Three New Grants Totaling $1,388,378 Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees at March 2018 Meeting
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved three new grants totaling $1,388,378 in March 2018 to support family caregivers, advance age-friendly public health systems, and produce a documentary to help people plan for their needs as they age.
Center for Health Care Strategies: Helping States Support Families Caring for an Aging America ($279,000 for 21 months)
The Center for Healthcare Strategies (CHCS), in partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Milbank Memorial Fund, will provide technical assistance to five states and disseminate resources nationally to build or enhance state-based plans to support family caregivers. Building on a series of meetings with the Milbank Memorial Funds’ bi-partisan Reforming States Group, CHCS will conduct reviews of family caregiver resources in selected states, help develop state-based action plans, convene state meetings of local and national experts, and provide state peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
Trust For America’s Health: Advancing an Age-Friendly Public Health System ($409,378 for two years)
This two-year grant to the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) will engage the public health system in Florida to develop an innovative, state-specific prototype that will define the role of public health in ensuring that older adults achieve and maintain their optimal health and well-being. A convening of state and national experts in 2017 developed an articulation of the potential contributions that the public health sector should consider. A long-term goal of this grant is to engage public health departments nationwide to adopt a framework for an age-friendly public health system that works with health systems and community partners to improve care for older adults.
Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.: Television Documentary Production and Distribution – Fast-Forward ($700,000 for 28 months)
In order to help people plan for their needs as they age, this grant will support the production and distribution of a one-hour documentary film to be aired nationally on PBS. The film aims to be a landmark production about how to prepare for later life and will include intergenerational discussions about the planning everyone should engage in, including talking about and documenting care preferences in the event of serious illness; preparing financially; and identifying caregivers. The effort is led by the chair emeritus of WNET, Emmy award-winning producer and director, Dr. William F. Baker. The documentary’s positive messages and novel approach to the potential for aging well—or the opposite experience when people haven’t planned—will foster a practical and action-oriented approach to prepare people and their families as they age.