Community-Integrated Personal Assistance Services and Supports

CONNECTICUT

Target Population

Persons with disabilities and long-term illnesses.

Geographic Focus

Statewide, and also three model communities selected by the Real Choice Systems Change Grant, and other communities where people are moving with the assistance of the Nursing Facility Transitions Grant, will be used to initially pilot training for employers.

Primary Focus

• Develop an infrastructure and create products that will promote the effective recruitment and retention of personal assistants, and ensure that persons with disabilities in the State have the knowledge, access, and resources available to maximize choice and control in the use of Personal Assistance Services and Supports (PASS).



• Test the following models of consumer control: budget and service responsibility, service responsibility, and service choice, by developing and implementing in-home trainings for employers of personal assistants and measuring the change in experience and satisfaction at the end of the 3–year grant period.

Goals, Objectives, and Activities

Goal: Develop a single point of access recruitment tool in order to recruit personal assistants for permanent and backup employment.

Objectives/Activities

• Identify all recruitment efforts and registries currently in use in the State and establish agreement and collaboration on a single integrated system with stakeholders.



• Conduct a series of focus groups to work with both employers and personal assistants to determine the optimum criteria for a recruitment tool that is user-friendly to both parties.



• Develop a web-based recruitment tool to allow matching of employers and personal assistants based on information provided by the focus groups.



• Assess and address any contractual or other barriers that may prevent engagement in a collaborative process.

Goal: Create and implement a strategic marketing plan to recruit personal assistants for permanent and backup employment.

Objectives/Activities

• Collaborate with the Connecticut Department of Labor to design and implement a professional workforce development plan that will identify and recruit individuals who might be interested in pursuing the personal assistant profession.



• Develop recruitment and outreach materials in accessible formats and different languages to be introduced into high schools, community colleges, and other educational venues.



• Produce a short video to reflect a diverse consumer base (e.g., elderly, severe physical disability, cognitive disability) that will reveal the rapport and relationship between a personal assistant and employer.



• Explore the feasibility of mass media strategies, such as TV, radio, and print ads, in partnership with other entities currently engaged in active recruitment. Thirty-second spots will be selected from the video to be used as recruitment commercials.

Goal: Develop and implement management training for employers of personal assistants.

Objectives/Activities

• Establish a training work group to identify specific training needs of employers of personal assistants and family members who are employers of personal assistants.



• Explore and identify curricula on management of personal assistants currently being implemented successfully, including those used by the Centers for Independent Living, the Department of Mental Retardation (DMR), and other national and State advocacy organizations.



• Design training modules based on recommendations from the consumer and personal assistant training work group, whose members will be instrumental in designing content.



• Develop training teams composed of individuals with disabilities and family members to create a sustainable training program for their peers.



• Conduct at least 250 in-home trainings for employers of personal assistants over the 3–year grant period.

Goal: Develop and implement a voluntary professional development program for personal assistants.

Objectives/Activities

• Design a professional training curriculum that can provide a range of training options as part of an individualized professional development program that supports respect, professionalism, and person-centered values.



• Design specific modules for personal assistants consisting of a variety of workshops and seminars, many taught by employers of personal assistants, which could be accessed as needed by employees. Certain modules may be able to be designed as web-based units for ease of access and consistency of content delivery.

Key Activities and Products

• Identify current recruitment efforts and registries and conduct focus groups which will lead to interagency collaboration and a website for matching personal assistants with employers.



• Collaborate with Connecticut Department of Labor to design a professional workforce development plan to include the production of brochures, advertisements, fliers, and a video focusing on the relationship between personal assistants and employers.



• Establish a training work group to identify specific training needs of employers of personal assistants, produce a handbook of training modules, and conduct at least 250 in-home trainings.



• Design a professional training curriculum for personal assistants, which will result in an individualized professional development program and a catalog of training modules.

Consumer Partners and their Involvement in Implementation Activities

• The workforce development work group of the Real Choice Grant will form the core of the oversight committee. Members of the oversight committee include persons with disabilities, advocates, family members, and various State agencies.



• The oversight committee will provide leadership, oversee grant activities, and coordinate efforts among other grants and State community integration projects.



• Focus group members will represent the widest possible range of constituents, including individual and family employers, and a range of disabilities, in order to best assess all of the potential accessibility barriers to determining a recruitment tool.



• Consumers, their family members, and personal assistants will participate as content experts in the design of recruitment and outreach materials.



• Members of the training work group will be primarily consumers and personal assistants. The work group will collaborate with the CT Association of Personal Assistants (CTAPA) and DMR to establish goals, learning strategies, and content for the consumer personal assistant training program, with special emphasis on building a culture of respect and value between employers and employees.



• Training teams will consist of a consumer and a personal assistant and will be available to provide home-based training for new employers and their personal assistants. Recruitment will be conducted through CTAPA and DMR, with the goal of performing 250 sessions over the 3–year grant period.



• The grant will establish an evaluation committee comprising a majority of consumers and including an independent evaluation monitor.

Public and Private Partners and their Involvement in Implementation Activities

Public Partners

• DMR, the Department of Labor, Connect-to-Work Center, and Medicaid Infrastructure and Benefits Counseling projects will collaborate with the private partners listed below to establish a single point of access recruitment tool, create a strategic plan for enhancing the personal assistance workforce, and design a professional training curriculum.



• DMR will collaborate with CTAPA and consumer partners to establish goals, learning strategies, and content for the consumer personal assistant training program, and will establish training teams in each of its three regions.



• The Department of Social Services, the lead agency, will subcontract with the University of Connecticut's A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCE) to implement the grant activities.

Private Partners

• Allied Community Resources (personal assistance registry), CTAPA, and Centers for Independent Living will collaborate with the State agencies listed above on workforce recruitment activities.



• CTAPA will collaborate with DMR and consumer partners to establish goals, learning strategies, and content for the consumer personal assistant training program.



• Local Independent Living Centers (ILCs) will coordinate professional development training.



• A media designer will be hired to assist in the development of recruitment and outreach materials.

Advisory Body, Committee, or Task Force

• The oversight committee, comprising 51 percent persons with disabilities, advocates, and/or family members, will act as the governing body for the project and will provide leadership, oversee grant activities, and coordinate efforts among other grants and State community integration projects.



• The two principal investigators will work in tandem with the oversight committee who will meet monthly to guide the project's implementation. The oversight committee will report on its progress to the Real Choice Steering Committee, which includes consumers, State agencies, and the UCE.

Formative/Process Evaluation Activities

• A project evaluation committee composed of a majority of consumers and including an independent evaluation monitor will be established to monitor outcomes and grant progress. Modification of the project's plan of operation will occur as needed.



• The evaluation committee will formally monitor all objectives and activities on a monthly basis through a systematic and detailed plan of evaluation. The focus of the monitoring will be on the outcomes or other permanent products that grant activities will produce.



• Quarterly reports will include objective and measurable data regarding: (1) staff loads and activities for each objective; (2) status of dissemination activities; (3) person and family satisfaction; (4) status of training activities; (5) status of staff who participate in the project.

Summative/Outcome Evaluation Activities

The Medicaid Infrastructure Grant plans to repeat a previous survey of personal assistants and employers at the end of the 3–year period of the Community-Integrated Personal Assistance Services and Supports (CPASS) Grants to obtain comparative data and measure the change in experience and satisfaction for both employers and personal assistants.

Strategies to Ensure Sustainability

• The products of this grant will include materials and resources that promote a system for the recruitment and retention of competent personal assistants, and enduring management skills for consumers and employers. As such, the project will make enduring changes in the areas of access, availability, and adequacy of services and value.



• The PASS field in the State will gain increased recognition as a viable profession with the availability of its own professional organization, professional development programs, and training.



• The consumer-directed team training of personal assistants is an innovative model that will greatly enhance the quality of the personal assistant workforce and have significant impact on the retention of personnel.



• The grant personnel will train ILC staff and other community organizations in the training protocols for consumers so these entities can continue the training after the completion of the grant period. DMR will establish training teams in each of its three regions who will provide periodic training as more people choose to self direct their own resources and hire their own employees.



• The project directors from the State's other grant initiatives meet regularly to ensure that the grant activities focus on a common vision of community integration, crossing a continuum of services. The framework built by these initiatives will provide substantial support to this grant and will benefit considerably from a stronger workforce of personal assistants.