Susan Bickford

Hennepin County

Hennepin County is a vibrant blend of 45 cities that includes the city of Minneapolis (known as the "City of Lakes"), attractive suburbs, and peaceful small town settings. Minneapolis is the county seat. Hennepin County is the largest of Minnesota's 87 counties in population and budget, serving over 1.3 million residents, approx. 1/5 of Minnesota's population. Our work includes: - Transportation and infrastructure to get people where they need to go - Social services to support people in need and help them become self-sufficient - Justice and public safety to ensure due process and keep communities safe - Community health to keep residents healthy at all of life's stages - Vital records, libraries, and elections so people can live their lives fully Our work is driven by our overarching goals, that people are: - Healthy People are healthy, have access to quality health care and live in a clean environment. - Protected and safe People are safe from harm through prevention, early intervention and treatment services, and through enhanced public safety. - Self-reliant People achieve success with the support of essential services, have access to affordable housing and opportunities for life-long learning. - Assured due process People are assured equal protection of the laws through an adversarial and respectful system designed to assure fairness and reliability in the ascertainment of liability, guilt and innocence. - Mobile People and goods move easily and safely throughout the county and the region, via an integrated system of transportation. By putting the customer first, Hennepin County employees work every day to achieve our mission, vision and goals. We strive to improve our services through proactive, innovative public stewardship.