Due to the government shutdown, updates to information on this website may be limited or delayed. State Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) continue to operate. Continue to work with the programs in your state to access coverage. For more information about government operating status, visit OPM.gov.

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The DSW Core Competency Project

Between 2011 and 2014, the National Direct Service Workforce* Resource Center (DSW RC) researched, developed, and validated a set of core competencies for the direct service workforce*.  The DSW RC completed the work in three phases, which are described below.

* Note that the term direct care workforce (DCW) is also referred to as direct service workforce (DSW).  Different terms are used by different entities and we use the terms synonymously.