Dear Friends and Colleagues,
This week OPWDD marks National Direct Support Professional Recognition Week, a special week set aside to honor and celebrate the direct support workers who deliver every day on our agency mission of helping people with developmental disabilities live richer lives.
This year’s theme of National DSP Week is “Recognizing Excellence 2023,” and it provides us an opportunity to recognize the dedication and accomplishments of the outstanding direct support professionals (DSPs) and Direct Support Assistants (DSAs) who provide caring support to New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. These professionals, whether at work in an OPWDD-operated program or with one of our nonprofit partners, are the people who support success and accomplishment for others. Each time I visit a program and see our direct support staff in action, I see the difference they make in the lives of people with developmental disabilities.
As OPWDD honors DSPs and DSAs this week all across New York State, I offer a collective Thank You for the dedication of our direct care staff to this often challenging, but rewarding career, and for the difference they make. As our DSPs go about their jobs this week, I hope they hear many “Thank Yous” for all they do. And the appreciation does not stop when this week is over. The hard work, commitment and sacrifice from our DSPs and DSAs matters every single day, not just during this one special week, and that is why OPWDD is actively working on initiatives to support our direct care staff to advance their skills and education and to be properly recognized as the professionals that they are. We are working to build a pipeline of new, dedicated staff to strengthen our existing teams with the additional workers they need so all staff can bring their best to the job each day. OPWDD is committed to doing as much as we can to celebrate, support and recognize the essential work of DSPs.
So, this week and beyond, please thank the DSPs and DSAs in your life for all they do. Let them know we see them and thank them for the tremendous contributions they make to the lives of people with developmental disabilities.
Sincerely,
Kerri E. Neifeld
Commissioner
