Kaitlyn Allen was awarded this year’s Employee of the Year award for her empathy, excitement, and passion for our mission. She is known for being an advocate for those we support and embodying our person-centered approach to ensure we offer the highest quality of support. Kaitlyn’s dedication to our mission is exactly why she has been nominated as one of the 2021 Arc Angels.
The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic put Kaitlyn’s regular position with our Community Partners Program on hold when safety concerns led to the program’s temporary suspension. However, she rolled with the changes and helped to meet the need of our Community Living program as an essential employee and continued in that role for over one year until her position with Community Partners was available again.
Kaitlyn’s Supervisor, Sarah Ortiz-Brown, writes, “Kaitlyn returned to Community Partners after being with Community Living for over one year. Kaitlyn immediately began to identify community resources and reestablish contacts. As new team members were hired, Kaitlyn was identified as the peer-trainer and quickly demonstrated her initiative. She began identifying future small groups using a person-centered approach and shared her personal experiences and knowledge to ensure groups could engage in meaningful activities. Kaitlyn asked about growth opportunities in the department and indicated she wanted to be considered for a Lead position. Once she was provided with the job description and requirements, she went above and beyond and obtained her DSP II and DSP III simultaneously.”
Kaitlyn is now the Community Partners Lead Coach, with a Direct Support Professional class three certification. Kaitlyn is empowering people with differing abilities to live, work and thrive in the community. Congratulations to Kaitlyn on being our first Arc Angel for the 2021 Holiday Season!
The Arc NCR needs your support to continue empowering people to live, work and thrive in the community. Unfortunately, only a portion of The Arc NCR’s funding comes from the state and government. Your generous support is critically important to the success of our programs. Help us support people with differing abilities in our local community by clicking here to donate. Check out all of our Arc Angel stories so far by clicking here!