Program areas at ANCOR
Government relations and public policy: ancor's government relations team works to strengthen the ability of disability providers to deliver high-quality services by promoting the adoption of sensible public policy at the federal level. Together with a member-driven government relations committee, the government relations team builds the association's relationships with congress, federal agencies, the white house, and other national policy organizations. In 2023, ancor's government relations function was responsible for guiding ancor members to adapt to the end of the covid-19 public health emergency, analyzing and mobilizing stakeholder engagement around the centers for medicare & medicaid services' proposed access rule, analyzing and mobilizing stakeholder engagement around the u.s. department of labor's proposed overtime rule, and more.
Communications: in 2023, ancor's communications efforts grew the association in terms of size and stature, including reaching 2,100 organizations that call themselves member of the association. The communications program is vital to enhancing ancor's visibility and credibility in traditional and digital media, and to raising the profile of key issues facing ancor members, most notably the direct support workforce crisis. The communications program accomplished these objectives through digital marketing on ancor's websites and social media sites, through email marketing, and through a number of member engagement vehicles, such as the ancor connected Community.
Membership services: ancor staff builds members' capacity through peer networking, technical assistance, virtual and in-person trainings, and speaking engagements on a range of topics from national industry trends to regulatory issues to business acumen. Members contribute their expertise and develop their leadership capacity by serving on boards and committees that govern the association. Members also have the opportunity to secure discounts on key products and services through ancor's national partners program and to post or find employment openings on the ancor job board.
Conferences: each year, ancor hosts an annual conference and an annual policy summit & hill day. The 2023 annual conference was the first in the association's history to reach sold-out status, garnering 950+ participants from across the country at our april gathering in chicago. The annual conference showcased best practices, product innovations and more. The 2023 policy summit & hill day, hosted steps from capitol hill, also reached sold-out status. About 250 disability services professionals spent a day learning about key federal policy developments before taking their message to capitol hill for more than 200 advocacy visits with members of congress and their staff.
Publications: ancor offers its members and other advocates a wide array of publications, both in the form of signature research and recurring periodicals. Each week, members receive capitol correspondence, a weekly roundup of information about our federal policy priorities; stateside report, a weekly digest of policy developments in the states; and the weekly update, a roundup of upcoming events, opportunities and more. On a monthly basis, ancor releases connections, a newsletter that includes content authored by ancor staff, members, and partners. In april, ancor launched a new bimonthly newsletter, industry insights, which offers information about industry trends related to managed care, mergers and acquisitions, and more. On the research front, ancor published the case for inclusion 2023 and the state of america's direct support workforce crisis 2023, both of which equip advocates with data and stories that make the case for deeper investments in community-based disability services. Ancor also published value over volume, a white paper focused on payment model reforms in Community i/dd services. and for the first time in 2023, offered a ceo compensation study specific to the i/dd field.