Support the Best Life Alliance

The Best Life Alliance is a nonpartisan coalition of more than 130 Minnesota service providers, caregivers, people with disabilities, older adults, family members, and community partners advocating for Home & Community-Based Services.

The Need:

• A 5% increase for Home & Community-Based Services in 2016 is critical to ensure that quality services for 108,000 people with disabilities and older adults in Minnesota remain available, stable, and sustainable.

• Best Life Alliance supporters are leading reforms that promote choice, independence and individualized options for people with disabilities and older adults, including Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan. Achieving these reforms requires a skilled caregiver/Direct Support Professional workforce. Between 2006 and 2015, provider rates that pay for caregiver wages increased only 10.5% while inflation rose 21.0%.

• Funding is needed to address the current statewide workforce crisis with better wages to ensure consistent, quality care so that caregivers and Direct Support Professionals can live their best life too.

• Since Minnesota has reached less than 3% unemployment, providers are under great pressure to staff current services. There are more than 8,700 direct care worker and staff openings in Home & Community-Based Services in Minnesota (HCBS).

• Providers are already working with people they support, advocates, families, state and county agencies, and others to help address the workforce crisis with efficiencies, reforms, technology, unpaid supports and more.