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There is nothing better than being in a room full of friends and familiar faces – even if it is a virtual room. Although Easterseals adult day programs reopened in the fall, many of the participants have not been able to return due to health factors. However, Easterseals Direct Support Professionals have not let that stop them from connecting through virtual platforms with participants like Toni Parago.

Easterseals Supported Employment program has been an essential part of our community, Easterseals participant’s lives, and the companies who benefit from the hard-working employees in the program. Easterseals Supported Employment gives adults with intellectual disabilities, including autism, the choice to experience the community through individualized employment. The program matches participants with jobs in local businesses so they can earn competitive wages with the assistance of job coaching and training.

Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore recently received a grant from DuPont to support its Supported Employment program – a program that opens the door to meaningful work and competitive wages in the community for adults with intellectual disabilities, while providing employers with dedicated, productive employees. Each year, Easterseals partners with over 60 businesses around Delaware to recruit and train individuals with disabilities for their workplace.

Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore recently received a highly sought-after $30,000 Quality of Life grant from The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Easterseals was one of only 17 grantees nationwide awarded funds from this foundation this year. The grant money will be used to install cameras within the Easterseals Resource Center to allow virtual tours for consumers with disabilities, including paralysis, and their caregivers.

Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore is proud to be the first recipient of the Better Business Bureau’s “Thrive Award for Community Impact”, an award to celebrate leaders that embrace diversity and inclusion in their business. Easterseals, a leading provider of services for people with disabilities, earned this award because of its dedication to reflect diversity in its workforce and service recipients, as well as its role in building a more inclusive work environment in businesses across the state through its Supported Employment Program.

Mikayla Buterbaugh, of Newark (formerly of Middletown), recently testified at Delaware’s Joint Finance Budget Hearing sharing her experience with Easterseals and pleading with the committee to ensure fair pay for Direct Support Professionals, who support adults with disabilities like Mikayla.

As part of the observance of the 75th anniversary of Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the organization is celebrating “Direct Support Professional Week” by recognizing stellar Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) with the longest tenure in serving people with disabilities, seniors and their families. The DSPs were identified from each program in Easterseals’ statewide locations.

Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore is celebrating “Direct Support Professional Week” by recognizing several Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) for extraordinary work in supporting people with disabilities. The DSPs were nominated by their supervisors from each program in Easterseals’ statewide locations in Delaware.