ECP Blog: Sometimes You Just Have to Close Your Eyes and Jump
August 24, 2011
http://www.aucdecp.org/2011/08/sometimes-you-just-have-to-close-your.html
When I was asked to write this piece, I wondered what I had to offer early career professionals - I am still one, I think. Or at least I am in Part Two of my career. Regardless, here's my story along with my two cents.
I'll start with my story...In the early 2000s, I was working at a community-based organization in the western suburbs of Chicago that provides supports and services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. My boss at the time, David, initiated our organization's involvement in the Illinois Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative, a three-year systems change project funded by the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities involving a partnership between the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration, the Institute on Disability and Human Development (IDHD) at the University of Chicago (UIC), and Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). David approached me and told me that there was a meeting at the UIC he wanted me to attend with our human resources manager. I was wary of being involved, mainly because I didn't know what it was. I asked, "Do I have to?" to which he answered, "Yes". I didn't know it then, but my life was about to change drastically...