The State of America's Direct Support Workforce Crisis 2026

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Capitol Correspondence - 10.25.22

ACL Establishes Direct Care Workforce Capacity Building Center

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Last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living (ACL) announced it had awarded a five-year grant totaling over $6 million to establish a national center to expand and strengthen the direct care workforce.

The national Direct Care Workforce Capacity Building Center will serve as a hub to provide tools, resources and training—including federal, state, and local policies and best practices. The Capacity Building Centerwill also facilitate peer-to-peer sharing through learning collaboratives to support collaboration between state systems, service providers, and aging, disability and labor stakeholders.

The grant was awarded to the National Council on Aging, along with the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, ADvancing States, Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI), the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, the National Alliance for Caregiving, Lincoln University Paula J. Carter Center on Minority Health and Aging, the Green House Project, Social Policy Research Associates, and Housing Innovations.

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