At the Council on Quality and Leadership’s (CQL) 2025 “Go the Distance” conference in Philadelphia, AHRC Nassau team members contributed to national discussions on advancing person-centered excellence. The annual conference brought together service providers, advocates, and organizational leaders from across the country to explore disability justice, shared learning, and the long-term impact of CQL accreditation on services and partnerships.
CQL Certified Trainer Susan Gill Orange and Bridget Cariello, Assistant Director of Project Development and Personal Outcome Measures® (POM) Team Leader, represented AHRC Nassau and presented “Using Data to Strategically Plan Your Year: A Review of Themes, Initiatives and Indicators.” Their session focused on how AHRC Nassau uses real-time POM data to understand What Matters Most to each person supported and to guide organizational planning. What Matters Most is a central concept in the POM framework, emphasizing that meaningful supports are defined by each person’s goals, values, and choices—not by program structures or assumptions.
When trend data identifies an area where people could be better supported, AHRC responds with targeted, person-driven initiatives. For example, when POM data highlighted “choosing services” as an area of growth, the POM team developed coordinated education and advocacy efforts. These included incorporating choice-making into the annual POM Rally, expanding rights-based learning through The Compass Team’s Rights Rally, and launching the Voice for Choice training series. People with lived experience played a key role in these efforts, sharing firsthand perspectives on the services they use, what they value, and how to request changes when needs or goals evolve.
The AHRC Nassau team also participated in networking sessions with organizations that have achieved CQL’s Person-Centered Excellence with Distinction designation. These conversations led to plans for a collaborative panel discussion to share practical strategies for using data to shape meaningful supports.
The strong interest in AHRC Nassau’s approach reaffirmed its role as a leader in advancing person-centered practices and promoting outcomes defined by each person’s vision for their own life.