Best Practices in Direct Support Workforce Development

The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, and ANCOR are seeking nominations for the 2025 Moving Mountains Award, which recognizes organizations using leading practices in direct support workforce development to improve outcomes for people being supported in their communities.

Organizations applying for the award must demonstrate how their workforce practices and philosophy align with the key principles of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals. These principles are:

• All direct support professionals benefit from access to well-constructed educational experiences (e.g., competency-based trainings, continuing and higher education) and lifelong learning;
• Certifying highly qualified workers incentivizes continuing education, increased compensation, and access to career pathways for direct support professionals, thereby improving retention;
• Values-based and ethical decision making can be learned and infused into daily practice; and
• Strengthening relationships and partnerships between direct support professionals, self-advocates, and other advocacy groups and families improves the quality of support.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2025 Moving Mountains Award. Nominations can range from single programs to statewide initiatives. Organizations that have applied previously, but were not selected, are encouraged to re-submit for this year’s award process. Recipients of this award must exemplify practices that support community living for people with disabilities. The winning organization(s) will be honored and will share their initiatives during the 2025 ANCOR Connect conference on April 7-9, 2025, in San Diego, CA. Winners will be notified in advance. Applications are due on Wednesday, January 3, 2025, by 11:59 pm CST via electronic submission to movingmountains@umn.edu.

If you have questions regarding the completion of the application, please email the Moving Mountains Coordinators at movingmountains@umn.edu.

For information on previous award winners visit our Moving Mountains Award Past Winners page.