State organization lobbies lawmakers to increase pay for direct support professionals

By Kelly Roberts February 24, 2020 MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Some of Tennessee’s most vulnerable people rely on direct support professionals or DSPs to care for them every day. DSPs care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and most of them do not get paid more than $10 an hour. Sometimes the love for a job can make up for poor pay. “I love her to death,” Betty Mitchell said about her DSP. “She’s like a big aunt,” DSP Tanya Lee said about Mitchell. But Lee is still scraping by. Read More