A message from ANCOR:

Dear ANCOR member,

In early 2020, just before the pandemic began to wreak havoc on our lives, ANCOR fielded a survey of its members to discern the ways in which the direct support workforce crisis is impacting organizations like yours.

We understood innately that high turnover was leading to high vacancy rates, added onboarding costs and more. But we wanted to know: what is the human impact of these challenges on provider organizations and the people they support? Is the direct support workforce crisis impacting your ability to accept new referrals? Is it causing you to discontinue lines of service, or delay the launch of new programs? Is it complicating your efforts to achieve quality standards?

The response we received was overwhelming: more than 810 provider organizations responded, giving us a snapshot of just how deep the impacts of this crisis are and illustrating that you’re eager to share your concerns.

That’s why we come to you again with an important ask: we are now fielding a follow-up survey and hope you will take 10 minutes to respond to the questionnaire. Whether you responded to the initial survey or not, we need to hear from you.

Why go through this exercise again, especially so soon after we last solicited such similar data? Quite frankly, we know that although the snapshot we gleaned from the 2020 survey is helpful, it quickly became outdated thanks to the ways COVID-19 has exacerbated many of the challenges described in the survey. Just as our world has changed in the past 18 months, so too has the situation facing community providers. We created this new survey to capture the seismic shifts so we can better adapt to your needs and advocate on your behalf.

The survey can be completed by any organization that provides long-term services and supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We simply ask that, in order to avoid duplication, only one person per organization complete the survey.

Complete the 2021 direct support workforce crisis survey today.

With gratitude,
ANCOR