ANCOR Names Leroy Bryant 2018 Direct Support Professional of the Year
New Mexico DSP is honored for work in support of community living for people with disabilities
Alexandria, VA — The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) announced today that Leroy Bryant of Gallop, New Mexico, is the recipient of the 2018 National Direct Support Professional Recognition Award, which is underwritten by Relias Learning.
ANCOR will present the award to Bryant at a ceremony honoring Direct Support Professionals (DSP) from across the nation on April 17 at ANCOR’s 2018 Conference: Converge in the Big Easy in New Orleans, LA in front of an anticipated audience of over 500 attendees.
Since 2007, ANCOR has honored exceptional Direct Support Professionals with the Direct Support Professional Recognition Award for exemplary work in furthering community inclusion and full participation for the many Americans living with intellectual, developmental and other disabilities. Mr. Bryant was the standout of this year’s field of 336 nominees. ANCOR also named state recipients of the DSP Recognition Award in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Moldova and for inaugural categories for setting stellar examples of work in the areas of Advocacy, Relationships, Leadership, Innovation and Tenets of the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals.
Bryant is a Direct Support Professional (DSP) at Dungarvin in Gallup, NM. Leroy helps transform lives, but he will quickly tell you that the people he has supported and is supporting have transformed his life. “These people I have supported through the years and the ones today, they are all responsible for bringing me out of my low self-esteem days and helping me become who I am today,” he said. “My co-workers too. We’re all family here.”
Bryant ensures the people he supports are able to rebuild and maintain tribal connections that they had lost over many years of institutional care. The people he supports are Native Americans, three Navajo and one Zuni and now live in the community. As a Navajo himself, he makes certain that they remain connected to their families, their cultures and their traditions.
“Leroy has assisted one man he supports receive blessings by traditional healers at the request of his family,” Bernadine Leekela, Dungarvin’s Executive Director in Gallup says. “He works cooperatively with team members to assure that they are able to experience a range of traditional cultural events, like native festivals, Pow-Wows, feasts and dances. He’s there with them.”
Bernadine went on to say: “He’s very humble and does not like to talk about himself. You can really see how much he cares about the individuals and to him they are just like his family. It does not matter to him that they have disabilities. His focus is making their lives richer and fuller. He’s happy and upbeat and that works well in the home.”
“Reading about the work these exceptional DSPs as they support people with disabilities in living full lives is always inspiring,” said Barbara Merrill, ANCOR CEO. “This year’s recipients are truly exemplary examples of their profession, but we know that there are many like them across the country, oftentimes working quietly and without recognition, whose compassion and dedication to their hard work deserves gratitude and appreciation.”
“One of ANCOR’s strategic goals is to obtain the resources necessary to attract and retain professionals like Mr. Bryant and this year’s state and category award recipients,” continued Merrill. “We must continue to remind our policy makers that a stable and qualified workforce forms the backbone of quality services to support people with disabilities – these professionals must be valued for what they do.”
ANCOR’s Direct Support Professional Recognition Award is given to those who personify the values of ANCOR’s National Advocacy Campaign. Nominees are judged on their success in helping people with disabilities build social networks and engage in substantive community participation and for advocating for the people they serve.
2018 Direct Support Professional Award Recipients
Profiles of the recipients will soon be available on the National Advocacy Campaign website: http://www.nationaladvocacycampaign.org.
About ANCOR. The American Network of Community Options and Resources is a national trade association representing more than 1,400 private providers of community living and employment supports and services to over a million individuals with disabilities with a workforce that’s half a million strong. ANCOR advocates for the crucial role private providers play in enhancing and supporting the lives of people with disabilities and their families.
Through its National Advocacy Campaign, ANCOR seeks to obtain the resources to recruit, train and retain a sustainable direct support workforce. ANCOR provides organization, professional, leadership development and networking opportunities and services and is continually working toward partnerships and collaborations that support our mission, which is to advance the ability of our members in supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to fully participate in their communities. www.ancor.org.
