It is said that every great journey begins with a single step, and the DirectCourse/College of PersonalAssistance and Caregiving (CPAC) curriculum begins its journey with The Arc of Mississippi and Lisa Burck, who first saw its potential to help the organization.
Beginning in 2002, Kansas offered a grant to implement the College of Direct Support (CDS) curriculum to organizations around the state. At the time, any intellectual developmental disability service provider could access the CDS online curriculum at no cost.
For nearly a decade, Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has continued to provide self-advocates, families and direct support staff with access to DirectCourse/College of Direct Support (CDS). Pennsylvania became the first state in the country to adopt the CDS online curriculum for uniform education across the entire state.
See how Kentucky made strides to provide the highest quality training available for their DSPs and other support staff.
There is a unique initiative underway at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability. Its name is “DirectConnect” and it was created to help identify and put into place sustainable best-practice models for the recruiting, training, educating and retaining of directcare workers across four population sectors – aging, mental health, physical and developmental disabilities.