The Reinventing Quality conference started in 1991, sponsored by the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) and the Research and Training Center on Community Living at the University of Minnesota. The first few conferences were held in Chicago, and then the meeting started to circulate around the country. In the fall of 1999, NASDDDS was awarded a three-year grant by the federal Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to gather and disseminate “best practice” information on individualized, person-centered supports and related quality management activities. This “Reinventing Quality” project was carried out in collaboration with the Research and Training Center on Community Living, one the nation’s premier disability research and training centers, and the Human Services Research Institute, a policy research firm specializing in mental health and developmental disabilities issues.
Among the activities supported by this grant was the sponsorship of nationwide conferences to showcase best practices in person-centered supports from across the nation: The Reinventing Quality Conference. Although the project’s funding ended in the fall of 2003, biennial conferences traditionally held in Baltimore, MD have continued under the direction of the original project collaborators along with several other national partners. NADSP will be at the Conference to present the 2020 Moving Mountains Award in partnership with the Research and Training Center (RTC) at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration and the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) to recognize best practices in direct support workforce development.