Preferred Vendor: AO Strategies

We’ve partnered with national groups to offer exclusive discounts and services to become your FIRST EVER one-stop-shop in community based housing. Our Preferred Vendor Program is the only program in the HCBS service space designed to remove stress from providers and increase the ease of setting up new or existing community-based housing. We don’t just partner with anyone, we thoroughly vet and make sure they believe in the mission and communities they serve. Keep an eye on our blog for a brief look at who our preferred vendors are and what makes them a great option for any provider organization: When Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) established a Final Rule for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), providers were under the gun to make sure their operations were in compliance. With all the federal and local mandates in place, it’s remarkable that providers have managed to adapt, and in some cases thrive, despite all of the different regulations that make it complicated to operate in today’s world. It was in this particular climate that Ann Cameron Williams, Ph.D. realized there would be room to work with organizations that serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to renew and sustain their organizations. In January 2015, she started ao Strategies to work with local, state and national disability organizations to make the world a better place for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some may wonder whether the “ao” is an acronym that carries a deeper meaning and they wouldn’t be off base. The term actually comes from the Japanese word for blue-green, not quite turquoise but neither one or the other. To Ann, blue symbolizes the vision they have to improve the lives of the individuals they serve and green symbolizes the resources it takes to achieve that vision; at ao Strategies, they understand that in order to be successful you cannot have one without the other. The ao Strategies team alliance is made up of 12 experts with years of experience serving the I/DD community, but more important than that, they all share a mission to improve the services for that community. Typically, the team focuses on 3 core areas for helping providers renew and sustain: preparing organizations for the HCBS Final Rule, developing staff and leadership, and generating revenue either with unrestricted funds or programmatic funds. Ann has the unique viewpoint of how a provider’s decisions trickle down to the families with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Her mission is crafted around her real life connection with the community and helping providers create a better world for the I/DD community.

“Our work is incredibly satisfying…especially when, I’ve been at the national scene for 10-12 years and what I really appreciate about the kind of work we’re doing is that I get to see the innovation and genius of local providers - local organizations - as they try to work with the system we’ve created. I don’t think I have the courage it takes to be an Executive Director for a provider agency these days, that’s how monumental the challenges they face are. It’s so satisfying for us to provide some relief for these organizations. Even when it’s just a small project, I know that we’re helping them manage change and advance their organization in really tough times. I wake up every morning and love what I do."

Learn more about our Preferred Vendors Program another value added from CapGrow Partners.