Working Group on Aging

>About the group (.pdf) To join the Working Group on Aging or learn more, e-mail WG's Kathy Freshley.

From WG Daily:

The Working Group on Aging is generously supported by the Agua Fund, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the Consumer Health Foundation, and the Grantmakers in Aging EngAGEment Initiative.

Improving the health and quality of life older adults, especially low-income seniors, in the Greater Washington region by working to increase public and private investments in creative and innovative strategies focused on healthy aging.

Working Group Updates:

This year the Working Group on Aging is approaching its work with a crosscutting, long-term, regional lens. To achieve this, the group is:

• Establishing a bimonthly meeting at Washington Grantmakers where funders, nonprofit leaders, and Area Agencies on Aging heads from around the region can work together to share knowledge and advance the goals of Region Forward: 2050, many of which have implications for an aging population.
  
  
• Convening quarterly “Quality Jobs/Quality Care” programs, in partnership with the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the DC Long-Term Care Coalition, and DC Appleseed, to educate the local philanthropic community, and nonprofit, government, and business leaders on best practices, new research, and forward thinking approaches to address the need for a larger, better trained, and higher compensated direct care workforce for the region.
  
  
• Serving on the planning committee for the Grantmakers in Aging 2011 Conference, to be held October 26-28 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Tyson’s Corner.

Training a Quality Direct Care Workforce in the Greater Washington Region

The most recent installment of the Working Group on Aging's Quality Jobs/Quality Care series featured a panel of leaders from community colleges and nonprofits in Northern Virginia, DC, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties that offer training programs leading to Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and other direct care certifications. These programs provide a pathway for workers, many of whom are female, low-income, and often foreign-born, into direct care jobs that are in ever-growing demand. While these programs are meeting a critical need, obstacles persist. Read more here and watch a video of Judy Berman, Deputy Director of DC Appleseed, discussing the role that the local philanthropic community can play in strengthening the local direct care workforce.

Meeting the Growing Demand for a Direct Care Workforce

On February 2nd Dr. Robyn Stone, Executive Director of Leading Age, met with funders and nonprofit representatives for a discussion about the challenges facing the direct care workforce as the Baby Boomer generation ages. With 10,000 people turning 65 every day, this is a key moment for the philanthropic community to leverage relationships with public officials, healthcare providers, and workforce stakeholders to break down the barriers currently threatening the growth of the direct care workforce. Smarter, strategic investment is needed to strengthen employee training programs, and to improve job quality and compensation, in order to grow the workforce to meet the explosion in demand that is just around the corner.

Resources

• Creativity Matters: Arts and Aging Toolkit - explains why and how older adults benefit from participating in professionally conducted community arts programs and offers detailed advice and examples on program design, implementation and evaluation.
  
  
• National Center for Creative Aging
  
  
• TimeSlips Creative Storytelling Project - replacing the pressure to remember with encouragement to imagine.
  
  
• Kairos Dance Theater - uses dance and storytelling to create a sense of community and well-being
  
  
• Stagebridge Senior Theatre - theatre and storytelling to bridge the generation gap
  
  
• Songwriting works - promoting health through the power of songwriting and performance.
  
  
• EngAGE - provides a whole-person approach to creative and healthy aging for thousands of their senior residents in Southern California.
  
  
• Above Ground: Information on Artists III: Special Focus New York City Aging Artists
  
  
• Kenneth A. Picerne Foundation - the Artist Outreach Project awards grants to accomplished visual, performing and literary artists, age 55 and older
  
  
• PHI National - Improving the quality of eldercare and disability services by improving the jobs of direct-care workers.
  
  
• Elders Share the Arts - programs featuring professional artists in creative writing, storytelling, visual arts, and theater.