Help Us Sustain Our Services to Thrive and Grow!
A Major Announcement! We are excited to announce the relaunch of our Close the Gap campaign – changing the name and logo to Sustain our Services! Living through the pandemic encouraged us to rethink this campaign and the need to revamp it for our future.
Although the pandemic is gone, we continue to struggle with the workforce crisis. Now is the time to plan for our future and the future of disability services through this initiative. Our goal of this campaign will not change. We will continue to provide our staff with the wages and benefits they deserve. What will change is the longevity of it. Sustaining this campaign for the long term will help us thrive and grow well into the future. We appreciate your continued support!
THE PHOENIX RESIDENCE IS FACING AN URGENT & CRITICAL NEED
to invest in sustaining the services and supports required to enable the individuals we support to live a life of choice. A severe workforce shortage in Minnesota of skilled Direct Support Professionals combined with ongoing changes to Medicaid reimbursement rates greatly impact our ability to compete for and recruit, retain, and compensate our Direct Support Professionals for the long term. It’s become critically important to seek other sources of funding to supplement a competitive salary and benefits package for our Direct Support Professionals. But we need YOUR help!
The Phoenix Residence provides an array of important and essential services to individuals living with disabilities that enable them to thrive in their own homes or in group home settings. With the help of 230 Direct Support Professionals, we serve 300 adults in Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, & Washington counties. However, dozens of disability care providers like us are facing a growing threat in our ability to provide these services due to two serious issues: a workforce shortage of skilled Direct Support Professionals and ongoing changes to Medicaid reimbursement rates.
A Severe Workforce Shortage
Over 8,700 unfilled caregiver jobs across Minnesota mean individuals with disabilities are not receiving the care they desperately need. In addition, there is a high turnover rate in the industry, and we must compete for what is a shrinking pool of qualified, skilled, and caring Direct Support Professionals. We must act to attract and retain skilled and caring Direct Support Professionals for the long term.
Changes to Medicaid Reimbursement Rates
Medicaid reimbursement rates for home and community-based services are threatened by ongoing changes due to the increased aging population and the growing needs of people who rely on these services. We are actively engaged in working with sector advocates in seeking policy initiatives that will invest in health and human services to fund livable wages for Direct Support Professionals. While we hope ongoing advocacy work will influence the State Legislature to implement policy changes to address shortfalls in the reimbursement system, the funding system that supports disability services remains too low and will not sustain future growth in the program.
We need to rely on other revenue sources to keep our services strong.
We Need Your Help!
It has become critically important for us to seek funding to supplement the salaries we pay our Direct Support Professionals. Funding levels along with a workforce shortage, threaten staffing levels and our ability to keep and attract a skilled, caring, and talented workforce—those who are at the heart of carrying out our mission to provide a caring, person-centered environment for those we support.
We launched the Close the Gap campaign in 2019 to provide our direct care staff with another outlet of support. Our initial goal was to raise $150,000, but our generous donors well exceeded that goal by the fall of that year. Over time, we extended the campaign and goal, eventually deciding at the five-year mark that we needed to continue this campaign long term. The workforce shortage is not going away, and we need to continue supporting our staff any way we can.
Questions About This Campaign? Please contact Jackie Larson at 651-294-7964 or jlarson@phoenixresidence.org