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 n behalf of the entire College of Direct Support team I want to take this opportunity to wish all the readers of Connections@CDS our very best for the Holiday Season. As 2008 comes to a close, we are mindful of the great progress that so many of you are making in the transformation of the direct support workforce. Together, we are working to build the capacity of the system and in turn, provide choice in the lives of those supported.
A sampling of CDS Milestones in 2008:
- Over 1,000,000 lessons completed
- Over 100,000 learners using the Learning Management System
- Two new states adopting the CDS Statewide
- Introduction of Administrators Webex program
- Over 8,000 readers of Connections@CDS
- Over 34 states at various levels of incorporation of the CDS
- SPIN & UCP of Miami recognized in the Top 100 Best Trained Workforces in the world!
- Demonstration of CDS for Treatment Foster Care Families
As we look to 2009, we must realize that the economic challenges that face America will not elude the Direct Support workforce. Many states are facing challenging budgets and are understanding that system change is no longer an option…it is imperative.
I hope that as you prepare for the New Year, you will see the future as a time of a great transformation. We must move forward together and work very smart. It is the mission of the CDS to provide a gateway to a profession and provide contemporary technology to reach those who choose to provide supports for those who desire life in a community. It will be a challenging and rewarding year, we are certain.
Again, Our Very Best to each of you for the Holiday Season and the New Year to come. Our thanks for your continuing interest, support and involvement with the College of Direct Support.
Bill Tapp
National Director
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CDS Reaches a Major Milestone in November:
Number of Completed Lessons at 1 Million Plus
Big. Significant. A milestone.
On Nov. 12, 2008 the College of Direct Support (CDS) exceeded the 1 million mark in the number of completed lessons. The actual number is 1,221,770. It all began in 2003 when the state of Pennsylvania became the first state to implement the CDS statewide to educate and train its Direct Support Professionals and other staff.
"This is a watershed moment for CDS," said Bill Tapp, National Director of the CDS. "We have reached that 1 million number in a few short years and it's very satisfying to know that we are working with everyone around the country to build a solid and professional direct care workforce."
And the number of learners as of Nov. 12 exceeded the 100,000 level.
The CDS is now being used in 34 states, with 23 being statewide use agreements. In 2008 Kansas and Georgia came on board with statewide agreements and New Jersey, Illinois and Wisconsin had pilot programs underway.
Charlie Lakin, director of the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota's Research and Training Center, had this to say about reaching the 1 million completed lessons and number of learners milestones:
"We are very gratified about reaching the milestone of 100,000 active CDS
learners. These 100,000 learners have completed 1.3 million lessons of an
average of about an hour of direct instruction and evaluation each. That is
roughly equivalent to the direct instruction provided in 1000 semester-long
courses with 28-30 students each."
Lakin added, "Reaching this milestone gives us at the University of Minnesota pause to reflect on the great good fortune of our partnership with MC Strategies/Elsevier and the important support of national organizations reflected in our remarkable National Advisory Board. The many talented experts on our National Board of Editors who contribute greatly to the quality of each of our lessons are so important, and, of course, so are the innovators and early adopters in public and private agencies who have given us the chance to demonstrate, evaluate and refine our approach to delivering high quality, competency-based training over the internet."
Lakin and his staff are responsible for course development for the CDS and for the College of Frontline Supervision and Management.
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ACT Partner Profile:
ACT
of Missouri's Turnover
Drops 20% While Using CDS
Our latest Partner Profile is about Alternative Community Training, Inc. (ACT) in Columbia, MO. The Profile was written by Michelle Saunders, ACT's Administrator for the College of Direct Support (CDS). She tells us about the impact CDS has had on turnover – a 20 percent reduction - and how important CDS is to ACT.
ACT has been a human services provider for persons with disabilities since 1975, initially providing educational services to students in a private school setting. Today, predominantly an adult-service provider, ACT supports more than 300 persons with disabilities in the following Programs: Community Living, Community Employment, Community Integration and ACT Works. CDS has been utilized in Missouri and at ACT as a pilot program since November 2005 - and the results for this agency have been amazing, Saunders tells us.
Michelle Saunders |
The Missouri College of Direct Support currently has about 35 agencies throughout the state participating in the pilot, which will continue though June 2009. The agency administrators in the state have convened on a monthly basis to annotate curriculum, complete a thorough overview of each course and to make recommendations regarding how CDS courses could replace current statewide requirements for training. The administrators group, along with the Statewide Steering Committee, has been the driving force behind the level of success associated with using the CDS.
To read this latest Partner Profile, click on this LINK.
The CDS Partner Profiles highlight how agencies and other organizations use the CDS and they identify and describe a variety of exemplary and innovative initiatives into which the CDS has been integrated. If you would like to recommend a Partner Profile topic or agency, please email Newsletter Editor Tom King at tking@collegeofdirectsupport.com You also can read all of our Partner Profiles that are archived on our website at www.collegeofdirectsupport.com
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CDS National Advisory Board Meets,
Discusses Challenges, Opportunities
National Advisory Board members Kim Olson, left, and Lisa Burck discuss an issue during a lunch-time discussion at the recent meeting in Atlanta. |
The College of Direct Support's National Advisory Board (NAB) had its annual meeting November 17-18 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Atlanta Airport.
Joining the NAB was the team from the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration and the CDS staff.
When the 14-member NAB discussed "Challenges and Opportunities," the issue of "organizational transformation" was a major topic. Questions that came from the discussion included:
- How will the recession and down economy affect state training budgets?
- How can we show states and agencies that using the CDS is the answer in these tough times and that CDS is the most cost effective program in a number of ways?
- Utilizing technology like CDS will be a wise investment for states and agencies.
- There is a need to involve people with developmental disabilities in the decision-making process.
As Amy Hewitt of the University of Minnesota said during the first day of the two-day meetings: "There are more expectations now and we must use our financial resources wisely."
Gail Bottoms of Griffin, GA, a NAB member and a self advocate, said: "When things go down, people with disabilities are the first to get hurt. But I have confidence because of the College of Direct Support. People will be working together to make it better. Do not get downhearted."
The University of Minnesota team, led by Charlie Lakin, develops and authors all courses for the CDS and for the College of Frontline Supervision and Management.
"It was a wide-ranging series of discussions about the financial impact of the economy on state budgets and how the CDS can best respond to this reality," said Bill Tapp, CDS National Director. "States and agencies can save substantial money by taking advantage of technology."
One coming change is the issue of supporting people with developmentally disabilities living at home. "There are an increasing number of people living at home and they can't be supported independently. We have to let them know that the CDS is available to help them," said Val Bradley, a member of the NAB who is the President of the Human Services Research Institute. "They will need supports and we are a major part of this issue."
Charles Mosley, Assistant Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services and an NAB member, added to the discussion: "There are today budget issues in 41 states. The supports in the future will be with people with DD living with their families instead of being supported by agencies. Contracting methods will be changing and funding methods need changes as well. The changing ways that services are delivered with budget reductions is a major issue."
NAB members attending were:
- Gail Bottoms, a Self Advocate from the Griffin (GA) Area Resource Center
- Val Bradley of the Human Services Research Institute representing the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Lisa Burck of the Arc of Mississippi, who is Project Director for the Direct Support Professional pportunity/Mississippi and a Private Agency Customer Representative
- Earl Foxx, Jr. Director of the Direct Support Professionals Association of Tennessee (DSPAT)
- Charles Moseley, Assistant Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services
- Katie Keiling, Community Support Coordinator at the Institute on Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, standing in for Kathy Olson of Kansas University and representing the Association of University Centers on Disabilities
- Kim Olson, Executive Director of the Alpha Resource Center in Santa Barbara, CA, representing The Arc of the United States
- India Sue Ridout, Workforce Development Manager for Virginia's Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
- Wendy Sokol, Executive Director of Soreo of Tucson, AZ, representing ANCOR
- Tony Thomas, Executive Director, Welcome House Rocky River, OH, representing the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals
- Wanda Willis, Executive Director of the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities in Nashville, representing the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities.
Attending from the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration, along with Lakin, were Amy Hewitt, Senior Research Associate and Director of Interdisciplinary Training; Nancy McCulloch, Project Coordinator; Susan O'Nell, Project Coordinator; Kristin Dean, Information Technology Specialist; Derek Nord, Program Coordinator; Lori Sedlezky, Program Coordinator; and Mark Olson, Program Coordinator.
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Mark Olson Joins CDS Development Team
Mark Olson, President of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), has joined the University of Minnesota's Institute of Community Integration and the CDS Development Team as Program Coordinator.
Olson holds a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education with a minor in music from the University of Minnesota, Morris. He previously held the position of State Technical Assistance Specialist at the North Central Regional Resource Center where he provided support to Directors of Special Education in meeting Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements.
Throughout his career he has provided service to people with disabilities in recreation and inclusion, residential and daily living skills, vocational skills and advocacy. In addition he has worked in frontline management in the non-profit industry. His key policy interests include disability, education, workforce recognition and development, civic engagement, human rights and the environment.
Olson is the immediate past chair of the Richfield Human Rights Commission. His hobbies include but are certainly not limited to music, reading, fishing and anything to do with his Norwegian heritage.
His areas of advanced knowledge are disability services, direct support workforce development, civic engagement and developmental disabilities, the IDEA.
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Initial CDS-Therap Training Conference
Spawns Second Event Set for April 2009
Bill Heinecke, CDS Administrator for Montana, answers a question during a CDS-Therap session in Kansas. |
The College of Direct Support (CDS) and Therap Services conducted their first-ever joint technology conference in Kansas in late October and it attracted 92 participants and its success has spawned a second event in 2009.
The second conference will be April 27-30, 2009 in Murfreesboro, TN, at the Doubletree Inn, 30 minutes south of the Nashville International Airport.
The initial conference - "Side-by-Side Technology: Therap, CDS Training Conference I" – was in Overland Park, KS, on October 28-30. Its purpose was to introduce CDS to Therap users and Therap users to CDS and unveil a "bridge" between the two separate technologies so users can interface between the systems.
"This first joint conference was a major success and it was clear that the current users of both CDS and Therap came away enthused about the efficiencies of being able to use these technologies to their advantage," said Bill Tapp, CDS National Director. "Having never tried this, I can say that the results exceeded our expectations and those of the participants as well. It is exciting to imagine a paperless system."
Richard A. Robbins, Therap Services president, was impressed with this first conference as well. "It was a superb conference and the participants found it fascinating to learn about the CDS and how it and Therap can be used side by side to save them time and money," he said. "It's a logical connection for them to use CDS and Therap jointly in improving the lives of those served by Direct Support Professionals and their managers."
The conference featured multiple interactive sessions and workshops focused on the services provided by Therap and on the CDS curriculum and its Learning Management System. Tapp and Robbins said the second conference will follow the same format and offer specific sessions for advanced users of both systems and for system administrators and for those who have not used CDS or Therap.
Therap Services, LLC, is based in Waterbury, CT. It offers an easy and efficient alternative to the immense amount of paperwork that is done manually by the care providers. CDS's online learning management system and curriculum is used to develop, educate and build careers for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). CDS is currently being used in 34 states, Canada and Australia and has approximately 100,000 learners online at any one time of the day. CDS is a collaborative work of the University of Minnesota and Elsevier/MCStrategies. CDS is headquartered in Knoxville, TN, and its curriculum is developed by the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration.
You can learn more about the April conference and get registration/hotel information by clicking on www.therapservices.net and click on the "Conferences" link. If you have questions, you may call 203.596.7553.
To learn more about CDS, visit our website at www.collegeofdirectsupport.com or by calling our toll free number, 1-877-353-2767.
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ANCOR Foundation Accepting Nominations
for Its 2009 Community Builder Awards
Nominations for the ANCOR Foundation's prestigious 2009 Community Builder Awards (CBA) are being accepted through Jan. 9, 2009.
The CBA recognizes exemplary and praiseworthy initiatives of individuals and communities and/or community organizations that create community inclusion through opportunities for people with disabilities to build social capital and live full, meaningful lives in their community.
The Community Builder Awards are sponsored by the ANCOR Foundation, the non-profit charitable arm of ANCOR — the largest professional provider association serving the direct support industry. The ANCOR Foundation's mission is to build the commitment and capacity of providers and communities to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.
Recipients will be invited to share their award winning practices with the provider community at ANCOR's Management Practices Conference and Trade Show, March 22-24, 2009 in San Francisco.
The criteria for the selection of the 2009 Community Builder Award will be based upon the monograph, Five Star Quality produced by Derrick Dufresne of Community Resource Alliance, Inc. To download a copy of this publication, go to http://www.craconferences.com/.
The Community Builder Award, a distinguished award with the highest level of professional acknowledgement, seeks to showcase outstanding achievements in three key areas:
- An approach or service that serves as a model for others in creating community inclusion.
- Recognizing individuals and organizations dedicated to creating inclusive opportunities for people with disabilities, especially when the organization is the invisible support for this effort and the community is front and center in the effort.
- Rewarding individuals and organizations that partner with civic organizations, educational institutions, employers, or volunteers to create a community of inclusion. These organizations and/or individuals will have demonstrated the understanding that when we make community better for all citizens we make it better for individuals with disabilities.
These awards are presented in two categories:
Service Provider - Any individual or provider organization that is financially compensated for providing support directly to persons with disabilities.
Community - Any individual, group or organization that is not a service provider. This can be a town; state; civic or religious organization; parks or recreation program; a
business or a business group; individuals or groups whose commitments and
creativity build communities that fully include and value people with disabilities.
The deadline for applications is Friday, Jan. 9, 2009.
Applications are available at
www.ancor.org/foundation/community_builder_award.htm
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The CDS Blog: Try It, You'll Like It!
We'd like to remind you that the College of Direct Support's CDS Blog is up and running and drawing commentary from around the country. So, get in on the cyber conversations at http://collegeofdirectsupport.blogspot.com/
It is a place where you can discuss and debate issues within the field of Direct Support Professionalism, current disability issues of the day, and any other topics of interest to the direct support community. If there are issues you would like to see addressed, please don't hesitate to e-mail them to Kristin Dean.
You can subscribe to the CDS blog at the website so that you can receive a notice whenever the blog has been updated.
Also available are our new CDS Podcasts. You can access the podcasts at the website listed for the blog and make suggestions for topics or features to Kristin Dean.
New podcasts are posted monthly and will include first-hand accounts of being a person with a disability, working as a DSP, being a family member supporting a person with a disability, as well as other relevant topics of interest. Podcasts can be downloaded from iTunes and played on your iPod or iPhone as well as viewed on the web. To do this click on this link: iTunes downloads.
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Tom King is the editor of Connections@CDS and he welcomes your comments on the newsletter as well as suggestions you have for articles and content.
You can email him at tking@collegeofdirectsupport.com or call him (toll free) at 1.877.353.2767.
Mission Statement: The College of Direct Support is a learning gateway for
contemporary best practices for Direct Support Professionals. By incorporating
web-based learning, backed by nationally recognized curricula, the CDS is
designed to promote a profession of direct support.
111 Center Park Drive, Suite 175 | Knoxville, TN 37922
tel :: 877-353-2767 (toll-free) | fax :: 865-531-4708
www.collegeofdirectsupport.com
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