ANCOR, the American Network of Community Options and Resources, and CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership, recently unveiled the “A Quick Check-up: Do We Walk the Talk” quiz. It was created as a tool for community-based service organizations to assess their culture and overall readiness to meaningfully engage people served in developing an individualized, personal outcomes plan. ANCOR and CQL partnered to design the Walk the Talk quiz for use by a broad constituency, including service provider management staff, direct support professionals, organization board members, people served and their family members.
The Walk the Talk quiz is a fun, non-threatening way for service providers and others in the disability community to assess their organizations’ culture as it relates to person-directed values, actions and implementation. It covers decision making, resource allocation, and organizational culture, among other topics. “The concept was to create a fun and creative tool that providers and others could use to both assess their current status vis-à-vis person-directed outcomes, and connect them to valuable resources to help them improve their quality outcomes,” said ANCOR CEO Renee Pietrangelo.
The trend toward individualized, self-directed services is leading to an environment where people served and their families will exert greater control over the supports and services they choose. This will create an increasingly competitive marketplace for supports. Providers who want to compete in this marketplace need to make sure they are following the basic tenets of person-directed planning and integrating these concepts into the operations of their organizations. “As supports become increasingly individualized and the locus of control falls into the hands of consumers and their families, it is imperative that the service provider community understand and model the core principles of person-directed planning into their organizations,” said CQL’s president and CEO James F. Gardner, PhD.
ANCOR and CQL are uniquely positioned to make this tool available. ANCOR serves as a vital resource for supporting sustainable, healthy service providers that are efficient, effective and responsive to the needs and desires of the people they serve and their families. CQL is dedicated to ensuring individuals with disabilities and persons with mental illness achieve their personal goals by assisting organizations in being more person-directed and responsive to consumer choices.
Interested providers can take the quiz online at both ANCOR and CQL’s websites.
About ANCOR
The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) is the national association representing more than 800 private providers of community living and employment supports and services to more than 400,000 individuals with disabilities. ANCOR represents the interests of providers before Congress and federal agencies, provides technical assistance and professional development, promotes industry leading practices and offers other benefits. For more information about ANCOR, visit www.ancor.org.
About CQL
CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership is an international not-for-profit organization that brings together providers, professionals, advocates and other leaders in the disability field whose vision is person-directed community-based services and supports. Through groundbreaking research and publications; trainings, workshops and conferences; accreditation and certification programs -- CQL continues to shape the future of disabilities services. For more information about CQL, visit www.c-q-l.org.
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