Posted on December 16, 2025

By Mary Kay Rizzolo, CQL President & CEO

Times of reflection are important, especially for an organization. You need to look back at your accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned during the journey. The end of the year feels like an appropriate time for reflection, as you wrap up the year and plan for the start of a new one.

It’s why we devote the December edition of Capstone to capture some of CQL’s successes, milestones, and memorable moments throughout the year. Along with those, this article also shares numerous resources that can help you improve your services to help transform people’s lives. We also hope that you take some time to look back at 2025 and acknowledge your organization’s highlights and achievements!

January

Recognizing Our Partners

We’re so lucky to have such positive and supportive relationships with organizations. That’s why we highlight accredited agencies throughout the year in our success story articles. In January, we published our first article about The Enrichment Center, a provider organization in North Carolina. Throughout 2025, CQL highlighted 7 total organizations:

• The Enrichment Center: Arts As A Cornerstone
• The Arc of Central Alabama Puts Mission, Vision, and Values into Action
• Community Living Brant Embraces Organizational Transformation in Ontario, Canada
• Core Services “Thinks Outside of the Box” in Northeast Tennessee
• KenCrest: Innovation and Advocacy at Work for 120 Years
• Respect, Collaboration, and Empowerment at the St. Louis Arc
• Community Living Services, Inc.: Amplifying Every Voice In North Dakota

February

The CQL Team Is Growing

And as those partnerships expand, so does CQL. In February, we posted open positions and were lucky to welcome Eliciana Caro, Susan Carr, and Shelly Dacres as our new part-time Quality Enhancement Specialists. CQL then accepted even more applications for additional part-time positions in Fall 2025.

I really appreciate our CQL team, who all show an unparalleled dedication to their important work. To gain insight into who we are and what we’re all about, I encourage you to check out our Staff Spotlight articles.

March

Bringing Leading Experts ‘On Board’

Along with our top-notch team, we also have an amazing board of directors. Katherine Neas, CEO of The Arc of the United States, and Nancy A. Ward, a renowned advocate with SABE, joined our board in March 2025. They bring more than 70 years of combined experience at the forefront of issues related to policy, advocacy, rights, and other areas. CQL is grateful to have them help guide our organization through their insights and expertise.

April

Valuable Conference Connections

Participating in conferences is an important way for us to catch up with our partners, share best practices through presentations, and learn from leading voices in the field. We kicked off a great year of conferences in April at the Iowa Association of Community Providers (IACP) Conference. Over the course of the year, we were at 11 different conferences presenting, sponsoring, exhibiting, or most often a combination of those. The events were held all across the United States from Ohio to Oregon, Alabama to Iowa, North Carolina to Colorado, and numerous locations in between.

May

Camera Use: 2025’s Most Popular Capstone

Each month we publish a Capstone article, taking a deep dive into one specific, timely topic that’s relevant to the disability services sector. Capstone continues to be a go-to resource for professionals in the field, with our 2025 articles garnering a total of more than 7,000 website views. Our May edition, Watching Over or Watching Out? Ethical Practices in Camera Use, was the most viewed Capstone article on our website this year. It covered the use of cameras and CCTV in people’s homes, addressing issues such as rights, due process, and ethical considerations.

June

Research Support For Black Graduate Students

In 2020, we launched the Disability Research Mentorship Program for Black Graduate Students, which helps provide support, guidance, and opportunities for Black graduate students focused on disability research. We announced our latest cohort of participants in June 2025, who will receive assistance in developing a peer-reviewed journal article through the use of CQL data. Over the past five years, a total of 10 students have taken part in the mentorship program.

July

‘Guiding’ Organizations With Best Practices

Along with articles, webinars, research, and other resources, CQL also produces guides that share a snapshot of tips and practical action steps for improving services. In July 2025, we released the one-page infographic guide Using The Three E’s To Find Your Community. It shares how you can use the Three E’s: Education, Experience, and Exposure, to help people in identifying and building community.

August

Free Webinars Impacting Thousands Of People

August 2025 was the two-year anniversary of launching our Free Webinar Initiative. Through this program, CQL presents free webinars for stakeholders of state governmental agencies and state/national associations. In the past two years, we’ve presented more than 80 free webinars sponsored by 18 different groups. Nearly 7,000 registrants have signed up for these sessions to receive important information, useful tools, and relevant resources that they can use in their everyday work. If you’re a representative of a state governmental agency or a state/national association and are interested in holding free webinars, we encourage you to complete our webinar inquiry form.

September

Addressing DSP Workforce Issues

Recruitment, retention, training, career advancement, etc. – there are so many issues impacting direct support professionals (DSPs), yet challenges exist in identifying effective solutions. Every year in September during National DSP Recognition Week, we partner with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) to share programs that address some of these issues. This year we changed things up a bit and checked in on DSP programs featured in the past, to get an update. In this year’s articles, all released in September, organizations shared the impact of their initiatives, data collected regarding the program, and lessons learned along the way.

October

A Knockout Event: The 2025 CQL Conference

In October 2025, we hosted the 2025 CQL Conference: Go The Distance! Our biennial conference welcomed nearly 400 attendees for multiple days of keynote presentations, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, an awards ceremony, and more. These events are a big highlight for all of us at CQL, giving us a chance to connect in-person with all of our friends, colleagues, and partners to share, learn, and grow together.

November

CQL’s Top Scientist

Data is important to us at CQL and Dr. Carli Friedman, our Director of Research, authors a lot of research. The topics range from quality of life to technology, ableism, home and community-based services (HCBS), self-determination, and social determinants of health – just to list a few examples. This all adds up to our announcement in November 2025 that Dr. Friedman was named one of the ‘Top 2% Scientists’ by Stanford University, for the second year in a row! We’re really proud of Carli for this impressive achievement.

December

Best Practices, By The Seat

Every year, we host numerous virtual trainings and workshops, where people can attend by the seat to gain new knowledge and learn new skills. We wrapped up our 2025 offerings in December with a training titled ‘Translating Plans into Extraordinary, Ordinary Lives.’ This popular session aimed to bridge the gap between person-centered planning and the actual achievement of goals. While our 2025 trainings are completed, we do have more than a dozen trainings and workshops lined up in 2026.

Looking Ahead To 2026

There’s a lot of uncertainty heading into next year, ranging from changes in the federal landscape, to concerns over funding issues, and continued workforce challenges. But I am hopeful, as our field always embraces community and collaboration, working together to persevere. The disability services sector has faced adversity in the past, but continuously endures due to our collective commitment to providing the highest quality of services, so people can live fulfilling and meaningful lives!