ANCOR & the ANCOR Foundation Launch First-Ever Disability Services Case Competition

Today, the ANCOR Foundation joined together with ANCOR to launch the first-ever Disability Services Case Competition in response to a decades-long shortage of professionals who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to be included in the community.

Designed to cultivate solutions to a workforce crisis that is hindering access to opportunities for people with I/DD, the Case Competition is a chance for undergraduate students from invited universities and colleges to affect positive social change, jump-start their careers, and—for the top three teams—win their share of more than $25,000 in scholarship prizes.

ANCOR and the ANCOR Foundation seek creative, proven, and scalable solutions to the direct support workforce crisis—envisioned by the next generation of human service leaders who will ultimately be responsible for carrying these creative solutions out. Specifically, the Case Competition invites student competitors to propose innovative ideas for creating a pipeline of future leaders in the disability services sector from members of Generation Z, defined as early-career professionals born around or after 1997.

Between now and December 14, 2022, teams of three undergraduate students will have the opportunity to design, refine and pitch their ideas for overcoming the direct support workforce crisis. These ideas will be evaluated by a panel of leading experts in the field of I/DD services, with the solutions devised by each three-person team being evaluated based on: the creativity exhibited by the proposed solution, the feasibility of implementing the proposed solution, the level of awareness of the contours of the workforce crisis exhibited by the proposed solution, and the quality of the presentation of the proposal.

The top 10 teams will advance to the semifinals, which will be a virtual presentation to various members of the ANCOR Foundation Board of Directors, ANCOR’s staff, and ANCOR’s Professional & Organizational Development Committee. The top three teams will reach the finals.

The three teams selected to advance to the final round of the competition will present their proposed solutions on the main stage of the 2023 ANCOR Annual Conference—the largest national gathering of the I/DD provider community—taking place April 24-26 in Chicago.

To learn more about the first-ever Disability Services Case Competition, visit the Case Competition webpage or browse the Case Competition Guide.