These include two technical assistance opportunities to help states strengthen their systems for recruiting, retaining, and developing direct care workers; a national hub to connect states, stakeholders and communities to best practices and other resources related to the direct care workforce; and a webinar series for states and stakeholders focused on a range of direct care workforce topics.
These initiatives will help sustain the impact of the $37 billion in American Rescue Plan funding invested to date by states in home and community-based services, and support the comprehensive set of actions and investments included in the President’s executive order to improve care.
Two technical assistance opportunities are available to states:
- DCW Intensive Technical Assistance, which will facilitate collaboration among state agencies – including Medicaid, aging, disability, labor and workforce development systems – and with stakeholders to improve recruitment, retention, training, and professional development of the direct care workforce. It will include a focus on strategies to help states sustain direct care workforce initiatives funded through the American Rescue Plan. The DCW Strategies Center will provide up to 250 hours of individualized technical assistance on a variety of issues for up to six cross-agency state teams. Each team will be assigned a coach and have access to subject matter experts to support them in addressing their state’s unique needs. Each team will include representatives from the state’s Medicaid, aging, disability, and workforce development agencies, in addition to other stakeholders. The support provided through this initiative will be coordinated by a consortium led by ADvancing States, in partnership with the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disability Services and the National Association of State Medicaid Directors.
- DCW Peer-Learning Collaboratives, which will bring together four to six states in a working group focused on a particular topic. There will be up to three learning collaboratives available to states. The DCW Strategies Center will host monthly virtual meetings focused on group learning to facilitate information sharing on best practices, innovative strategies and demonstrated models for growing the direct care workforce. In addition, each participating state will receive up to 70 hours of individual technical assistance on a topic or issue important to the state. Each participating state will be expected to accomplish one policy or program-related milestone within the parameters of the topic of focus as a result of participation in one of the collaboratives.
On Friday, March 8, at 2 p.m. EST, the DCW Strategies Center will host an informational call to provide more information about these technical assistance opportunities. Advance registration is required. Complete details about these opportunities, including application instructions, also can be found in the call for applications.