FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Direct Service Workforce

What kind of workplace changes and worker benefits do the grants offer?

Each grantee is offering slightly different benefits and making different workplace changes. Six grantees are offering some kind of health insurance/ health care coverage benefit such as participation in state-funded health insurance programs, subsidized Health Reimbursement Accounts, or cafeteria-style plans where workers can choose to spend a cash allotment on health care or other services. Other benefits (interventions) being offered include enhanced worker and supervisory training, apprenticeship programs, peer mentorship, career ladders, professional development opportunities, worker registries, worker back-up pools, and employee assistance programs.

What outcomes have the grantees reported?

Each grantee is required to conduct a comprehensive site-specific evaluation and report data on turnover and retention of participating workers to CMS. Most of the grantees are in the early stages of implementation and do not have evaluation results or workforce data to report. Interim reports from the site-specific evaluations will be posted as they become available. You may contact Carrie Blakeway at the Lewin Group (carrie.blakeway@lewin.com) for more information about the grantees’ plans for evaluation.

Which states have received DSW grants?

In 2003 grants were awarded in Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico and North Carolina. In 2004, grants were awarded in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Washington. Review the Grantee Profiles for more information about each grantee.

Who provides Technical Assistance for the DSW grantees?

The Lewin Group, the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute and the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center on Community Living provide technical assistance to grantees related to programmatic issues such as project planning and implementation. For issues related to evaluation, technical assistance is provided by the Lewin Group, the Institute for the Future of Aging Services and the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center on Community Living. Please contact Carrie Blakeway at the Lewin Group (carrie.blakeway@lewin.com) for more information about technical assistance.