Dennis J. Savage
Dennis Savage serves as Director of the Office of Community Services (OCS), a unit within the Division of State Service Centers, Department of Health and Social Services (DSSC/DHSS). He is responsible for the administration of approximately $12 million in state and federal funds for services that are carried out contractually through a statewide network of private, non-profit organizations. The OCS oversees the management and implementation of two of the state’s block grants: the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and over $2 million in state funds to support the statewide operations of Emergency and Transitional Housing Services agencies and emergency energy assistance to low-income persons. Heal so is responsible for the administration of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), the federal Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP), and oversees the activities of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic Affairs (GACHA).
Prior to his state government service, Dennis served in the field of education as a teacher in Chester, Pennsylvania and in the former Wilmington School District. In Delaware, he was a teacher/coordinator of Project 70001,a pilot vocational education, training and employment program. This program was designed and structured to model the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), but was geared for students who were high school dropouts employed in retail sales and distribution while earning their General Education Diploma (GED). From this, a new corporation was formed in Delaware and Dennis became the Vice-President of 70001 Ltd.The goal was to develop and implement the 70001 Project model into a national employment and training program for disadvantaged youth.
Dennis is currently a member of the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Vocational Education, and a past member of the Christina School District Board of Education.He was once a Presidential appointee to the Advisory Council to the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE). Dennis also served on the former Delaware Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title IV Advisory Council, the Governor’s Advisory Council on the Future of Education, the Advisory Council to Project Challenge of Delaware Technical and Community College, Jobs for Delaware Graduates, and a host of other advisory committees and council memberships. Currently, his State Board Committee assignments include the Budget Subcommittee, and the HJR-Early Childhood Task Force in 2003-2004.
Dennis was re-appointed to the State Board of Education in 2003 for a second six-year term. He is a single parent with a pre-teen son, Dennis, Jr.
