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IDD Leader
For IDD Providers: Tired of the revolving door of staff? Join host Nate Beers as he and other industry leaders share loads of actionable advice on how you can retain and grow your DSP workforce. Just because there's a nationwide DSP workforce crisis doesn't mean that your organization has to churn through staff. Listen to innovative solutions to increase your staff retention and give your organization a competitive advantage so that at the end of the day you provide the best quality care for those you serve.
More effective supervisors. Stronger workforce. Lower turnover.
IDD Leader
Ep. 88 - Every Disability Nonprofit Said No. He Built It Anyway. (w/ Steve Gonyea)
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Most leaders already know they should be listening more. This episode is about what actually happens when someone does.
Steve Gonyea is a parent, foster parent to 178 kids, and one of the most relentlessly solution-oriented advocates in the IDD space. In Part 2 of this conversation, he shares how he went from barely getting five minutes with politicians to one assemblyman clearing his entire afternoon — because Steve was the only person who walked in with solutions instead of complaints.
He also shares how he built a fully operational complex care center in Utica, New York — six days a week, free to the community, built without a single waiver dollar — after every disability nonprofit in the region turned him down. And how he convinced New York State's OPWDD Commissioner to drive across the state at night and sit in a library, listening to eight families she'd never met, until she cried.
The through-line in every story is the same: get out of your office, bring solutions, and listen to the people nobody else is asking. It sounds simple. Steve is proof that it works.
📬 Connect with Steve: steve_gonyea@yahoo.com
🔗 Finding Common Ground Podcast & Projects: fcgadvocacy.org
🔗 Special Needs Resource Directory: specialneeds.help
📥 Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – "You came in with solutions. I want to hear them."
02:20 – How Steve changed his approach to advocacy
05:33 – One-on-one meetings vs. bus trips to Albany
07:40 – Inside the 4-hour meeting with an assemblyman
08:20 – Building the complex care center (when everyone said no)
11:26 – The veterans said yes the next day
14:32 – If you have 70% turnover, the problem isn't the DSPs
18:40 – What Steve would say to a CEO with 5 minutes
22:43 – The OPWDD listening tour — and the commissioner who showed up
29:39 – Get out of your office. Here's what you'll find.
35:09 – Introducing specialneeds.help — a free national directory
Quick Question:
Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead. Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout