Imagine!'s Leadership Development Program Update for May

Photographed from left to right above at the 2015 the Imagine! Celebration are
Meagan Roundtree, Sarah Baglee, Elena Ciaravino, and Cassie Rogers

As we approach mid-April, the Leadership Development Group is focusing a lot of our time and energy into completing our case studies. We were split into two groups: Elena, Sarah, and Cassie in one group, and Emily and I are in a second group. We have selected two case studies to work on. Elena, Sarah, and Cassie are working on Mark Emery’s case study which is about the Employee Compensation Package. The case study is described as follows:

Imagine! has put decades of effort into providing a very good employee compensation package with respect to our status as a not-for-profit, size, revenue realities, and number of employees. We do comparisons with similar sized organizations, both for profit as well as not-for-profit; study each piece of the employee compensation package and report cost/benefit analysis of each; and delve deeply to understand the risk of the company when offering benefits that for cost purposes only a projected portion of the eligible employees can utilize. What would happen if all eligible employees accessed all benefits? Measure the cost of the benefits if applied instead to wages.

Emily and I are working on Jodi Walter’s case study, which analyzes state wide person centered planning training. Read the details of this case study here:

In January 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services promulgated a final federal rule to ensure that individuals receiving long term services and supports through home and community based services have full access to the greater community, to the same degree as those not receiving Medicaid. Colorado has developed a plan that meets the federal criteria. Part of Colorado’s proposed implementation of this rule requires all staff to receive training on Person Centered (PC) philosophy and practices. In Colorado, one dominant form of person centered training has come to the surface, hosted by The Learning Community. This training is very thorough, expensive, and time consuming. It is receiving state-wide praise and has thus far been accepted as the only option in PC training. This case study will examine the pros and cons of implementing the Learning Community’s PC training at Imagine!, as well as looking at what other PC training options occur across the nation that may or may not be a better fit for Imagine!. The desire is to form an opinion about this prior to the state mandating a“one-size-fits-all” methodology.

We will be presenting our findings in both of these case studies on May 4 to the executive team.

In addition to our focus on our case studies, we are wrapping up our Mountain States Employers Council Great Leadership Series courses over the next few months. We are also planning to attend the National Association of States Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) conference, June 10 – 12. The theme of this conference relates to state I/DD systems and “New Pathways.” Their website presents that, “The state I/DD systems are continually forging New Pathways to support people with I/DD and their families. NASDDD’s conference presents New Pathways underway at the systems level as well as the service level.

•  Technology and social network tools are giving people more direct control over their plans and team communications that support true person-centered practices

• Commitment and creativity are advancing the ability of children with significant medical care needs to live with families
• Training and learning approaches integrated into the daily routines and activities of children with autism spectrum disorder and their families continue to evolve
• With a focus on children and through the transition years, state I/DD and behavior health agencies have created integrated systems inclusive of both mental health treatment and I/DD support services.”

This will be the last conference that we will attend as the Leadership Development Group of 2014-2015, and we are looking forward to spending the three days together, learning about I/DD in our state and beyond as our work together over the last year draws to a close.