DDS highlights DSP workforce push, launches job board and showcases new supportive housing and respite sites

The Department of Developmental Services told the Council on Developmental Services on July 17 that it is pursuing a multipronged effort to shore up the direct support professional workforce, including a public marketing campaign and a new statewide job board, dspjobs.ct.gov, that lists openings from qualified providers.

"People aren't gonna go and work in these jobs if they don't know about them. Right?" Mary Pat DeCarlo, director of workforce strategies at the Department of Developmental Services, said during a presentation to the council. DeCarlo said the department has worked with the Office of Workforce Strategies and providers to standardize job titles, training curricula and outreach.

The presentation cited several workforce metrics and program details discussed at the meeting: Connecticut’s most recent full-time staff vacancy rate for direct care was reported at about 17.7 percent; roughly 15 percent of new employees leave within six months; the state may have more than 5,000 DSP openings; and national estimates project the need for roughly 1.5 million direct care workers over the next decade. DeCarlo said standardized, entry-level training would provide a basic common curriculum so new workers would arrive with most required foundational training and providers would deliver remaining role-specific instruction.

As part of the outreach effort, DDS rolled out a marketing…