New Grants Approved to Train Social Work Supervisors, Expand and Hone Communications Efforts, and St
A $1,055,297 three-year grant to the National Association of Social Workers approved recently by the John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees will launch an advanced training program that equips social work supervisors with the geriatric knowledge and supervisory skills they need to help strengthen social work practice on the front lines of health care service delivery. The Board also approved a $1,951,320 three-year grant to continue and enhance the communications activities of grantees and the Foundation, and a $200,000 grant to the regional grantmaking association, Philanthropy New York.
A $1,055,297 three-year grant to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) approved recently by the John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees will launch an advanced training program that equips social work supervisors with the geriatric knowledge and supervisory skills they need to help strengthen social work practice on the front lines of health care service delivery. The Board also approved a $1,951,320 three-year grant to continue and enhance the communications activities of grantees and the Foundation, and a $200,000 grant to the regional grantmaking association, Philanthropy New York.
The Hartford/National Association of Social Workers Gerontological Social Work Supervisors Program will train 160 master’s level social work supervisors in four regions (New York, Maryland, Illinois, and Florida) to enhance their geriatric knowledge and supervision skills so that more than 1,200 front line social workers will be better supported in improving and maintaining the health, safety, and independence of their older adult clients. The training is based on a successful pilot project in New York City over the past five years that addresses the complex needs of older adults and the challenging situations that might arise, such as disputed end-of-life decisions, self-neglect and elder abuse, or severe physical and mental illness. The program will be embedded within NASW, the largest social work organization in the country, and will offer participants credits to meet continuing education requirements. Through tuition and fundraising toolkits, the program is expected to become sustainable and spread through additional NASW state chapters. The project falls within the Hartford Foundation’s new strategy area of Linking Education to Practice, which aims to strengthen connections between health care service delivery and academic expertise.
The John A. Hartford Foundation Communications and Dissemination Initiative will build on the successful and longstanding partnership with SCP, a socially responsible consulting firm, to increase awareness and support of Foundation and grantee work. In the next three-year period, SCP will continue to offer expert training and consultation to grantees, lead outreach to journalists, and assist Foundation staff in the creation of blog, website, and social media content. The initiative will expand efforts to bring the voice of older adults into the Foundation’s work through further public polling and a new photo-documentary project. The grant will begin with a four-month planning phase to hone the Foundation’s communications objectives and strategies for its target audiences of health systems leaders, policymakers, and Hartford grantees and Change AGEnts, with contingency funds set aside for new or expanded communications activities in support of maximizing the Foundation’s impact.
Philanthropy New York (PNY) is the principal professional community of approximately 280 private, corporate, family, and public grantmaking organizations based in the New York City region that together provide more than $7 billion each year to thousands of nonprofit organizations in New York and around the world. The organization is a strategic partner to the Foundation and promotes increased awareness of the need to improve health care for older people. This one-time grant will support a new PNY initiative—the Fund for 2025—which will enhance meeting facilities, improve communications and technological capacity, increase programming, deepen public policy engagement, and strengthen fiscal stability. Philanthropy New York created the Fund for 2025 in 2014 to meet the new long-term needs of the philanthropic community by providing educational programming and convenings that will undergird its work in addressing the complex issues of New York City, the nation, and international communities.
