During the week of September 8^th through 14^th, New Hope celebrated its incredible Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) for the remarkable work they do daily! DSP Week is a nationally recognized week where we celebrate these dedicated and compassionate associates every year. New Hope has the best DSPs, and 73% of New Hope’s workforce are DSPs! New Hope DSPs are vital to our mission! This year’s DSP week theme was “Rainbow of Possibilities”! Associates decorated the Payne Road hallways with rainbows, balloons, banners and artwork created by individuals in our Day Service and Achieving Inclusion and Meaning (AIM) programs. Associates and individuals partook in each of the theme dress-up days during DSP week including sports day, favorite decade day, favorite color day, character day, and New Hope pride day. This was a fun way for all of #TeamNewHope to get involved in honoring our DSPs! Additionally, our DSPs received a gratitude email with many thanks from associates and families along with a thank-you gift.

At the same time, our DSPs attended New Hope’s annual Skills Fair where they spent time learning and refreshing their skills to make sure that individuals served by New Hope receive the highest level of care. Approximately 255 DSPs visited New Hope’s Payne Road building where they were assigned to small groups to complete annual compliance training. Congratulations to DSP Femi Owolabi for his winning submission of a DSP week poem entitled, “A Reflection of Hope and Care.” This poem was read as the beginning reflection at each of the DSP week training sessions. Check out Femi’s poem here. We had an awesome week celebrating our DSPs!