Large or small, organizations that help improve workforce outcomes for direct support professionals (DSPs) and their employers are being sought for possible nomination for the 2014 Moving Mountains Award. The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and the Research and Training Center (RTC) at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration have been bestowing this prestigious award on deserving organizations since 2002.

According to the NADSP website, “[t]he purpose of this award is to recognize organizations using best practice in direct support staff workforce development that result in improved outcomes for the people being supported. Organizations applying will be able to illustrate how their direct support workforce practices and philosophy aligns with the goals of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals.”

 Past winners have included smaller organizations such as Elm Homes in Waseca, Minnesota and Miami Cerebral Palsy Residential Services, Inc., as well as larger groups like Florida’s ARC Broward Learning Institute and the South Dakota Association of Community Based Services, a statewide organization.

Up to two awards are given each year, and this year’s Moving Mountains winners will be honored at the 2014 Reinventing Quality Conference.

If your organization—or an organization that you admire—really “moves mountains” in utilizing best practices in DSP workforce development, and in doing so improves the lives of the people being supported, nominate them today.  Submission deadline is February 28, 2014.

Application for the NADSP/RTC Moving Mountains Award: https://www.nadsp.org/images/2014_Call_for_Nominations3_4_distributed.pdf

For more information on the Moving Mountains Award, including past winners, please visit: https://www.nadsp.org/moving-mountains/about-moving-mountains.html

For more information about the NADSP: https://www.nadsp.org/

For more information about the RTC: http://rtc.umn.edu/rtc/

For more information about the Reinventing Quality Conference, please visit: http://www.reinventingquality.org/upcoming/