Breeze Named 2022 DSP of the Year Award

The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) has announced that Brett Breeze, a program supervisor at Boundless West Carrollton, has been named the 2022 DSP of the Year in the leadership category. Brett joins fifty other recipients of ANCOR's 2022 Direct Support Professional of the Year Awards, chosen from more than 300 outstanding nominees.

"I know I speak for everyone at Boundless when I say how proud I am of Brett for receiving this well-deserved honor," said Patrick Maynard, PhD, Boundless president and CEO. "Brett's passion for and commitment to the people we serve is inspiring. I am so grateful ANCOR is celebrating him with this high-profile honor."

Since 2007, ANCOR's annual DSP of the Year awards recognize outstanding professionals who deliver long-term supports and services to people with I/DD. The awards celebrate the important role DSPs play in ensuring individuals with I/DD are included and empowered in the community, and raise awareness about a direct support workforce in crisis. Unfortunately, inadequate investments in this essential workforce have led to turnover rates approaching 50 percent, as well as double-digit vacancy rates—challenges that have been amplified significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"From helping people with activities of daily living to supporting them to connect with long-lost family members and so much more, direct support professionals like Brett Breeze are proof-positive of the crucial roles this workforce plays in communities across the country," said Heidi Mansir, president of ANCOR's Board of Directors and executive director of Uplift, Inc., a disability service provider based in Gardiner, Maine. "ANCOR is proud to celebrate Brett and the fifty other professionals who comprise the 2022 class of outstanding honorees."

Barbara Merrill, chief executive officer for ANCOR, added: "This is the sixteenth consecutive year ANCOR has presented the Direct Support Professional of the Year Awards, and the third class to have been honored since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we've been saying it for three years now, the challenges presented by the pandemic have collided with a recruitment and retention crisis in our workforce to wreak previously unthinkable havoc on our system of home- and community-based supports. For that reason, there's never been a more poignant time to celebrate people like Brett and the more than four dozen other DSPs who exemplify excellence in our field."

The 2022 DSP of the Year awards will be presented in a ceremony at ANCOR's 2022 Annual Conference in Miami, Fla., on Wednesday, April 13 at 2:30 pm EDT. Members of the press interested in attending the awards presentation should contact Sean Luechtefeld, Senior Director of Communications for ANCOR, at sluechtefeld@ancor.org or 571.207.9108.

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About ANCOR

For more than 50 years, the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ancor.org) has been a leading advocate for the critical role service providers play in enriching the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). As a national nonprofit trade association, ANCOR represents 1,600+ organizations employing more than a half-million professionals who together serve more than a million individuals with I/DD. Our mission is to advance the ability of our members to support people with I/DD to fully participate in their communities. 

About I Am Boundless, Inc.

I Am Boundless, Inc. is a nonprofit organization with a mission of building a world that realizes the boundless potential of all people. For forty years, the Boundless family of nonprofit companies has provided people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral health challenges the freedom and opportunity to live boundless lives. From residential support and job training to primary care and autism services, we proudly offer person-centered care that celebrates each individual and encourages them to become active participants in the communities where they live, work, and play.