College of Direct Support Statewide Rollout 2009

In 2009, the Division of Developmental Disabilities will rollout the statewide tracking system for agency personnel, as required by CMS, which will be administered through the College of Direct Support (CDS).

In November of 2008, ABCD's HR and QA&T Senior Staff Forums met with Training and Consultation Specialists from the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center to discuss the rollout and any technical assistance issues and questions. Boggs Center staff also announced that going forward, information for agencies on the statewide rollout would be provided regularly in the new Career Path Quarterly newsletter, which would be made available in late 2008.

Below is the introduction excerpt from the first edition of the newsletter with information for agencies on the rollout. For more information, and to view the entire newsletter if you have not received a copy, visit the Workforce Development pages on the Boggs Center website by clicking here.
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New Jersey, like many other states, is facing a workforce crisis.
By 2016, the demand for direct support workers in home and
community based settings will outstrip supply by 30% (PHI, 2007).
Low wages and high demand on workers leave agencies with high
turnover rates and challenges to providing quality supports. The
NJ Direct Support Professional Workforce Development Coalition
developed the NJ Career Path for DSPs to increase their skills
and enable them to earn more money through the completion
of coursework provided by The College of Direct Support (CDS),
mentoring, and the development of a portfolio documenting job
competency. The NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities funded
a pilot of the Career Path project for two years.

In 2009, The NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities
will subscribe to the College of Direct Support, making the Career Path available to all DSPs who work with people and agencies who receive HCBS waiver funding. Agencies will be able to make the courses in both Level I and II of the Career Path available to all DSPs. In addition, they will be able to use the CDS to assign courses of their choosing to their staff. Participation in the Career Path is voluntary, and the amount of salary increase given is determined by the agency. Participation is highly recommended to reduce staff attrition, increase morale, and recognize the professionalization of DSPs. There will be no fee for agencies to access the CDS. In addition to the Career Path, the CDS will be used to keep track of pre-service training so using the CDS will be mandatory—see below. All agencies will need to identify a CDS Administrator (or collaborate with another agency)—see How to Choose Your CDS Admin on pg. 7.

Technical support will be provided by the CDS System Administrator and training will be provided by The Boggs Center. All agencies will submit a list of current staff to DDD for bulk upload into the CDS, have a representative attend a training on CDS Administration, and enter new hires into the CDS. Agencies will be given access to the CDS through the regional rollout process taking place in 2009. Informational sessions on the statewide rollout of the CDS will be held at all of the membership associations and are available by request.

Thank You for Participating in the 2008 ABCD Compensation Survey!

Thank you to all ABCD agencies for participating in the 2008 ABCD Compensation Survey! The HR Forum met on Friday, September 12th, to discuss the overall Survey results, and discussed new trends and opportunities with Solid Benefit Guidance, which generously donated its services for the second year in a row to administer and analyze the Survey data.

Individual agencies that participated in the Survey and submitted responses will receive their agency's results soon directly from SBG. Thank you again to all of our member agencies and to SBG!

Nominate a DSP for the "Making a Difference Award"!

Is a Direct Support Professional in your organization making a difference?

If so, please consider nominating this individual(s) for the award opportunity below. Please read on for a call for nominations from Colleen McLaughlin at the Boggs Center:

As you know, the DSP Conference titled "Making a Difference" will be held on September 25, 2008. We are busy planning for this exciting event. In addition to the certificate ceremony for those DSPs completing Level 1 of the Career Path, we would like to have an individual award for a DSP who has truly "Made A Difference."

Nominations are due back by August 1, 2008. Nominations are open to any DSPs regardless of his/her or the agency's participation in the Career Path Pilot.

Please click here to access the "Making a Difference" Award Nomination form, and submit nominations to Colleen McLaughlin at the email address or mailing address below by August 1, 2008.

Colleen McLaughlin, M.Ed.Training and Consultation Specialist
The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities - UCEDDUMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
P.O. Box 2688335 George St., Suite 3500
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2688
Phone: 732.235.9313
FAX: 732.235.9330
Web Page: http://rwjms.umdnj.edu/boggscenter
Email: colleen.mclaughlin@umdnj.edu

Register for the 2008 DSP Conference!

Register now for Making a Difference: A Direct Support Professionals Conference!

Thursday, September 25, 2008 at the Doubletree Hotel, Somerset, NJ

Keynote presenter: Beth Mount, Ph.D. Register today! Only $30 with Early Bird Registration by August 27, 2008.

View the brochure at:http://rwjms.umdnj.edu/boggscenter/conferences/index.htm

Please contact Beth Ong at elizabeth.ong@umdnj.edu or 732-235-9327 if you have questions about registration for the DSP conference.

June HR Forum Meeting Has Been Cancelled....

Please note that the HR Forum meeting that was supposed to take place this Friday, June 13th, has been cancelled. The meeting will be rescheduled for late summer/early fall. Please check back for details or contact Emily at emily@abcdnj.org. Emily will be sending our information on the next meeting as it becomes available.

Thanks and have a great summer!

Human Resources Forum Meeting Re-Scheduling Reminder:

Please note that the Human Resources (HR) Forum will be meeting at LSNJ from 1-3pm on April 25th. Our meeting will be held on the 3rd Floor, in Room 305 (LSNJ’s training rooms). Please let me know if you have any questions and RSVP to me by Friday, April 18th if you can make it. For directions, please find the logistical information below and see the link to directions to the facility.

Contact Information:
Legal Services of New Jersey
100 Metroplex Drive
Edison, NJ 08817
(732) 572-9100
Directions:
http://www.lsnj.org/generalinfo.htm#directions

Sign up for the ABCD Interagency Training Exchange!

Based upon the discussion by participants during our last meeting, the QA&T Forum is launching an Interagency Training Exchange. The Training Exchange was suggested by QA&T participants in order to share information about training opportunities across agencies and establish the ability for ABCD member agencies to cross-train staff together when possible.

The Training Exchange is one of the several activities in which the QA&T Forum will continue to engage, in addition to the planning of the 2009 Interagency Training Day.

1. 
   Here’s how it works:
   Agencies that wish to participate in the Exchange will submit their annual training calendars to ABCD and include information on any open slots that will be available for other ABCD member agency staff to attend in-service trainings;
   The training calendars will be condensed into an easy-to-read digest format and circulated among QA&T Forum contacts for their review;
   QA&T staff can then identify opportunities to cross-train and coordinate with agencies to register their staff members for trainings when applicable.
2. 
   Please note:
   Only agencies that respond to this call for participation and are willing to share their training calendars will be able to view available trainings through other agencies.
   Please only include training calendar information which applies to the global Exchange. For example, if your agency is holding an agency-specific training, such as a school staff orientation, please do not include this on the list.

We hope that agencies will find this new tool useful and that we will have high participation in order to maximize the wealth of knowledge and training abilities that exist among ABCD agencies. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Emily
(609) 581-8375
emily@abcdnj.org
www.abcdnj.org