Heather Barcikowski
National Workforce Consultant
Email: barcik01@umn.edu
Address: Institute on Community Integration, MIDB, 2025 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Heather Barcikowski provides technical assistance, workforce consultation, data analysis and training focused on strengthening the state of the direct support workforce who provide community-based support to individuals with disabilities. She provides organization and employer level consultation, training, and technical assistance and engages in policy and advocacy work at the state level to help address current workforce challenges. She is particularly passionate about collecting and using data to inform the implementation of workforce strategies to improve the stability of the DSP workforce, and supports the SupportWise data portal solution. Heather began her career as a direct support professional and has over a decade of experience supporting individuals with disabilities as an occupational therapist. Her background and expertise are primarily in the areas of home and community-based supports, clinics and hospitals, and the education settings. Heather earned a master’s degree in occupational therapy from St Catherine University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of St Thomas.