HSRI

🎉 Congratulations to HSRI’s Nicole LeBlanc!

🎉 Congratulations to Nicole LeBlanc, recipient of the AAIDD Sesquicentennial Advocacy Award and a Leadership Institute graduate from Winter 2017!

Nicole has dedicated her career to advancing disability rights, promoting self-determination, and ensuring that people with disabilities have a meaningful voice in policy and systems change. In her current roles as Policy Assistant at HSRI and Self-Advocate Advisor at TASH, she continues to champion true inclusion, challenge barriers, and elevate the voices of people with disabilities in advocacy and public policy.

As Nicole shares:

"Nothing About Us Without Us. True inclusion begins when people with disabilities are at every table where decisions are made."

We are proud to celebrate Nicole's leadership, advocacy, and the lasting impact she continues to make across the disability community.

👏 Congratulations, Nicole!

ICYMI: HSRI experts Alixe Bonardi, Dorothy Hiersteiner, and Nicole LeBlanc spoke at the Massachusetts State House for the 2026 Medicaid Summit on June 9. The summit was co-hosted by The Council of State Governments (CSG), the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council, and CSG East. Co-sponsors included members of the Massachusetts Legislature.

Read more > https://ow.ly/fj1N50ZbRJC

2026 Medicaid Summit Held at Massachusetts State House A lock icon ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the official website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Know someone who’d be a great fit for HSRI?

Our Population Health team is growing, and we’re for:
✔️Data Engineer
✔️Project Manager I
✔️Project Manager II

These roles are a chance to do meaningful work that helps improve health care for communities across the country. Please share with your network!

Apply here: https://ow.ly/A3zK50Z7mo5

Join HSRI leaders in a four-part learning collaborative from Northeast Atlantic and Caribbean Hub of CMHIS. This collaborative empowers participants to harness a new "Lived Experiences Engagement Toolkit" to launch high-impact implementation projects in the mental health services sector.

Apply by June 15 👉 https://ow.ly/U2n250Z9U9A

Please note: This experience is designed for 8 to 12 organizational teams. It is being offered to HHS Regions 1 & 2 – ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, NY, RI, NJ, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

Voices into Action: Powering Implementation through Engagement of People with Lived Experience – Learning Collaborative - Center for Mental Health Implementation Support (CMHIS) This event is being offered to HHS Regions 1 & 2 – ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, NY, RI, NJ, Puerto Rico, and the US…

Exciting news — HSRI is !

We’re looking for great people to join our team in these roles:
✅ Data Engineer
✅ Project Manager I
✅ Project Manager II

If mission-driven work, health care impact, and collaboration sound like your kind of thing, check us out or share with someone who’d be a great fit.

👉 Check out the listings and apply: https://ow.ly/zpyQ50Z7m9Y

We’re growing at HSRI!

HSRI is for several exciting roles, including Data Engineer, Project Manager I, and Project Manager II.

If you’re passionate about using data and collaboration to improve health care outcomes, we’d love to hear from you or please share with someone who might be a great fit.

👉 Check out the listings and apply: https://ow.ly/XFXR50Z7m4q

Happy Pride Month!

📣 Registration is now open for the 2026 HCBS Conference!

We are excited to welcome colleagues from across the country to Baltimore this August for a premier gathering focused on advancing home and community-based services. The conference will feature timely sessions, expert-led discussions, and valuable opportunities to collaborate with leaders across aging and disability policy.

Participants are encouraged to register early to take advantage of discounted Early Bird rates, available through June 30. Attendance is expected to reach capacity, and early registration is strongly recommended.

Register today: https://advancingstates.cventevents.com/event/HCBS2026/summary

Did you know that May is ? The direct care workforce is the backbone of the service delivery system that helps older adults and people with disabilities to live in their homes and communities. Over the last several decades, there have been persistent shortages of these essential workers. That’s why we collect data every year as part of the NCI State of the Workforce Aging and Disabilities (NCI SoTW-AD) survey.

In 2024, 7 states participated in the NCI SoTW-AD, and we heard from nearly 1,000 provider agencies employing over 100,000 direct care workers. The majority (8 in 10) are private for-profit provider agencies, and they most frequently provide in-home supports to people with disabilities and older adults.

Stay tuned throughout this week for some of the key takeaways from the report!

HSRI ADvancing States

HSRI offices are closed today in observance of Memorial Day.