MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – Sixteen students who completed the first offering of SUNY Orange’s Direct Support Professional 1 (DSP-1) microcredential program were honored at an August ceremony in the Rowley Center for Science and Engineering on the College’s Middletown campus.

The event celebrated the students’ completion of the program, as well as their having earned a National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals competencies e-badge.

The SUNY Orange Direct Support Professional (DSP-1 and DSP-2) microcredentials are offered through a special grant program in collaboration with the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), and the State University of New York (SUNY).

The microcredential is designed to help Direct Support Professionals serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities enhance their careers and skills. The necessary competencies and academic foundation for obtaining NADSP Level I and II comprise the core of the offerings. In support of this online, highly interactive, and hands-on sequence, the College can provide full funding for tuition, fees, books, course materials, and NADSP credentialing.

SUNY Orange Provost Dr. Hackman offered opening remarks, followed by Assemblyman Chris Eachus, Ryan Cox (Director of Workforce Development & Talent Acquisition, Division of Administration, NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities), Cynthia Proctor (Director of Communications and Academic Policy Development, Office of the Provost, The State University of New York), and Christine Smallin (Director of Developmental Disabilities for Orange County Department of Mental Health) who congratulated the students.

The College welcomed 26 new students to the DSP-1 microcredential for the Fall 2024 semester, while the DSP-2 program will continue with 15 of the original DSP-1 students. Most students are from Access, The Arc Greater Hudson Valley, Inspire, Independent Living, The Center for Discovery, and OPWDD.

For more information on the DSP microcredentials at SUNY Orange, please contact Nolly Climes, SUNY Orange human services coordinator, at nolly.climes@sunyornage.edu or (845) 341-4139, or visit www.sunyorange.edu/microcredentials.