April 7, 2025
ALBANY, N.Y. – The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) has announced a $27 million commitment to extend the #MoreThanWork recruitment campaign, launched last March. This initiative aims to attract Direct Support Professional (DSP) candidates to support people with developmental disabilities across the state through a collaboration between OPWDD and nonprofit service providers. The campaign has driven nearly 50,000 potential applicants to 231 participating service providers in its first year. Year two of the campaign launched on April 3 and features real-life DSPs and a deeper focus on the impact of the role.
The $9 million campaign, funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), was extended for an additional two years at $9 million per year, representing a total commitment of $27 million. The advertising campaign represents a significant step forward in addressing the critical shortage of DSPs who play a crucial role in supporting New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. Participation in the campaign is free for OPWDD’s service providers.
“New York State has been a national leader in professionalizing careers in direct support that truly change lives for New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. OPWDD, and our network of providers, cannot do the work that we do without the direct support professionals who are there every day assisting people with developmental disabilities to be in charge of their own lives and ambitions,” said OPWDD Acting Commissioner Willow Baer. “I am so proud of the ‘#MoreThanWork’ campaign’s joint effort between the state and our service providers to not only attract new job candidates, but also raise awareness about the rewarding role of direct support.”
Vibrant Brands was selected to lead the creation of this campaign due to the agency’s extensive experience with developmental disabilities service providers, as well as its expertise in recruitment marketing. OpAD Media has brought the campaign to life through statewide, multi-media advertising that spans diverse audiences, and makes use of traditional and digital media categories, while leaning into progressive advertising approaches with the use of influencer marketing.
In its first year, the ad campaign has led nearly 500,000 visitors to the #MoreThanWork website and 50,000 clicks to provider agency websites to learn about career opportunities. The ads have also delivered over 241 million total ad impressions and more than 23 million complete video views, showing it is successfully raising awareness of the direct support profession.
To further assist non-profit service providers in their recruitment efforts, the #MoreThanWork website features a recruitment toolkit that includes a range of customizable marketing resources to enhance recruitment outreach.
The #MoreThanWork recruitment campaign is just one of the many ways that New York is supporting providers of developmental disability services and their staff. As released earlier this year, New York committed $850 million in last year’s budget toward rationalized rates for service providers, which are helping these organizations to provide competitive wages for their frontline staff. This investment was continued in Governor Hochul’s 2026 Executive Budget Proposal. In addition to these financial investments, OPWDD has also been working with SUNY and NADSP to offer credentialing to direct support workers, improving retention among staff and professionalizing the career.
For more information about the #MoreThanWork campaign and to learn about provider agencies who are hiring, please visit directsupportcareers.com.
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