"Jess Tharpe serves on the executive leadership team at the Florida Department of Children and Families as the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Community Services which is responsible for building a continuum of care that focuses on holistic services and ensuring improved long-term outcomes for some of Florida’s most vulnerable children, adults, and families. Services include Hope Florida, continuing care, adult protection, and homelessness services, along with protecting special populations including victims of human trafficking and domestic violence survivors.

Before stepping into her current role, Tharpe served as the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Child and Family Well-Being and led a transformational shift from a traditional child welfare system to one that values lived experiences and integrated programming. Mrs. Tharpe also previously served as the Director of Innovation and Project Management in the Department’s Office of Economic Self-Sufficiency and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Child Welfare. In these roles, she led several strategic initiatives to enhance the customer experience including the launch of MyFloridaMyFamily, Florida’s Foster Information Center, and the Office of Continuing Care. Before coming to the Department, she served in various leadership roles within the non-profit industry, higher education, and the private sector, where she led program development, contract and grant management, business development, operations, administration, and continuous quality improvement. "

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