: Liz addresses interpersonal or organizational issues directly and respectfully, fostering a climate of trust, transparency, and understanding.
Growth and Change: Liz embraces transformation and focuses on the future by breaking dysfunctional patterns. She spearheaded the implementation of an SOP, which creates hope and excitement for our team's future and growth, and helped us move beyond outdated practices.
What's New?
What's New?
Retirement of Kristen Withrow, LCSW - Associate Director
Retirement of Kristen Withrow, LCSW - Associate Director
Kristen is a leader that truly cares about and respects the talent that is DYS. She asks for feedback and suggestions from all members of her team. She takes the time to teach and to learn. She is honest and transparent. She adores the staff and youth alike, and it shows in every visit and meeting she has with our YSCs. She has spent 31 years leading by example, and her legacy will show in our leaders across the Division for many years to come.
Kristen's last day with the Division will be February 27th, 2026. Thank you for everything, Kristen! 🫶
Welcome to Central Admin!
Welcome to Central Admin!
Cortez Harvey, MA,LPC, LAC
Behavioral Health Services Manager (Gilliam, Marvin W.Foote, and Lookout Mountain YSCs)
Change to Retention for Email and Gemini
Change to Retention for Email and Gemini
A change is coming to CDHS and BHA’s email and Gemini retention policy. Effective March 9th, all emails older than 90 days will be automatically deleted from CDHS and BHA email accounts. Our current policy retains emails for four years. Prompts, conversations and notes in the Gemini application will be automatically deleted after one month instead of three months.
The new policy applies to all CDHS and BHA email accounts, including contractor email accounts and shared email addresses such as cdhs_HumanResources@state.co.us. It does not apply to State-issued email accounts to our county partners. This updated policy also follows best practices, which require that emails be deleted once the appropriate retention period has expired. Get detailed information about retention guidelines on the Records Management intranet page.
Have an important email that you need to keep? Apply the “DONOTDELETE” label to important emails you need to save longer than 90 days, and emails involved in a litigation hold. Get how-tos and tips in Using the DONOTDELETE Label to Retain Emails (Google Doc).
Please email Amy Ferrin or Bridget Clawson Braaten (bridget.clawson@state.co.us) with questions or for additional support.
DYS Leadership Structure Update
DYS Leadership Structure Update
Some temporary Changes are coming to bridge the gap in DYS Leadership while we transition to a new Associate Director. On March 1st, these changes to Leadership will take effect:
Associate Director Dr.Natalie Chrastil will serve as the acting AD for Youth Center Operations
Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs Michael McAuliffe will serve as the acting AD of Business Administration, overseeing Data Management & Analysis, Records and Policy, Trails Systems and People-Centered Practices
Associate Director Ashley Tunstall will oversee Education, with her comined team becoming "Health and Education Services".
DYCO Kimberly Rumley-Cranwill will oversee Spring Creek, Lookout Mountain, Betty K.Marlar, Phoenix, Grand Mesa and Platte Valley YSCs
DYCO Charles Tyous will oversee Gilliam, Pueblo, Marvin W.Foote, Zebulon Pike, Rocky Mountain, and Prairie Vista YSCs
New Sanctuary Posters: Next time you are in the office, check out our artwork displaying Sanctuary devotions! Each poster features actual pictures from DYS.
State Legistlative/Budget updates
State Legistlative/Budget updates
CDHS also testified in two committees this week. First, April Jenkins with the Division of Child Welfare answered questions regarding HB26-1024, Raising Age of Voluntary Relinquishment of a Child. CDHS is neutral on this bill and it passed out of the House Health and Human Services committee 13-0. Second, Lucas Knudsen with the Division of Child Support Services was available for questions at the Statutory Revision Committee as they considered approving the introduction of a bill to correct statutory citations. The committee unanimously approved introducing a bill, which will be the first CDHS legislative agenda item to be introduced this session.
Want to see a full list of the bills so for this session that CDHS has flagged as being of potential interest? View the All Bills Flagged List.
Figure Setting for CDHS has begun, with the offices formerly known as EDO, AdSol, and OCYF**!
Staff document (please note that this does not reflect JBC decisions)
While many of our requests were approved (radios! RGAP!), the JBC did have to make some difficult decisions, reflecting the tough budget situation that the State is in. Some of these decisions include an increased reduction to TGYS and a reduction to our EDO Administration appropriation. Please reach out to your Office’s budget lead if you have any questions!
Figure Setting for CDHS is scheduled for the following dates**:
February 24: OES, OAADS
February 25: Capital Construction (please note that this is a change in schedule)
February 27: OCFMH
1/28/26 - Important Phishing Scam Alert: The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) was notified about an email phishing scam designed to appear as if it was sent from a DORA employee. The email has the subject line: “Re: Action Required - DORA Enforcement Notice #93742” with a fabricated DORA employee, Cassy T. Sullivan, as the alleged sender.
If you have received this email, do not click on any links and report it as phishing. The State of Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology is aware of this phishing attempt and is investigating.
2/17/26 - REMINDER: CDHS and the BHA have switched to a new, more secure login process for UKG/Kronos. As of today, Feb. 17, you will log in using your network username and password. Refer to the email from Amanda Rios, CDHS deputy controller, for more details.
Please use the following credentials to access your account. Based on our records, your specific login is below:
Your Kronos Username: USERNAME@cdhs.state.co.us
New Kronos login link: https://stateofcohs-sso.prd.mykronos.com
If you see the old/original login screen: The Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) is updating desktop shortcuts throughout the day. If you click your shortcut and see the original green login page, click on "SSO Login" at the bottom of the window to proceed to the current login.
Note on Google Waffle: The Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) updated the Google Waffle after 9AM this morning. If you use the Google Waffle, please be sure it looks like the following image and the UKG background is green (not blue) when you log in:
Birthdays
Birthdays
February
February
Jeremy Hall
Eileen Doyle-Samay
Brooke Montelongo
Amelia Wright
Trinny Brown
Rebecca Eman
Hussain Quadri
Years of Service
Years of Service
February
February
Boris Drapkin, Central Administation Office - 3 years
Joleen Stanczyk, NE Regional Office - 10 years
Jill Sherepita, Phoenix Youth Services Center - 10 years
Joe Kurtz, Spring Creek Youth Services Center - 10 Years
For more information on the Years of Service program, visit the Employee Rewards and Recognition intranet page, where you will find a Years of Service program guide (PDF), or email CDHS_HumanResources@state.co.us
DYSWINS 🙌
DYSWINS 🙌
This section is for staff Kudos! 👍
Jeremy Hall, Val Hansen and Julia Dawson - Thank you all for taking the time to hang all of our Sanctuary Commitment posters throughout the office building!
Ashley Tunstall - One of our fearless leaders! Thank you for taking point in our Sanctuary Certification process. It was a huge undertaking, and you did an excellent job with all delegations and communication within the office to make it happen. We could not have done it without you!
Jeremy Hall - For all the help with coordinating our Sanctuary certification visit. Everything went smoothly with all your help and attention to detail!
Please use this form to submit some Kudos to be featured in next month's Newsletter
Sanctuary Commitment
Sanctuary Commitment
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
February Theme
Text courtesy of Elisa C. Hicks - MSW, MA, CJSP
(former) NCCHC Coordinator, BHMS
"Emotions are among the primary determinants of behavior at work...and profoundly influence both the social climate and the productivity of companies and organizations." (Pekrun & Frese)
Emotions are an important component of thought, and it is universally understood that our emotions help us to value what is important in life when rational thought alone may betray us. Emotions are always considered as a part of solving problems, individually and collectively. Change and conflict cannot be avoided in an effort to avoid the emotions associated with such events.
Key elements of Emotional Intelligence include:
identifying, understanding, and having words for feelings
integrating thoughts and feelings
accurately reading and interpreting emotions in others
managing strong emotions and the expression of these emotions
regulating our own behaviors
developing empathy for others
Take a look at some of Riley's Emotions from Inside Out 2 and see if you can relate
Some tips to keep in mind:
We manage our emotions through recognizing and validating them.
By managing our emotions we don't hurt ourselves or others psychologically, physically, socially, or morally.
We work to be aware of our emotions and the role they play in our interactions with others.
People - Centered Practices 👥
People - Centered Practices 👥
Thought for the month: Emotional Intelligence
By Fitzgerald Clark, DYS Director of People-Centered Practices
The Sanctuary theme of the month is Emotional Intelligence. I have had a lot of people, both at work and in my personal life approach me the last few weeks about how stressed they are with life and how they view some of the broader things that are happening in society.
For many of us here at DYS, the reason we do this work is because we care about others, and we want to make a positive impact in the lives of others. There are times when we feel under heavy stress than can feel almost like a physical pressure upon our spirit. Be emotionally intelligent enough to practice the mindfulness needed to know when and how to take care of yourself.
Practice your safety and self-care plans. Take those deep breaths. Log off at the end of the day and immerse yourself in activities that replenish your spirit and energy. Make plenty of space for the people in your life that you care about and that care about you. Do the hobby or volunteer effort that inspires and invigorates you.
This work is a marathon. It is not a sprint. We work to impact the lives of others in a positive way, day after day. In order to do that, we have to rebuild our stores of energy. We have to remind ourselves of our mission here at DYS and in life. Find your peace. Find your motivation. Energize your spirit for the important work that each of you do every single day here at DYS.
February 2026 Awareness Calendar.pdf
Did you know that Black History Month began as a single week? Famed historian Carter G. Woodson chose February for 'Negro History Week' because it honored the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. Over time, that week-long tribute expanded into the full month we recognize today.
Black History Month is a time for all Americans to pay increased attention to the contributions that African Americans have made to our shared
history, growth and struggle to build a full and flourishing democracy.
Resources
Resources for Building Empathy
Center for Racial Justice in Education
National Education Association Black History Month Lessons
PBS Classroom Resources for Black History Month
Smithsonian Black History Month Resources
The History of Black History Month
Activities
Denver Area Black History Month Activities and Celebrations
Colorado Humanities’ Black History Live Tour
History Colorado’s Black History Month Activities
UC Boulder Black History Month Activities
Black History Guided Tours Colorado Springs
Black History Month
Black History Month
Each year, Black History Month has a different theme chosen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). This year’s theme is “A Century of Black History Commemorations”. As our country continues to evolve, it is vital that we recognize how Black Americans have shaped our history and continue to influence our future. You can read more about this on ASALH's website.
At the Division of Youth Services, we take pride in creating a culture and community among our staff and the youth whom we serve, that values the variety of cultures, life experiences and mindsets that we have in our communities. As you engage in programming with youth throughout this month and the rest of the year, strive to elevate the contributions of Black Americans to the development of a more perfect union.
As the people who help people, learning more about these stories helps provide us with the context we need to serve all Coloradans. In celebration of this year's theme, “A Century of Black History Commemorations,” consider learning more about our collective history by signing up for 28 Days of Black History, a daily newsletter sent straight to your inbox.
In other news... 📰
In other news... 📰
ZPYSCs Program Assitant is Retiring
ZPYSCs Program Assitant is Retiring
After 26 years of service with the State of Colorado, Ms. Dolores Sianez is retiring. She started working for the state on May 17, 1999, and came to Zebulon Pike Youth Services Center (ZPYSC) on Dec. 10, 2026. Not only did Ms. Dolores handle everything that a Program Assistant would, but she went above and beyond to make sure the youth, staff and the facility are appreciated, clean, stocked, organized and supported!
As a token of our appreciation, ZPYSC held a surprise retirement party and invited all staff, D12 school staff, the former director of ZPYSC and many others within DYS who have worked with, trained by, or simply knew Ms. "D."
We are so excited for her next chapter in life, and we are going to miss her greatly. Thank you, Ms. Dolores, for everything. For your heart and all your support!
Ashes to Advanatge Chess Club
Ashes to Advanatge Chess Club
Ashes to Advantage is a Chess Club serving youth living at Zebulon Pike. The club meets after school for approximately one hour and introduces students to chess through puzzles, short lessons and guided practice, making the game accessible even for those unfamiliar with how the pieces move.
Participation in the club requires students to demonstrate positive behavior in the week leading up to each session. This expectation has become a powerful motivator, encouraging some of the more behaviorally challenged youth to practice self-control and accountability in order to earn the opportunity to attend. Most students are able to play full games independently within their first week.
What began with only one or two regular participants has grown into a highly anticipated activity, with much of the student body choosing to participate when eligible. Ashes to Advantage provides a structured, engaging space where students learn to turn focus, patience and persistence into meaningful progress both on and off the world of 64 squares.
Want to catch up on even more events? Checkout the links below for the full newsletters that these spotlight articles were pulled from!
HR Rocketship Improves Hiring Process
HR Rocketship Improves Hiring Process
Need a Hand With Gemini? BITs is Here to Help!
Need a Hand With Gemini? BITs is Here to Help!
Secondary Calendars
Secondary Calendars
Google is changing how secondary calendar ownership works in Google Calendar to improve data governance.
A secondary calendar is any calendar that you create or a group calendar that is shared with you.
When you create a secondary calendar, you are the owner. Existing secondary calendars will automatically have an owner assigned by Google in the coming weeks.
Review the calendars that you own or have access to in Calendar > Settings.
If you no longer use a Google Calendar, delete or unsubscribe to keep your calendar list organized.
If the calendar owner leaves, transfer ownership before the secondary calendar is deleted.
Resource: Improving secondary calendar management with dedicated owners.
All secondary calendars will consistently appear in your Google Calendar list and are visible in your Calendar settings page.
To hide a calendar from your list, select the Calendar settings page (Settings for my calendars section), hover over the calendar and select the Hide in calendar list icon.
Resource: Automatic addition of owned secondary calendars to your calendar list.
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