The top priority for The Arc New York’s Strategic Plan is a multi-pronged approach to addressing our escalating staffing crisis. These efforts include legislative and administrative advocacy, comprehensive workforce data collection, identification and sharing of best practices, retention strategies, and a statewide DSP recruitment campaign.

The recruitment campaign originally emerged out of The Arc New York leadership institute, with the support of the Executive Directors Association (EDA). This critical initiative includes:

The EDA originally approved the Leadership Institute proposal in September 2020. Each Chapter committed $5,000 toward the project to engage a marketing firm and conduct advertising.

This initiative has since been integrated into our Strategic Plan implementation. A DSP Branding Steering Committee comprised of Chapter leadership and State Office staff has been guiding the effort in partnership with marketing firm Smith & Jones.

Smith & Jones conducted in-depth research and developed a thoughtful marketing campaign and media tactics based on their findings. They recently shared the results of that work in a presentation to Chapter Executive Directors, Human Resources, and Public Relations staff. We are thrilled to share that presentation with you, and encourage you to view it here.

The campaign, which invites job seekers to “Discover the Rewards” of a DSP position with The Arc New York, will launch with a Statewide Job Fair on Tuesday, September 23. The ongoing initiative will be led by Smith & Jones, guided by the Steering Committee, and implemented locally in partnership with our Chapters.

In addition to the Chapter investment, The Arc New York Executive Committee approved a request for $300,000 to fund the advertisement and promotion of the DSP role and job opportunities at The Arc New York across the state.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback. We are excited to move this important project forward.

This effort exemplifies that we are STRONGER TOGETHER!