2007 Mid-Year Meeting
Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza
Rapid City, South Dakota

May 9-11, 2007

Preparing the Workforce - The Next Generation and Beyond

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Preliminary Schedule
Hotel Information
Transportation Information
Registration Information

MEETING PROGRAM

MEETING PRESENTATIONS

How do we develop a new workforce for the next century that can meet the rising service needs of aging baby boomers with developmental and other disabilities? Who will provide leadership among self-advocates, family advocates, the community at large, and at local and state agencies to guide and develop various members of the workforce in the face of many complicated new challenges?

Join us this spring in South Dakota as we explore:

• Effective strategies for recruiting, training, and retaining direct support professionals as well as front-line supervisory staff;
• Methods of attracting clinicians and other professionals with specialized skills and training - especially young professionals -- to build careers in developmental disabilities services, including the creation of career ladders that permit such individuals to advance within the field as they acquire enhanced skills and experience;
• Techniques for identifying and nurturing emerging leaders within the arenas of training/staff development, direct service, program administration and citizen advocacy (including self-advocacy) and helping such individuals to enhance their leadership skills through organized training programs that include mentoring and on-the-job experiences.
• Emerging strategies for accessing and deploying non-traditional caretaking sources (such as paid family members, friends and neighbors) and how to deal with the complex challenges associated with training, supervising, compensating, and monitoring the performance of such non-traditional support workers.

Keynote speakers Bob Gettings (former NASDDDS Executive Director who now serves as Senior Advisor to Executive Director Nancy Thaler until he retires June 30) and Amy Hewitt, MSW, PhD (Training and Project Director, Research and Training Center on Community Living at the University of Minnesota) will outline the big picture of workforce challenges and opportunities facing the developmental disabilities field now and in the years ahead.

Luncheon speaker Steve Eidelman (Robert Edelsohn Chair and Professor, Department of Individual and Family Studies at the University of Delaware) will discuss the rapidly emerging vacuum in leadership within the developmental disabilities field and the efforts of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities which he heads up at the University to address this problem.

Breakout sessions will focus on three themes: Building a Direct Support Workforce; Leadership; and Managing a Nontraditional Workforce.

Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP)
4550 Terminal Road, Suite 102
Rapid City, SD 57703-8706
Airport Information: (605) 393-9924
Flight Information: (605) 393-2850

• ALAMO (605-393-2664)
• AVIS (605-393-0740)
• BUDGET (605-393-0488)
• HERTZ (605-393-0160 )
• NATIONAL (605-393-2664)
• THRIFTY (605-393-0663)

The Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza provides a complimentary airport shuttle. Please contact the hotel directly for particulars.