About Maine PASA

What is Maine PASA's mission?

The Maine Personal Assistance Services Association is committed to the development of all professional personal assistance workers in order to enhance the quality of life and independence of all Maine people.

How is Maine PASA funded?

Maine PASA is a private non-profit organization that is funded by the dues and contributions paid by our members and supporters, as well as by the generosity of foundations and public contracts. At this time, our funding sources include:

Direct Care Alliance (DCA) - The Direct Care Alliance is a national, practitioner-based coalition of long-term care consumers, direct-care workers, and concerned healthcare providers who are working together to pursue the goal of broad-based reforms within both public policy and healthcare industry practice in order to ensure a stable, valued, and well-trained direct-care workforce that can meet consumers' demands for high-quality paraprofessional healthcare services.

Jane's Trust - Jane's Trust is particularly interested in organizations and projects which primarily benefit underserved populations and disadvantaged communities. The Trust supports collaborations among nonprofit organizations and welcomes collaborative applications. The funding that Maine PASA has received from Jane's Trust is part of a collaborative effort with the Direct Care Alliance and the Vermont Association of Professional Care Providers. (VAPCP)

Maine Women's Fund - The Maine Women's Fund envisions political, economic and social equality for women and girls in Maine. Grants are awarded to those organizations that support their core values, some of which are:

• A commitment to bold, creative, and strategic action that empowers Maine women and girls
• We value promoting systemic change that establishes women and girls as full participants in every area of society
• We value serving as a model for women's and girls' leadership and governance based on openness, active participation, inclusiveness, and consensus.

Maine Initiatives - Maine Initiatives focuses on awarding grants to organizations that concentrate on cultivating social, economic, and environmental justice through their efforts. Maine Initiatives not only provides funding, but provides a range of other supportive services to its grantees that work within Maine communities.

Maine PASA is dedicated to pursuing funding that will enable us to continue our support, advocacy, and educational efforts on behalf of Maine's direct support and personal assistance professionals.

History and Accomplishments

In 1999 in a lawsuit commonly known as the Olmstead decision, the Supreme Court decided that individuals with a disability have the right to live in the least restrictive environment available, and to receive the services needed to support their community living. In response to the Olmstead decision, in 2001, the Maine Work Group for Community Based Living was brought together to review Maine's community based service system. The goal of this group was to identify areas in which supports were inconsistently available, or were inaccessible to people with disabilities; this work was supported by a Real Systems Change Grant provided to Maine by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. (CMS)

One of the key findings of the Work Group was the importance of the role of the personal assistance worker in helping individuals with disabilities to remain in the community. Personal Assistance workers were identified as a critical support service in every aspect of independent living, and the challenges in recruitment and retention were a major concern. The Real Choices Grant was a timely opportunity to identify and demonstrate ways for addressing these findings. The goal of the grant was to support the development of a Personal Assistance Workers Guild that would be worker directed. Ultimately the Guild would provide benefits, support, continuing education, and advocacy for its members.

Since that time support for Maine PASA has grown out of the common concern about the availability and quality of the workforce, and the quality of the jobs that deliver services to Maine's elders and individuals with disabilities. The four year CMS grant supported Maine PASA in its earliest stages of as it became self governing and operational as a non-profit organization.

By 2005 Maine PASA was ready and able to represent itself and its members in numerous activities designed to provide continuing support, education, and advocacy for its members by hiring its first Executive Director in January 2005. The ongoing development of our website has provided an information resource for our members, and for people who are interested in direct care employment. Over 800 members of PASA, representing workers, employers, consumers, policy makers, and supporters, receive PASA's newsletters, attend their Annual Conferences, participate in its Leadership Council and Membership Committees, and serve on the Board of Directors. Maine PASA partners with the Direct Care Alliance and the Paraprofessional Health Institute to work on national programs such as Health Care for Health Care Workers, Quality Jobs/Quality Care, and other initiatives that affect the direct care and personal assistance workforce. In the state of Maine we take an active role in the Elder Issues Partnership, the Direct Care Workers Coalition, the Home Care and Hospice Alliance, and other state based agencies and organizations. Wherever there are concerns or issues that affect the direct care workforce, Maine PASA is represented and actively involved. And as awareness grows of the importance of the work done by direct care and personal assistance staff, there is an increasing recognition of the professional nature of these jobs. Maine PASA will continue to work with employers and policy makers to support the promotion of professional development as an important long term plan for ensuring quality care and quality jobs.

In our future we see opportunities to continue efforts to improve the wages and benefits for the direct care and personal assistance workforce. We will also be working to support and improve training opportunities, expand Chapter meetings to all of Maine, and bring increased value to our members as we expand our membership across the state. And as we have grown we have been actively reviewing what we do to make sure that our actions and our mission work together.

If you are interested in learning more about us, we have an illustrated history of Maine PASA available for you to review.