Thirtieth Anniversary Issue on Progress and Priorities in Direct Support

Frontline Initiative (FI) connects direct support professionals (DSPs) to issues that matter by telling stories, sharing best practices, and sharing resources that are important to your work. In doing so, we aim to elevate the status and voice of DSPs. FI promotes inclusion, and we seek authors who bring diverse perspectives to each issue.

New ideas and best practices in professional fields are often shared through a magazine or journal published by a professional association. FI is the premiere magazine for DSPs, from the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the University of Minnesota. All 30 years of FI issues are available for free and can be accessed online at z.umn.edu/FrontlineInitiative . Each issue focuses on a topic that is relevant to DSPs’ professional practice. Topics are selected by leaders at ICI, NADSP, and the FI editorial board. The editorial board includes people from across the country. We engage authors in each issue who are DSPs, other professionals, people who receive support, and family members of people who receive support.

DSP practice has evolved over the past 30 years, and so has FI. In recent years, we adopted the tagline “Always Fresh. Always Relevant.” to challenge ourselves to keep up with the fresh, relevant skills DSPs need to provide individualized support in homes and communities. FI grew from a print newsletter of about ten articles per issue to an online magazine with about twice that number—or more. We recognized that DSP and self-advocate voices were often underrepresented. As a publication dedicated to direct support work, we’ve intentionally increased authorship from both groups.

FI is published twice each year. Anyone can subscribe to FI for free. Subscribing means getting an email twice a year when the new issue is released. FI is funded through grants and DirectCourse. Anyone with an idea they’d like to see in FI—either as an article or an issue—can reach out to frontline-dsp@umn.edu to share it with us. We work with the editorial board to plan issue ideas that will be fresh and relevant to DSPs. The editorial board helps connect us with authors nationwide. As authors of articles, it is especially important to include the voices of DSPs who are doing exceptional work.

Accessibility Features

Promoting inclusion for readers and authors means increasing the ways that readers can access content. The online format of FI now allows us to increase accessibility in ways we never could when FI was a paper newsletter. We try to attend to as many accessibility considerations as possible:

• “Read It” Feature: Readers can click a button for an audible reader to read the content aloud.
• Spanish Translation: Readers can toggle between the English and Spanish versions or pick a language to read.
• All Photos Include Alt Text: Readers using a screen reader can access content in any images, figures, or graphs.
• Stories are edited to use short, concise sentences without complexity or jargon.
• Stories are edited for simple vocabulary and plain language.
• Articles are sharable on multiple platforms with a click of a button, or printable.

We created more ways for DSPs and self-advocates to share their stories and for readers to get to know them beyond the page. We considered the busy lives of DSPs and the changing ways people consume information; we launched our first podcast in 2023: A Closer Look at Frontline Initiative. A Closer Look at Frontline Initiative is FI’s companion podcast where co-editor Chet Tschetter talks with authors about the recent issue. Podcasts are approximately 20 minutes long. Listeners can subscribe to receive updates through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms.

Using Frontline Initiative for Professional Development

We hope DSPs read FI to increase their professional knowledge and skills. We encourage you to reflect on the articles, and share and discuss them with other DSPs. The following questions could guide your discussion – or you can pick other questions:

• What was the key point(s) of the article?
• What are you already doing on that topic?
• What tweaks can you make in your professional practice?
• What did you relate to in this article?
• What could you or your team use on the job?
• What resources or help would you need to try the idea? Who can you ask for help?

What should DSPs expect in each issue of Frontline Initiative?

In addition to articles written by DSPs, self-advocates, family members, and other professionals, there are several features in each issue of FI. Editors Notes frames the topic of the issue and provides an overview of the articles. The Direct Support Workforce Update is newer to FI; it includes relevant national information to the direct support profession. Each issue ends with DirectCourse Connect, an issue-specific list of courses that DSPs and others can access to learn more about the issue topic. DirectCourse Connect also suggests connections to relevant E-Badges that DSPs and FLSs who are participating in the E-Badge Academy can consider when completing accredited education for E-Badge certification.

Conclusion

The first FI issue in 1996 included a wish for FI and the field of direct support from the late John F. Kennedy, Jr.: “My hope is that this publication will also help to foster communication and networking among the millions of self-advocates and direct support workers from all around the country.” We must always support DSPs to improve your professional practice and encourage you to stay in this field. This is still our hope today.