The Homecare Sector of the healthcare system includes direct care services. The field of independent living and direct care faces growing challenges. Millions of individuals with disabilities and older adults rely on direct care workers and caregivers to assist help them live safely and independently. At the same time, there is a growing severe shortage of trained staff overall in the direct care workforce, which puts all who rely upon direct care services their safety and freedom at risk for their health, well-being, safety and freedom to live independently.

Throughout the United States of America, Many organizations and policymakers struggle to address this problem due to the need to invest in understanding the gaps within the homecare sector of the healthcare system. Today, the direct care systems are in great need for addressing complexities and gaps that place all at risk who oversee, provide, deliver, support and receive direct care services in place were never designed to handle such complexity.

This is why strong, thoughtful leadership is so important. Leaders who understand both the human, policy and systemic dynamics sides of the crisis are rare. Jesse Bethke Gomez, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living, is one of them. He has dedicated his career to ensuring that human dignity is central at the center of to every decision. His work focuses on reshaping policies, improving systems, and building communities where independence is not a privilege but a right.

Yet he also recognizes the importance of the adage “Nothing about us without us,” which means the constancy of input, guidance and involvement from people with disabilities is vitally important in his work to address policy, system and service barriers that impede independent living for people living with disabilities.

In an industry facing urgent challenges, leaders like Jesse are essential. They turn awareness into action and create solutions that protect people and strengthen society.

A Journey Shaped by Society, Law, and Humanity

As a Chief Executive Officer, Jesse Bethke Gomez attributes his leadership development to rigorous education and applied experience. Through graduate and post-graduate studies, he learned that leadership requires an understanding of the nature of society itself. He begins with a sociological premise that the primary human organization is not government but the family. Where the family goes, society soon follows.

Children absorb the aspirations and values of their parents. When parents nurture love, sensitivity, and care, children form the majority of their beliefs by the age of six. This realization shaped Jesse’s lifelong question. Why does society support the family? The answer, he believes, lies in the understanding that the primary social organization for a society is in fact the family system. Therefore, a society must place within its constitution its laws, its culture and commitment to advance the wellbeing of families, children, and individuals is vital not only for communities but for society as a whole, and the world overall.

His study of history led him to constitutional frameworks rooted in natural law. These immutable laws recognize inalienable rights to such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Bethke Gomez also believes that it is self-evident that human dignity is equally endowed in every person throughout the world, throughout all time.

These natural laws serve as the basis for how a society forms its constitution. Jesse frequently references the Constitution of the United States of America, and also Article I of the Minnesota Constitution, which states that government is instituted for the security, benefit, and protection of the people. For him, this is not symbolic language. It is the basis for the rule of law.

Before becoming a CEO, Jesse worked with the American Red Cross, part of a global humanitarian enterprise guided by International Humanitarian Law. The Red Cross and Red Crescent operate under seven principles: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary service, Unity, and Universality. These principles became embedded in his leadership ethos.

His leadership philosophy was further shaped by deeply personal influence. His mother, Irene Gomez Bethke, who serves as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, often reminded him that all humanity is one race. The human race. As Homo Sapiens, our human nature is one and the same and thusly, life journey is universal for all. This belief continues to inform Jesse’s approach to equity, dignity, and justice.

Confronting the Direct Care Crisis

Metropolitan Center for Independent Living is the third organization that Jesse Bethke Gomez has led as Chief Executive Officer. He began his leadership at MCIL more than ten years ago. Soon after he started, leaders from the disability community approached him with a serious warning. They spoke about a growing crisis that was already affecting daily life. There were not enough direct care workers to support people with disabilities. Many individuals depend on direct care services to eat, move, work, and live safely.

What first appeared as concern quickly became a confirmed reality. Jesse attended many statewide meetings where the issue was openly discussed. He also joined national conversations focused on the same problem. These meetings shared data, projections, and policy challenges. However, the most important learning came from listening directly to people with disabilities. They described disrupted routines, unsafe conditions, and loss of independence. Their stories showed how deeply the shortage was affecting real lives.

Over time, Jesse understood that this was not only a workforce issue. It was also a civil rights issue. The shortage threatened constitutional rights to security, benefit, and protection. Without reliable care, people could not fully exercise their freedom or choices. This understanding shaped MCIL’s response and priorities.

MCIL’s mission is to advance independent living for people with disabilities. The organization works to remove barriers and promote informed choice. This mission is carried out on two connected levels. First, MCIL directly supports families, children, and individuals. These services include people with apparent and non-apparent disabilities. Support is personalized and grounded in respect.

Second, MCIL works to change systems that create exclusion. The organization addresses structural barriers within service delivery. Human dignity is treated as a required standard, not an optional value. Policies, programs, and partnerships are shaped around this principle.

Independent living at MCIL is based on a clear belief. People with disabilities hold inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. MCIL promotes self-determination, equal opportunity, and full community participation. Accessible integration is not viewed as a benefit. It is recognized as a fundamental right.

This commitment continues to guide leadership decisions, advocacy efforts, and long-term planning across communities, ensuring stability, dignity, and choice for future generations nationwide.

Education as a Foundation for Executive Excellence

As CEO, Jesse carries responsibility across all functional areas of the organization. He believes a chief executive must understand how every system connects. This includes accounting and fiscal policy. It also includes human resources and talent development. Information technology is another critical area. Operations and service delivery require daily attention. Marketing and communications shape trust and visibility. Regulatory compliance protects the organization and its people. For Jesse, leadership is not abstract. It is practical, visible, and accountable. Decisions must support staff, clients, and long-term stability.

Jesse explains that formal education creates a strong base. An MBA offers structure and core management tools. However, he believes executive development prepares leaders for real complexity. Leading large organizations requires judgment, emotional discipline, and strategic clarity. These qualities grow through experience and advanced learning. His own development reflects this belief in preparation.

He was awarded a national presidential scholarship. The selection was made by Elizabeth Dole. At that time, Dole served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross. The scholarship allowed Jesse to attend the Minnesota Executive Program for Advanced Strategic Leadership. This program was hosted by the University of Minnesota. The experience strengthened his understanding of governance, strategy, and responsibility at the highest level.

Jesse is also a national Kellogg Fellow in Public Health Leadership. This fellowship was completed through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The program focused on systems thinking and public service impact. It challenged leaders to act with integrity and long-term vision. It also emphasized collaboration across sectors.

Together, these experiences shaped Jesse’s leadership approach. He believes growth is a continuous obligation. Leaders must study, reflect, and adapt. They must remain grounded while guiding others through change. For Jesse, responsibility is earned daily through discipline, learning, and service.

He expects the same commitment from his leadership team. Clear roles support effective execution. Clear values guide difficult decisions. Jesse encourages transparency at every level. He believes communication reduces risk and builds confidence. Accountability is shared, not avoided. When challenges arise, he focuses on solutions. He listens carefully before acting. This approach strengthens culture. It also ensures the organization remains resilient, ethical, and prepared for future demands and sustained success.

A Crisis Decades in the Making

The direct care crisis is one of the most serious humanitarian challenges facing civil society today. It affects people with disabilities, older adults, families, and entire communities. Jesse came to understand this crisis through close observation and lived experience. He learned that many policies shaping daily life for these groups have not changed since 1983. This discovery revealed how deeply outdated the system has become.

One of the most harmful examples is the asset limit rule. For certain federal and state services individuals are restricted to two thousand dollars in assets. Couples are limited to three thousand dollars. These figures have never been adjusted for inflation or the rising cost of living since the laws were enacted in 1983. As a result, people are forced to remain poor in order to receive essential care. Saving money, planning for emergencies, or building long-term security becomes nearly impossible.

For Jesse, he sees this astonishing 40 plus year fixed asset frozen in policy and time as an indicator of a deeper crisis, a humanity crisis.

These static policies block stability. They erode personal dignity. They create fear around earning, saving, or accepting help from family. Over time, these pressures compound and trap people in cycles of dependency. Jesse questioned how such conditions were allowed to continue for decades. His conclusion was clear. There is a lack of systems-level accountability. There is also a lack of moral urgency in policy making.

The crisis goes far beyond workforce shortages in direct care. It spreads into healthcare access, safe housing, employment opportunities, and community participation. When direct care is unavailable or unstable, every part of life becomes harder to manage. Medical appointments are missed. Jobs are lost. Social isolation increases. Families carry overwhelming emotional and financial strain.

Without reliable direct care, individuals cannot fully exercise their rights. Individuals cannot engage equally in society. Independence becomes fragile and conditional. Jesse recognized that this is not a marginal issue. It is a structural failure with human consequences. Addressing it requires modernized policies, accountability at every level, and a renewed commitment to dignity. Until these changes occur, the direct care crisis will continue to limit lives and weaken the moral foundation of civil society.

The challenge demands leadership that listens to affected communities and acts decisively. Real reform must be measured by improved lives, not reports. Jesse believes lasting change begins when care is treated as a shared responsibility, not a hidden cost, for everyone involved.

Self-Awareness as the Foundation of Leadership

Jesse’s leadership philosophy is grounded in natural law, constitutional responsibility, and socio emotional intelligence. He views leadership as an internal discipline before it becomes a public role. For him, leadership always begins with self awareness. A leader must understand personal values, emotional responses, and decision patterns. Without this foundation, authority becomes unstable and short sighted. Jesse believes that clarity within the individual shapes clarity within institutions.

Research conducted by Tor Dahl supports this view. His work demonstrated that socio emotional intelligence has a direct effect on organizational performance. Teams led by emotionally aware leaders show stronger trust, higher engagement, and better outcomes. Jesse applies this research in practice. He treats leadership assessment as an ongoing responsibility. For him, reflection and learning never end. Leadership is not a fixed skill. It is a lifelong commitment to improvement.

His philosophy was further shaped by his work with Dr. Edwards Deming. Training with Deming exposed him to systems thinking and performance measurement. He learned how outcomes are influenced by structure, process, and leadership disposition. Deming’s approach taught him to identify true drivers of success rather than surface level results. These lessons became essential as he worked within complex service delivery systems. He learned that fixing isolated problems rarely produces lasting change. Sustainable improvement requires understanding the whole system.

Tor Dahl’s work world-wide discovered that countries with the highest levels of productivity as indicated by per capita income, have the highest presence of the following three dynamics all at the same time namely, freedom, safety and fairness. At the center of Jesse’s philosophy includes a is a firm belief in freedom, safety, and fairness. He sees these principles as inseparable. When one is weakened, the others also suffer. Productivity does not grow in environments of fear or injustice. Prosperity cannot last without trust and stability. Jesse believes that people perform best when they feel safe, are assured fairness respected, and free to contribute.

He applies this belief to organizations and to society as a whole. Systems that protect freedom, ensure safety, and uphold fairness create stronger outcomes. They support innovation, accountability, and shared responsibility. Societies built on these principles achieve a higher quality of life. They also build sustainable economies that endure over time. Jesse’s leadership philosophy is therefore both practical and principled. It connects humanity human behavior, system design, and moral responsibility into one coherent framework. It guides his decisions, his mentoring approach, and his commitment to building institutions that serve people responsibly and ethically.

Mentorship as a Catalyst for Growth and Accountability

Throughout his professional journey, Jesse has served on more than forty two boards, commissions, and panels across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Each role was a learning opportunity for exposed him to different leadership styles, governance structures, and community ourcomes expectations. These experiences strengthened his belief that effective leadership depends on time-honoured principles such as cooperation and collaboration for the greater good and the common good for all. rather than control. Working with diverse groups taught him the importance of listening carefully, building consensus, and sharing responsibility for outcomes.

At MCIL, Jesse brings these lessons into everyday practice. He works to create an environment where respect guides every interaction. Team members are encouraged to speak openly, ask questions, and contribute ideas without fear. Learning is treated as a continuous process that evolves with experience. Jesse believes growth happens when people feel supported and trusted.

Errors are addressed constructively and used as learning moments.
Leadership development at MCIL is intentionally inclusive. Jesse does not reserve leadership training for executives or senior managers. He believes leadership skills should be developed at every level of the organization. Employees are encouraged to take ownership of their work and understand the impact of their decisions. Reflection is promoted as a daily habit, helping individuals align actions with values.

Mentorship plays a central role in sustaining this culture. Jesse invests time in guiding others through clear expectations and honest feedback. He listens closely and adapts his support to individual needs. By helping people recognize their strengths and responsibilities, he builds confidence and accountability. This approach strengthens teams, supports long term stability, and reinforces a shared sense of purpose across the organization. Through consistent mentorship and shared accountability, Jesse ensures that values are practiced, not just stated.

Teams learn to collaborate across roles and departments. This structure promotes clarity, trust, and resilience. Over time, individuals grow into thoughtful leaders who understand responsibility, service, and impact. The result is an organization that remains adaptable while staying grounded in mission, ethics, and collective commitment to progress forward.

Achievement in Transforming Direct Care

Under Jesse’s leadership, MCIL secured a two point one million dollar grant to address the national direct care crisis. This funding recognized the urgency of the problem and the strength of MCIL’s vision. The initiative focuses on improving the lives of individuals who depend on direct care services every day. It also supports the workers who provide this essential care. The solution developed by MCIL is designed to be scalable. It can be adopted across the United States and adapted for global use.

MCIL began by conducting a detailed study of both the medical and homecare sectors. The organization examined how workforce structures function in each system. In the medical sector, Certified Nursing Assistants play an interoperable role. Their credentials are widely recognized. They allow workers to move across settings and advance professionally. This structure also supports better compensation and clearer career pathways.

In contrast, the homecare sector lacked a comparable, standardized credential. Direct care workers often performed complex and demanding tasks without formal recognition. Career growth was limited. Wages remained low. MCIL identified this gap as a core reason for workforce instability and high turnover.

To address this challenge, MCIL created a college credit based curriculum. This curriculum leads to the Certified Direct Support Professional credential. The program establishes a clear professional standard for direct care work. It also aligns education with real-world skills and responsibilities.

This innovation seeks to connect professional recognition with competitive compensation. It creates pathways for career mobility and long-term growth. It changes how direct care work is perceived and valued. Most importantly, it elevates the dignity of the workforce while improving the quality of care. This achievement represents a fundamental shift in the future of direct care systems.

Building Stronger Communities Together

Jesse envisions a future where direct care systems create stability for individuals, families, and entire communities. In this future, care is not fragmented or reactive. Instead, it is consistent, coordinated, and grounded in human dignity. People are supported not only in moments of crisis, but throughout their daily lives.

This vision is guided by the seven life sustaining dimensions developed by MCIL. These dimensions form a clear and practical framework for community wellbeing. They include food security, safe and stable housing, accessible healthcare, responsive human services, quality education, meaningful employment, and strong community connectedness. Each dimension represents a basic need that every person must have met in order to live with security and purpose.

MCIL believes these dimensions cannot be addressed in isolation. When services operate in silos, individuals often fall through the gaps. Needs overlap, and progress in one area depends on stability in another. By addressing all seven dimensions together, MCIL promotes a holistic approach to care.

This integrated model strengthens not only individuals, but also families, communities and society and neighborhoods. It encourages collaboration across systems and institutions. Ultimately, it shifts the focus from managing problems to building resilient, connected, and healthy communities for the long term. This model recognizes that when a community or a society invests in the stability of families, children, individuals and older adults, the result is that there is an increase in social connectedness, vibrancy of communities which are necessary for advancing a sustainable economy.

This framework allows for the interaction between a society committed to a constitutional framework, the rule of law and the prevalence of freedom safety and fairness that recognizes the inalienable rights of life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness along with human dignity of humanity.

Leadership Guided by Dignity

For emerging leaders, Jesse emphasizes the importance of education as a lifelong responsibility. Learning does not end with a degree or a title. Leaders must stay curious and open to new ideas. Education builds perspective and helps leaders make informed decisions.
The fruition of leadership conscientiousness is the humility, honour, consideration and courage to be of service to humanity. True leaders understand that they do not have all the answers. They listen carefully, respect different viewpoints, and learn from others. Conscientiousness allows leaders to grow and adapt in changing environments.

Jesse also stresses the value of lifelong learning. The world is constantly evolving, and leadership must evolve with it. Continuous learning helps leaders stay relevant and effective. It also strengthens their ability to serve others with clarity and purpose.

Leadership, in his view, requires the constancy of strategic reflection and action. Leaders must bring a systems understanding of how a society cares for its people and be willing to overcome barriers to better serve the greater good and common good for all question outdated systems and challenge practices that no longer serve people. This requires a leadership disposition of courage must be balanced with discipline and sustained hope. Systemic change to better serve families, children, individuals and older adults takes time, effort, and consistency. Quick fixes rarely lead to lasting impact.

He encourages emerging leaders to see societal challenges through the lens of the inalienable rights and dignity endowed in all humanity. Every decision affects real people. Leaders have the opportunity lead for the greater good for all to should recognize shared humanity and to act with empathy and fairness. When conscientiousness to the dignity of all humanity guides leadership, solutions become more expansive for everyone, responsible, and meaningful.

Shaping a Future Where Independent Living is a Right

Jesse Bethke Gomez defines legacy through impact, not personal achievement. He does not measure success by titles, recognition, or individual milestones. Instead, he measures it by the lasting good created for society. For him, true legacy is reflected in advancing the ability of people in a society to care for one another. He believes this capacity is the highest and most ennobling value of any civilization.

A key ingredient of his work is the assessment and requirement of the presence of belief that human dignity must be treated as a systems requirement of a society, not an optional ideal. He understands that lasting change cannot depend on goodwill alone. It must be built into policies, structures, and institutions. When dignity is designed into systems, it becomes durable, protected, accessible and harmonized for all by all.

Jesse’s leadership is grounded in constitutional principles and a deep respect for universal humanity. He views freedom, safety, and fairness as interconnected responsibilities rather than abstract concepts. These values guide his approach to decision-making and system redesign. They ensure that solutions are not only effective but also just.

His work focuses on reshaping how society supports individuals who rely on direct care and essential services. He challenges models that create dependency or exclusion. In their place, he advocates for systems that enable autonomy, stability, and respect.

Through this vision, Jesse is helping to redefine what progress truly means. He is shaping a future of healthcare in the homecare sector whereby independent living is not seen as a privilege reserved for a few. It is recognized as a fundamental right that strengthens families, communities, and society as a whole.

Read more stories like this at Elite Success