December 03, 2019
The population of Americans aged 85 and older will double by 2040, reaching 14.6 million. Providing comprehensive care and support to these seniors will be an enormous undertaking. In response to this need, the Administration for Community Living is funding a bold new initiative called the Community Care Corps, which will create a formal network of local organizations who train and support volunteers to provide non-medical support to older adults and individuals with disabilities across the nation.
Altarum is part of a team composed of the Oasis Institute, Caregiver Action Network, and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging that is leading the development of the Community Care Corps initiative. To prepare for the program launch in 2020, the team is currently appointing a national steering committee of experts, and preparing a Request for Proposals for community-based organizations to respond to, which will be issued in the first quarter of 2020.
As the initiative ramps up, Altarum will play a pivotal role by monitoring and evaluating the Community Care Corps, identifying core components and best practices of high-performing volunteer programs and how they are creating a sustainable infrastructure. Through ongoing analysis, we will gain insight into elements of volunteer organizations that are important for success, how these factors interact with environmental context, and the degree to which they are replicable. Along the way, we will report on the experience of elders and people with disabilities who are receiving volunteer services, and the experience of volunteers. Our findings and recommendations will provide the basis for the development of new volunteer organizations, and for extending the scope or scale of existing programs.
The Community Care Corps has the potential to significantly alleviate the burden of family caregivers by properly organizing, training, and deploying volunteers to provide companionship and basic non-medical assistance to frail elders and people with disabilities who live alone. The initial grant to the four leading organizations is $3.8 million; total funding for the five-year project is expected to be $19 million.
If your organization is interested in applying for the grants, sign up to receive information about the upcoming Request for Proposals.
Altarum also is developing a toolkit to formalize and improve a Caregiver Corps program that is run by Livingston County Catholic Charities in Michigan. The findings of that project will inform ongoing development of the national Community Care Corps.
Learn more about how Altarum is working to help communities prepare for the coming sharp rise in the aging population.