Research and Training Center on Community Living
  • Research Fellow
Email
dahl0488@umn.edu
Phone
+1 612-301-1408
Address
Masonic Institute On The Developing Brain
Rm 1-305B1d [map]
2025 E River Pkwy
Minneapolis, MN 55414-3604

Julie Kramme is a researcher at the Institute on Community Integration. Her research is focused on professional and community supports for people with disabilities to participate in their communities of choice.  She has worked on several projects with human services organizations to better understand how to support their workforce and to use their data to make positive organizational change. Julie is co-editor of the publication Frontline Initiative, has coordinated data collection for several state and national workforce and direct support worker projects, and has been a trainer in Minnesota’s person-centered organizations project. Julie has a master’s degree in educational psychology (school psychology) from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Bethel University. She is a PhD student in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota. Prior to working at ICI, Julie worked in direct support and education for ten years.

Projects

Project

NY OPWDD Direct Support Workforce Investments Evaluation

ICI is conducting formative and summative evaluations of several DSP Workforce development program initiatives funded by OPWDD. Formative evaluation will track and report on program implementation …

Project

Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC-CL)

Conducts a wide range of research, training, and technical assistance and dissemination projects related to community supports under its center grant and related project funding. The RTC-CL is …

Project

Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce: A Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Initiative

The National Council on Aging, Inc., has established a technical assistance center to accelerate state systems changes to improve the recruitment, development, and retention of the HCBS direct …
Project

Minnesota Direct Support Workforce Project

Conducted statewide surveys of direct support workers and their employing organizations in Minnesota to better understand wages, benefits, size, and scope of the direct support workforce. The direct support workforce is one of the highest-demand and anticipated growth sectors in the U.S. and Minnesota. Expansion of this workforce is impossible without significant improvements in worker recruitment, on-boarding, development, and retention. These challenges impact individuals, families, and community providers who are finding it increasingly difficult to find and keep high quality employees. Meeting the promises of the Minnesota Olmstead Act is directly related to being able to provide adequate support in the community, and direct support workers are the ones that provide this support.

Project

Direct Support Workforce Solutions

Direct Support Workforce Solutions is a national consulting group addressing the workforce needs of organizations providing community-based supports for individuals with disabilities. Drawing on …

Products

Frontline Initiative: DSPs Using the NADSP Code of Ethics

Every day, direct support professionals (DSPs) make significant decisions affecting the lives of the people they support. But it can be hard for DSPs to make decisions when they are doing something…

Published: Fall/Winter 2023

Frontline Initiative: The Changing Roles of the Direct Support Professional

A newsletter issue recognizing the changing role of the Direct Support Professional (DSP). This issue highlights public policies that can support the changing role of DSPs, and ways they support …

Published: 2018

Frontline Initiative: DSPs Respond to COVID-19

This issue is dedicated to direct support professionals and all they have endured since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes stories from self-advocates, family members, health care …

Published: 2021

The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19 National Survey Report 2020

The Institute on Community Integration and the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals collaborated to lift up the voice of the direct support workforce. The aim of this study was to …

Published: 2021-03-17

2018 New York State Workforce Credentialing

Introduction: Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) are vital supports for people with IDD. Five competency-based credentialing programs, designed to teach the skills, knowledge, and attitudes …

Published: 2019

Frontline Initiative: Trauma-Informed Care

A newsletter issue for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) exploring trauma-informed care. This issue of Frontline Initiative provides background information on trauma-informed care and offers...

Published: 2015

Frontline Initiative: Advocacy and Voting

Direct support professionals (DSPs) advocate regularly with the people they support. This issue of Frontline Initiative argues that DSPs now need to speak up for themselves and their profession— …

Published: Spring 2024

Frontline Initiative: Person-Centered Practices

A newsletter issue for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) exploring person-centered practices. This issue of Frontline Initiative brought together voices on what has been happening in this work …

Published: 2017

Frontline Initiative: Choice, Direction, and Control

A newsletter issue for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) encouraging the people they support to exercise choice, direction, and control over their lives. DSPs also support people who have …

Published: 2017

Exploring Retirement for Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: An Analysis of National Core Indicators Data

To begin to understand retirement, we examined age-related differences in (a) employment rates, employment hours, and rates of individual-plan employment goals; and (b) participation rates in …

Published: 2018

National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey Data

Introduction: The authors used NCI Staff Stability data from over 1400 providers in 20 states and Washington, DC collected in 2016 to look at organizational and state-level predictors of 1) DSP …

Published: 2019

Incentives, Wages, and Retention Among Direct Support Professionals: National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey

Direct support professionals (DSPs) provide a range of supports in a variety of settings to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who count on these supports to live, work, …

Published: 4/15/2022

A Closer Look: Episode 7: Nick Smith is Seeing the Possibilities

Nick Smith is a master of looking past the barriers and seeing the possibilities. As a seasoned direct support professional (DSP), he has developed the skill of really listening to what the people …

Published: 10/29/2024

A Closer Look: Episode 8: Nick Smith on DSPs Advocating for Themselves and Voting

Direct support professionals (DSPs) are accustomed to speaking up for the wants and needs of the people they support. In this episode, Nick Smith shares his story of speaking up for himself and …

Published: 10/29/2024

Frontline Initiative: Direct Support Professionals Supporting People’s Employment

This issue is on direct support professionals (DSPs) supporting people’s employment. Many people with disabilities experience barriers in getting the job they want. This can be discouraging. This …

Published: Winter 2022

Frontline Initiative: DSPs Respond to Crisis

Direct support professionals (DSPs) have been through a lot this past year. Through a global pandemic, natural disasters, social unrest, and personal distress, they’ve stepped up as they always do …

Published: 2021

Frontline Initiative: Making a Career in Direct Support

This issue of Frontline Initiative is about making a career in direct support. Direct support professionals (DSPs) report on why and how they have accomplished this. People supported and their …

Published: 9/21/2020

Transition to Retirement: The Lived Experiences of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Background : Adults with intellectual disabilities are living longer and experiencing retirement. However, research about retirement experiences is limited. Method : This qualitative study used …

Published: 2023

Frontline Initiative: Using and Supporting Technology Use

Technology has greatly impacted our lives and culture in recent years. For direct support professionals (DSPs), the use of technology at work has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. DSPs can …

Published: Fall/Winter 2024

Frontline Initiative: Self-Care for DSPs

A newsletter issue promoting self-care for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). To assist the people they support, DSPs must also take care of their own needs, health, and wellness. Incorporating …

Published: 2019

Minnesota Direct Support Workforce 2018 Final Report

The final report of results from a statewide survey of direct support organizations in Minnesota to better understand wages, benefits, size, and scope of the direct support workforce.

Published: 06/23/2019

Aging, community-based employment, mobility impairment, and retirement: National Core Indicators-Adult Community Survey data

Little is known about how, when, or why individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) retire. Recognizing the changing needs of older adults with IDD is critical to support …

Published: 2019-10-31

Predictors of Annual and Early Separations Among Direct Support Professionals: National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey 

Direct support professionals (DSPs) provide a broad range of supports in a variety of settings to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) that enables people to live, work, …

Published: 9/1/2021

Frontline Initiative: The Diverse Voices of DSPs

This issue explores diverse and lesser-heard voices among direct support professionals. Authors include DSPs who are autistic, Deaf, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, and immigrants…

Published: 2022

Interventions Used with the Direct Support Workforce in Home and Community-Based Settings: A Scoping Review

This scoping review fills the gap on key characteristics of interventions and trainings for direct support workforce (DSW) of adults across disabilities and aging adults. We included quantitative …

Published: 2024

Frontline Initiative: Supporting Healthy Relationships

This issue of Frontline Initiative focuses on developing awareness, knowledge, and skills for supporting healthy relationships. It also includes information about tools and resources that direct...

Published: 2020

Direct Support Worker Survey 2019 Final Report

The final report from a statewide survey of direct support workers in Minnesota to better understand wages, benefits, size, and scope of the direct support workforce.

Published: 6/23/2019

New York State Workforce Credentialing Programs Comparative Analyses

These comparative analyses of existing organizational direct support professional and frontline supervisor credentialing programs summarize seven programs in New York. The goals of these programs …

Published: 2021

Direct Support Professionals: Diversity, Disparities, and Deepening Crisis

In the United States, direct support professionals (DSPs) support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) so they can live in the community. Thirty years of deinstitutionaliza…

Published: 6/1/2024

Aging, Community-Based Employment, Mobility Impairment, and Retirement: National Core Indicators-Adult Community Survey Data

Little is known about how, when, or why individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) retire. Recognizing the changing needs of older adults with IDD is critical to support …

Published: 2019

Frontline Initiative: DSPs Supporting People's Health and Wellness

The pandemic brought direct support professionals’ role of supporting peoples’ health and wellness to the forefront. DSPs had to slow down, take more precautions, and learn new ways to maintain …

Published: Summer 2023

The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19 National Report: Six-Month Follow-up

Reports on the findings of a survey—conducted by ICI in partnership with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals—of approximately 9,000 direct support professionals (DSPs) from …

Published: 2021-04-02