The "3 Es"

There are several leading reports available that show how the people that will be supporting the disabled and elderly (the direct care workers) will be grossly under-staffed in the next 10-20 years (aging baby boomers). Unless we start building a localized effort to encourage and support people in this field, we will have a significant problem in the coming years. Utilizing the model from the Gates Foundation, we can build a 3-tiered approach to developing future programs:



1) Encouraging – Encouragement of high school programs to volunteer in disability programs or develop disability sensitivity training on the campus. This is a collaborative effort with the current disability programs to open up training and volunteer opportunities – something Agnews used to provide.

2) Enabling – Ensure that individuals in the field are adequately supported. Build internship program collaborations to foster connections and growth in the field. Identify certificate or credential programs to support direct care workers in the field of upward mobility.

3) Entrenching – Building retention programs to support cross collaboration with other agencies to encourage growth and a broader level of support infrastructure for current agencies and employees.


(The 3 E’s) While those affected with disabilities and their parents will secondarily benefit from the training and resources developed in such a program, we need to create opportunities for organizations  focus on building agency/vendor/school-based support infrastructure. There are numerous people and organizations out there seeking to be the clearinghouse of information or parent resources…but nobody is building the core infrastructure to build a stronger tomorrow.


This is a unique vision for a new organization and would define the nature of organizational collaboration. This is what's truly needed.