An Update on the Activities of the ANCOR Board of Directors

ANCOR’s Board of Directors met in Nashville this July. Why? For a range of reasons, Tennessee is often considered a state to watch. It was the first state with a CMS-approved HCBS Rule Transition Plan, it is leading the way in defining quality standards in our field, and the entire state is accredited by the Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL).

Given the state’s impressive work, the Board convened in the state capital and invited Patti Killingsworth, Assistant Commissioner and Chief of Long-Term Services and Supports; Pat Nichols, Assistant Commissioner for Quality Management; and Theresa Sloan, Assistant Commissioner and General Counsel to join us so we could learn as much as we could about what’s working, what could be improved and what magic we could bottle and share with other members.

The magic? You already know the answer: relationships and open lines of communication are critical, and quality must be defined in a way that is person-centered.

As we do with every board meeting, we invited our local members to drop in and share their perspectives with the Board as well. Many thanks to UCP of Middle Tennessee and to members of the Tennessee Community Organizations Association for joining us.

While the Board took advantage of our location to engage first-hand in conversations around quality, outcomes from the July meeting encompassed a larger geographical footprint. At the July Board meeting, ANCOR:

• Approved a policy regarding ANCOR’s involvement in state issues, as recommended by the State Association Executives Forum.

• Approved an ANCOR statement on immigration and workforce issues drafted by ANCOR’s International Council. The Board encouraged the Council to continue to work on the statement to strengthen ANCOR’s commitment to the field’s current workforce, regardless of country of origin, in addition to increasing the potential number of workers.

You can view these statements in their entirety in the July Meeting Minutes.

The Board meets again October 1 in Washington DC, just prior to ANCOR’s 2018 Policy Summit and Hill Day. This will be the inaugural meeting for newly elected officers of the Board: President Robert Budd, CEO of FREE in New York City; Vice-President Robert Baker, COO of Keystone Human Services (headquartered in Harrisburg, PA); and Treasurer Heidi Mansir, CEO of Uplift in Gardiner, ME. As always, members are welcome. Contact me at [email protected]  if you’d like to attend.

Before we jump ahead to autumn, there are few more things to accomplish this August: August 22- September 13 is the electronic voting period to elect our newest member to the Board of Directors, as well as to approve the recommended amendments to ANCOR’s Bylaws which are detailed here.

On August 22, the designated representative from each full ANCOR member organization will receive an electronic ballot. Please take a minute to cast your vote to elect the leadership of your association and approve its bylaws!

Gabrielle Sedor is COO of ANCOR. She can be reached at [email protected].