The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) has launched the NADSP E-Badge Academy, which offers DSPs and Frontline Supervisors (FLSs) the ability to earn national certification through stackable electronic badges. These badges demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and values that these professionals utilize every day. DSP Level 1 - Aurealiz Pena-Alicea Terra Sheridan-Hall Christina Dressing Diane O’Connor Lori Abernathy-Cleere Gina Duffy DSP Levels 1 & 2 - Jessica Kennedy Ashlee Orbaker DSP Levels 1, 2, & 3 - Jennifer Woodhall Casandra Harris Ashley Vibbert FLS & DSP Levels 1, 2, & 3 - Ashley Guererri Stacey Warter Stacey holding her certificate after earning her DSP 1-3 and FLS badges Casandra and Jenn with the shirts they were sent for completing their DSP Levels 1-3 Mozaic Messenger QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER • JANUARY 2024, VOLUME 9 “There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances life.” If this quote sounds familiar to you, it should. I used it to kick off 2023 in this newsletter. Why use it again? Well, as we kick off 2024, many things we were fighting for in 2023 haven’t changed. Across the state, 20,000 critical direct care positions remain unfilled. 30% of DSPs leave their jobs every year. This has a $100 million annual turnover impact. In this past year, 38% of non-profit providers closed or reduced programs. As the wages for DSPs in non-profits like Mozaic have stagnated, the state has provided its staff that do the same work significant increases. Today, state employees are paid 30% higher. 15 years ago, the average DSP wage was twice the minimum wage. Now, on average, it is 7% higher than minimum. In addition, there have been no increases of any measure to those DSPs who have worked within our system for 10 -25 years. This compression of wages and lack of investment is making the whole system unsustainable. So, what do we do? We are having forums to inform our legislators of the problems. We are banding together statewide to show that the Arc community is large and we vote! We are requesting additional COLA and Direct Support Wage Enhancements. We are pushing hard because it is worth it. We have similar issues at Keuka Lake School. The State Department of Education is basically allowing smaller preschools and daycares to go out of business. Wages have not kept up with the needs of staff. We will start to see this lack of investment cause major problems. Despite these challenging times, we will continue to push forward as best as we can. We will be mindful of our expenses because we are unsure of what is happening at the State and Federal level. We will continue to be a bit unbalanced because there continues to be a lot at stake for everyone in the Mozaic community. The stakes are high and we will continue to fight the fight for equity on behalf of those who support our community! President & CEO Allen’s ANNOUNCEMENTS Mozaic DSPs are Leveling Up Thank you to the NADSP for organizing this program!
At the Mozaic Clinic, first of all, we are excited to say we have welcomed a new Contracted OT to our team, Angela Rischpater! Glad to have you with us, Angela! We have also officially wrapped up our OMIG (New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General) Audit, a 3 year process. Thank you to everyone who played a part in this. We’re still working to increase services in Tompkins County, and are improving work spaces and updating equipment to allow for a better Clinic experience for the individuals we support. We look forward to 2024! Holiday Angels EVOLVE, Mozaic’s committee for recruitment and retention, once again hosted the Holiday Angel Program, in which Mozaic staff in need can submit their children’s sizes and interests so they can be shopped for by other staff. This giving program makes for a very fun time of year! Mozaic staff enjoy being able to help each other out, pick out gifts, or sponsor the shoppers. To the left is a photo of one of the shopping trips, in which $1200 donated by Mozaic staff was spent on gifts! trunk or treat! CLINICAL SERVICES
Finger Lakes Textiles partnered with the Human Technologies Corporation through Arctic Gear, our commercial hat brand, to send hats to Ukraine. For every $5 donated by Arctic Gear shoppers, we sent one hat to those in need in Ukraine. UPDATE In total, we were able to donate 250 hats! Keuka Lake School (KLS) raised almost $1,500 with their fall fundraisers! Part of those funds went into the purchase of Christmas gifts for each child from Santa when he visited the school. They will be starting a cookie dough fundraiser in the next month! Follow them on Facebook @KeukaLakeSchool to stay updated! In other news, KLS has welcomed a new program coordinator to the team. Welcome to Amy Abraham, a great addition to the KLS crew! And joining the team as four-legged staff members, two new therapy dogs! The kids are already loving these new friends and learning a lot from them. During Q4 of 2023, we were notified that we were approved for a grant administered by Finger Lakes Performing Provider System (FLPPS). To quote FLPPS: “Several years ago, FLPPS was awarded a Capital Restructuring Financing Program (CRFP) grant by the Dormitory Authority of NYS (DASNY) through the NYS Department of Health (DOH). This grant was technically “awarded” through our partner, Finger Lake Community Health (FLCH), as the grantee back in 2016. This investment framework calls for FLPPS to provide financial assistance to a select group of partners to enhance their IT platforms and solutions so that our community can better integrate, coordinate, manage, analyze, and transform care and social services for patients on Medicaid and those that are uninsured.” This grant totals $129,900. Mozaic will be receiving 4 high-powered, high-speed servers to replace our soon-to-be end-of-life servers. It is also covering the cost to rewire our entire Clinton Street and North Avenue locations with all new Cat 6 data cabling. Servers will be arriving at the end of January, and the wiring projects will be completed in February. Behind the Scenes with IT Fundraisers and New Friends at Keuka Lake School
www. .org Chloe Richmond is an outstanding Facilities Supervisor. Whatever is asked of her, whether beyond her normal daily tasks or not (often with very short notice), she always responds with a can- and will-do attitude. Recently, Mozaic held an online auction, where lots were sold to 14 different buyers. Whenever Chloe was asked to meet a buyer picking up their items, she enthusiastically replied, “Yep, got it under control.” Chloe is constantly striving to better herself and expresses Mozaic’s core values often! Lauren Lyons embodies the values of putting people first and making others successful. Supportive and encouraging, she knows how to identify and magnify a person’s strengths to help build their confidence. She keeps a positive attitude, is always willing to lend an ear, and encourages those around her to reach for the stars and smash their goals, whatever they may be. Lauren has a special gift of connecting with others and enriching their lives through her words and actions. She is an asset here at Mozaic! Raymond has been at the Sackett residence since December 2021! His favorite things to do are to play video games, watch television, and sing. When asked to share a fun fact about himself, Ray said that he is very outgoing. “I love to talk to new people everywhere I go,” he told us. He also shared that his favorite thing about Mozaic is that he gets to see his friends every day!