DSP Recognition Week: Honor DSPs by Advocating to Congress

If it seems like your inbox is exploding with emails about Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), then it must be DSP Recognition Week (September 9-15)! Forgive our enthusiasm – this is one of our favorite weeks. To celebrate the commitment and hard work of DSPs, we will be: opening nominations for the 2019 DSP of the Year this week (deadline for final submissions is November 30); sharing stories on social media, and… wait for it… bringing Congress into the mix!

U.S. Representatives Pete Roskam (R-IL) and Joe Courtney (D-CT) are currently circulating ANCOR’s Congressional letter to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) among their colleagues to collect signatures – and this is a great week to bring your members of Congress’ attention to that. The letter asks BLS to create a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for DSPs, which will create federal recognition of DSPs as a profession and allow for the collection of important data that can be used to inform policy such as rate setting. We encourage you to advocate this issue in two ways:

• Share our email tool with your DSPs – coming directly from a DSP, the request for a SOC will be more personal, particularly during DSP Recognition Week.
• Contact your Congressional offices directly to request that they sign onto the letter. Please email Doris Parfaite-Claude, Federal Advocacy and Research Manager, if you need leave-behinds, assistance identifying Congressional contacts, want template emails or scripts, etc.

Note: ANCOR also supports NADSP’s new advocacy campaign on the SOC issue, for which we are listed as an official partner

Stay tuned: this week we will also be announcing the U.S. Senate resolution recognizing DSPs led by Senators Cardin (D-MD) and Collins (R-ME) and sponsored by several other U.S. Senators!