Each year, we honor direct support professionals (DSPs) from across the state for their exceptional service on behalf of people with disabilities.
This year’s honorees go beyond the call of duty to support the people they serve. Their accomplishments range from designing programs to help people with disabilities interact with active-duty military members, to improving medical outcomes for individuals they serve, to purchasing adaptive instruments and expanding access to music opportunities.
2024 Outstanding Direct Support Professionals
Travis Reinhart
WACOSA - Waite Park, MN
Travis has worked tirelessly to provide community enrichment outings for the people with disabilities he works with at WACOSA. These outings include a program he developed called “Project Camp Ripley.” After extensive research and time spent connecting with military workers from Camp Ripley, Travis was able to set up tours for everyone, allowing them to visit the base and pay tribute to military professionals. Over the past two years, Travis has planned four visits to Camp Ripley, which include between 15 and 20 people per tour. Through this experience, everyone has been able to learn about the origins of the United States Military, the various Military Branches, and what it means to serve. These experiences have given them a sense of gratitude for all those who serve, as well as a better understanding of how the Military represents this country.
William (Billy) Lackey
MSS - Eagan, MN
Billy has vastly expanded music opportunities for the people he serves at MSS. While also pursuing a master's degree in music therapy, he researched and purchased adapted instruments and assistive technology that enabled independent participation for individuals with disabilities. He also created communication tools that fostered authentic engagement, worked with small groups, facilitated large jam sessions, and planned agency-wide, music-making events that brought people together. With a grant from the City of Eagan, he is coordinating a community music event at a local bandshell.
When not planning music events, Billy meets monthly with people served by MSS, and together they develop an event schedule, filling it with programs, projects, and trips. He ensures this information is accessible to everyone by posting program plans daily in words and images and creating a daily recording of the information on a touch-button speech generating device. Billy also supports all trips in the community, whether he participates or not, by creating checklists, packing the bags, printing the tickets and maps, and even gassing the buses.
Rose Bispo
Cottonwood County DAC - Windom, MN
Rose’s colleagues describe her as the ideal, person-centered DSP. She regularly goes above and beyond for the people she serves. For example, she helped launch an exercise group for people in the program, starting it from scratch. Now, more than 20 people exercise twice a week. One of the individuals she supports is deaf. Rose learned to sign and is able to communicate well with him. Another person she supports loves to shoot pool. Rose got him a membership at the Senior Center and now he goes twice a month with two of his coworkers, who also got memberships. An individual she works with needed to lower his A1C. She helped keep him active, going on up to 7-mile bike rides and doing strength training with him. Rose truly loves the work she does and gives of herself every day.
Beth Wilke
Rise - Fridley, MN
Beth Wilke's work with Rise continually impacts both those she supports and the organizations she collaborates with. Beth began her journey at Rise's Spring Lake Park location supporting individuals receiving prevocational services. She excelled at connecting with people who had only worked in center-based settings, and her support prepared them for Rise's transition to community employment. She now supports a crew at Brooklyn Tool, Inc. (BTI) in Fridley. Beth ensures her team is never surprised by deadlines, and she helps them stay on top of deliverables. She also makes time to celebrate their achievements and helps them understand how their job impacts BTI's overall business.
Beth is extremely person-centered, and she develops a strong rapport with each person she supports and plans or creates experiences for each individual. She meets people where they are and prioritizes solutions over problems. A notable example of Beth's dedication is when she began supporting a person who is deafblind and uses tactile American Sign Language (ASL). Beth learned ASL and tactile ASL to better support this person. Beyond her direct support roles, Beth also serves as a mentor to new Direct Support Professionals.
Congratulations to the 2024 Outstanding DSPs!
To view corresponding photos, click here.
