Finding Family at Dungarvin-ACI: Kia Dark, Director of IDD Services

North Carolina Director of IDD (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) Services, Kia Dark, first joined this industry in 1995 working at a group home. This October, she will celebrate 19 years with Dungarvin. Family means a lot to Kia, both at home and in the workplace. “Many of us have worked together for 15 years, migrating together from other agencies,” said Dark of her close-knit team. Get to know more about her through ‘5 questions with Kia Dark:’

1. Why do you have a passion for this work?

I love interacting with people in general and hopefully making a positive impact in their life, even if in a small way. I have maintained contact with some of the same families that I first started providing periodic services to back in 1999. It’s important for me to remember those times to remain humble. One of my favorite songs has a line, “if I can help somebody as I pass along…then my living will not be in vain.”

2. What do you most value in a friend or a co-worker?

I really value genuineness. We can laugh with or at each other, or even give constructive criticism to one another while still recognizing it’s from a place of love.

3. What would you most like to see happen in your state to better serve people with disabilities?

One of the things I would like to see happen is happening: Direct Care wage increases! By paying people a livable wage in NC, we will be able to better retain staff as well as maintain the high standard of care we aim to provide at ACI-Dungarvin.

4. What do you most value about the Dungarvin team with whom you work?

Our closeness — we are a family! Many of us have worked together for 15 plus years, migrating together from other agencies. We’ve been together through marriages, children, job changes, good times and bad times, and we still rock for each other!

5. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Our children. They mean the world to me! My prayer is that I have been the best mom for them that I can be — teaching them humility, how to love and be loved and how speak up for themselves respectfully.