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Feature Issue on Direct Support Workforce Development
Published by the Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD) and the Research and Training Center on Community Living, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota • Volume 20 • Number 2 • Fall/Winter 2007/08
From the Editors
For many people with disabilities, life in their communities – in the workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and multitude of places people gather socially – is influenced by the availability of qualified, reliable Direct Support staff. The Direct Support workforce is made up of people whose skills, knowledge, and commitment equip them to assist individuals with disabilities in maintaining health, self-determination, and community participation. That workforce and the supports it provides is in jeopardy today because the demand and need for such services is outgrowing the pool of individuals willing and able to fill those essential positions.
The forces impacting the availability of quality Direct Support services are many: wages, benefits, education, professional status and standards, and budgets, as well as the steadily growing total number of Direct Support staff needed. The articles in this Impact describe how these issues are being addressed across the country through strategies that reach from the U.S. Congress to the homes of individuals in local communities. We hope that these articles will provide readers with ideas that they can implement to ensure that individuals with disabilities continue to have access to the supports they need to live lives of their choosing in their local communities.
What's Inside
Overview Articles
Direct Support Then and Now: Reflections on My 35 Years in the Profession
Congress Recognizes Crisis in Direct Support: Remedial Legislation Proposed
DSP Fairness and Security Act: ANCOR's "You Need to Know Me" Campaign (sidebar)
Individual and Family Directed Services: Implications for the DSP Workforce
Why is Recruitment and Retention of DSPs a Growing Crisis?
Five Things Families Can Do to Find and Keep Great DSPs
Addressing DSP Workforce Challenges: Strategies for Agencies
The Importance of Competency-Based Training for Direct Support Professionals
The Health and Higher Education of Direct Support Workers
Managing Diversity Within Human Services
Profiles
NADSP Code of Ethics for Direct Support Professionals
National Direct Support Workforce Resource Center
The College of Direct Support: A Tool for Training and Workforce Development
Using CDS at Starkey, Inc. (sidebar)
Training Frontline Supervisors in Workforce Development: The NTIFFS Project
NTIFFS Profile #1: Orange Grove Center (sidebar)
NTIFFS Profile #2: Bancroft NeuroHealth (sidebar)
NTIFFS Profile #3: The Potomac Center (sidebar)
NTIFFS Profile #4: Devereux (sidebar)
Embracing an Immigrant Workforce: The SOREO Perspective
My American Dream (sidebar)
State Initiatives to Strengthen the Direct Support Workforce
Kansans Mobilizing for Change: Award-Winning Systems Change
Improving Recruitment, Retention and Training in California: CDSN
One Strong, Caring Voice: DSPs Band Together
The NADSP Credential: How Being a DSP-R Affects My Life (sidebar)
Investing in DSPs: The Illinois DSP Workforce Initiative
Resources
Resources from Around the Country
Resources from the Institute's Research and Training Center on Community Living
Publication Information
Managing Editor: Vicki Gaylord
Issue Editors:
Sheryl A. Larson Research and Training Center on Community Living, Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Amy Hewitt Research and Training Center on Community Living
Nancy McCulloh Research and Training Center on Community Living
Traci LaLiberte Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota
Impact is published quarterly by the Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD), and the Research and Training Center on Community Living, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. This issue was supported, in part, by Grant #90DD0579 from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, US Department of Health and Human Services; and Grant #H133B031116 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), US Department of Education. Additional support was provided from Grant #H133G030058 from NIDRR, and US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers on Medicaid and Medicare Services, Contract #TLG05-034-2967.06 to The Lewin Group.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute, College, University, or their funding sources.For additional copies or information contact:
Institute on Community Integration University of Minnesota 109 Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 612/624-4512 icipub@umn.edu
Impact is available in alternative formats upon request.
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Retrieved from the Web site of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota (http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/202/default.html). Citation: Larson, S.A., Hewitt, A., McCulloh, N., LaLiberte, T. & Gaylord, V. (Eds.). (Fall/Winter 2007/08). Impact: Feature Issue on Direct Support Workforce Development, 20(2). [Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration].
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Hard copies of Impact are available from the Publications Office of the Institute on Community Integration. The first copy of this issue is free; additional copies are $4 each. You can request copies by phone at 612/624-4512 or e-mail at icipub@umn.edu, or you can fax or mail us an order form. See our listing of other issues of Impact for more information.
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