On July 31, Penn-Mar Human Services received the prestigious, national Moving Mountains Award at the 2018 Reinventing Quality Conference, held in Baltimore, Md., at the Baltimore Renaissance Harborplace Hotel.The Award was presented to Penn-Mar through the partnership of the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota (ICI), and the American Network of Community Options and Resources(ANCOR).
Penn-Mar, a recognized leader in providing innovative, quality supports and services to hundreds of men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in Maryland and Pennsylvania, was honored with the Moving Mountains Award for its groundbreaking Career Ladders Program, a professional development and credentialing program that was established in 2016 to recognize the vital work of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), address the challenges within a care system plagued with low wages and high turnover, and improve its employee recruitment and retention efforts. Penn-Mar launched its Career Ladders initiative in partnership with the NADSP.
By establishing the Career Ladders program and developing career standards that lead to professional credentialing and commensurate compensation, Penn-Mar is leading the national efforts to provide high-quality training and opportunities for DSPs that will ultimately reform the discrepancy between their unique skill sets and insufficient wages. Despite the critical role they play, the average wage of a DSP falls behind that of department store, gas station and fast food workers because of a lack of funding at the federal and state levels.
Penn-Mar employs a staff of 350 DSPs. Across the country, there are fewer than 300 DSPswho have received training to achieve credentialing – out of a national workforce of two million serving people with I/DD. Penn-Mar is poised to significantly raise that number and become the country’s largest employer of certified DSPs. To date, 11 Penn-Mar DSPs have graduated from the program, receiving DSP level one certification, and there are currently 48 DSPs enrolled in the credentialing program.
In January 2017, Penn-Mar received a generous gift of $1.5 million from former Carrol County residents Kay and Jim Pitts, of Naples, Florida, to establish The Michael James Pitts Endowment for the Advancement of Direct Support Professionals. Their gift, named in honor of their son, who has been with Penn-Mar for the last ten years, established the endowment to fund, in perpetuity, Penn-Mar’s DSP Career Ladders program. In addition, The Penn-Mar Foundation and Development team raises funds to sustain the program through the nonprofit’s annual signature fundraising Black Tie Gala, and the generous support of families who understand the value of professional level staff supporting their loved ones.
“We are truly honored to receive the Moving Mountains Award,” said Gregory T. Miller, Penn-Mar president and CEO. “The award validates the partnership between Penn-Mar supporters, donors, families, staff of the work we are doing in relationship to shaping the future of the way the DSP position looks like from a career standpoint.”
NADSP with its partners ICI and ANCOR established the Moving Mountains Award in order to recognize organizations using leading practices in direct support workforce development that result in improved outcomes for people with disabilities. Organizations applying are required to illustrate how their direct support workforce practices and philosophy align with the principles of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals. The award also recognizes Penn-Mar for improving theperception of professional opportunities in the industry, which expands the labor pool as the need for DSPs remains a national crisis.
The 2018 Reinventing Quality Conference, “Building an Infrastructure that Promotes Equity and Diversity,” was jointly hosted by the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), Research and Training Center on Community Living at the University of Minnesota (RTC-CL), Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), University of Delaware National Leadership Consortium (NLCDD), American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) andTASH.
About Penn-Mar Human Services
Penn-Mar Human Services, founded in 1981, serves nearly 500 adults with intellectual disabilities through its residential, respite, educational, vocational and supported employment programs in northern Baltimore, Carroll and Harford Counties in Maryland, and in southern York County in Pennsylvania. www.penn-mar.org
