Articles/Papers

• CMS Direct Service Workforce Demonstration Promising Practices in Marketing, Recruitment and Selection Interventions - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a Demonstration to Improve the Direct Service Community Workforce to test the effectiveness of different workforce interventions on the retention and recruitment of Direct Service Workers (DSWs). This report identifies promising practices in direct service worker marketing, recruitment, and selection across the CMS grantees. Under a contract to provide technical assistance to the DSW grantees in collaboration with The Lewin Group (Lewin), the Research and Training Center developed this report. (2006)
• Issues in the Direct Support Workforce and their Connections to the Growth, Sustainability and Quality of Community Supports - Difficulties in assuring adequate direct support staff recruitment, retention and competence are widely reported as the single biggest barrier to the growth, sustainability, and quality of community services for people with developmental disabilities. This paper explores the complexity of the direct support workforce crisis, the effects of this crisis on various stakeholder groups and potential strategies to address them. (2001)
• Minnesota Waiver Report - An independent evaluation of the quality of services and system performance of Minnesota's Medicaid home and community based services for persons with mental retardation and related conditions. (2000)
• Brief Summary
• Executive Summary
• Full Report
• Impact - A quarterly newsletter containing articles that focus on areas related to persons with developmental disabilities.
• Feature Issue on Direct Support Workforce Development (1998)
• Personnel Initiative '97: A Comprehensive Workforce Development Plan for Human Service Workers - This document identifies specific short and long-term strategies to address challenges in the human service direct support workforce and makes recommendations regarding legislative action that would be necessary to carry out these solutions. (1997)
• Recruitment Issues for Minnesota Agencies Serving People with Developmental Disabilities or Severe and Persistent Mental Illness: Final Report Executive Summary - This study describes recruitment challenges faced by 144 randomly selected residential, vocational, in-home support, and mental health agencies in Minnesota (of 488 eligible agencies). (1997)
• Policy Research Brief - A newsletter summarizing research on policy issues affecting persons with developmental disabilities.
• Issue on National Voluntary Credentialing for Direct Service Workers (1996)
• Issue on Training Issues for Direct Service Personnel Working in Community Residential Programs for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (1994)