History of Empowerment Education
In 1996 The Administration on Developmental Disabilities Institute rewarded the Developmental Disabilities Institute with a training initiative project grant. The Developmental Disabilities Institute is Michigan’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). It is one of 63 UCEDD’s nationwide, established in 1983 at Wayne State University by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human services. DDI is mandated to provide a statewide training program that will enhance the lives of persons with disabilities and Empowerment Education was designed to meet this need at the institute.Empowerment Education has three distinctive training components: The original training project for Direct Support Professionals was developed within the first project year, and training commenced in July of 1997. Today there are twelve training modules and over 10 thousand individuals have been trained including, direct support professionals, persons with disabilities and their family members.
Empowerment Education currently employs twenty-five trainers. Our trainers hale from all around the state of Michigan. This group of trainers is not only diverse in their areas of interest in the disability field, but they also vary as to their personal links to the field: Trainers consist of persons with disabilities, family members, direct support professionals, teachers, direct care supervisors and researchers/policy makers. Empowerment Education trainers reside in ten different counties and have the capacity to provide training to direct support professionals working anywhere in Michigan.
In year two of the Empowerment Education project, the Pathways to Leadership-Employer and Personal Assistant curriculum was written. Pathways to Leadership also utilizes a train the trainer model and eight trainers were selected (half of whom had disabilities or were family members to persons with disabilities) to deliver the Pathways training. Trainers received a toolbox containing all the necessary materials to conduct the half-day workshops. Many of these trainers were employed by the Michigan Centers for Independent Living, and they conduct the trainings at their organizations. Technical assistance is offered to these trainers to support them in their training endeavors. The curriculum was developed for employers (persons with disabilities and family members) and their personal assistants. Participants learn about the roles of employers, employees, communication, and strategies for conflict resolution and additional information that can contribute to effective, respectful working relationship. This training has been approved for 3.0 Adult Foster Care Licensee and Administrator training credits.
Direct support Professional Supervisor Training was the third training component developed. The Direct Support Professional Supervisor Training offers agencies an opportunity to increase staff expertise, create work environments that support team building among all staff, and provides the potential to enhance the quality of services to consumers. This six-day competency-based training can be offered in a retreat-style setting and focuses on supporting team leadership in the workplace. Direct support professional supervisors participate in a dynamic interactive learning process that increases their supervisory skills, and offers a new perspective to their roles in the workplace. This training is intended for newly promoted supervisors, who lack formal training and have limited supervisory experience to help them succeed in their new role of leadership.Now entering the project’s tenth year, Empowerment Education training continues to be used to train and inform Michigan’s Direct Support workforce.