Aging and Human Services

This category of projects and programs reveals the need for local government assistance and services. Aging projects, like making businesses more elder-friendly and human services, like tax preparation assistance for the disadvantaged promote a higher standard of living that ultimately fuels economic growth.

As the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for a rural ten-county region, East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission and the Legal Services Corporation of Alabama are administering a Legal Services for the Elderly program. The program provides free and easy access to legal services for low-income persons, age 60 and over. With one full time attorney and three additional offices (ten more attorneys and two paralegals) the program annually provides over $200,000 in legal assistance to over 500 clients.

The Senior Citizens Outreach Program (SCOP) was designed by Northern Arizona Council of Governments, Winslow Police Department and community partners to monitor the well being of senior citizens and reduce senior victimization and fear of crime. Weekly, Winslow’s police officers are assigned five to eight senior citizens to consistently contact and monitor their well being. The program has been expanded to include handicap ramp installations. Program funding comes from the City of Winslow, Winslow Weed & Seed (a Department of Justice program) and a local church.

When the Atlanta Regional Commission launched its regional Vision 2020 Initiative, they selected the City of Clarkston to be a 2001 pilot site for the Clarkston Multicultural Senior Center because Clarkston’s 7,200 residents speak 17 languages. Each day of the week the lunch menu features a resident ethnic population entree, such as Vietnamese or Russian. Participants also select activities like English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Co-sponsors include local ethnic restaurants and cooperative links to the Atlanta region’s aging and refugee services networks.

The Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center’s Elder Friendly Business Certification Program creates awareness among the region’s business community about their largest consumer group - senior citizens. Coastal Georgia RDC is working with Elders in Action in various ways, such as having trained volunteers secretly “shop” local businesses, to ensure quality senior services and build an “Elder Friendly” certification program. Upon certification, businesses will be listed in an Elder Friendly Business Certification Directory for senior citizens. The business will also receive a decal for public display.

The Alzheimer’s Wandering and Rescue Education (AWARE) instructs caregivers, professional nursing facilities and community agencies on how to prevent, rescue and communicate with wandering Alzheimer’s patients. AWARE, administered by Kentucky’s Green River Area Development District’s Area Agency on Aging (AAA), is the result of a community collaborative effort of four agencies. AWARE helps family caregivers identify reasons for wandering and ways to make their homes safer. Professional caregivers receive how-to instruction on behavioral issues. Local officers learn about effective ways to search, find and communicate with Alzheimer’s patients.

The Medication Management Project promotes correct medication use, prevention of drug errors and finding the best dollar value in medication therapy for seniors. Together, eight of Minnesota’s Area Agencies on Aging, including the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, and the Minnesota Pharmacists Association administer the project and offer sessions and one-to-one drug therapy consultations for seniors in 46 counties. The free consultations teach seniors about the medications they are taking, vitamins and other senior medical issues. Pharmacists also can write recommendations for the seniors’ doctors and personal pharmacists.

The Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments used CDBG funding to establish the Jump Start Car Loan Program. The program provides opportunities for 25 low- income families in two counties to purchase vehicles. Eligible participants must meet income guidelines; have a valid driver’s license, clean driving record and car insurance. Participants must make on-time payments, continue insurance coverage and complete financial literacy, car maintenance and car-purchasing courses after receiving vehicles. If the participant meets all the requirements after one year, the remainder of the loan is forgiven.

The Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments’ Money Smart Financial Literacy Project offers individuals in the five-county region a chance to gain knowledge about personal finance and banking services. Ten instructor-led “Money Smart” classes cover financial topics, including basic banking and choosing checking accounts. The instructors come from the project’s partnership of banking, insurance and human services professionals. Over 1,000 community members have attended. Project support comes from Wal-Mart, the Department of Labor, Northwest Missouri Regional Development Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) and career center.

Through a collaboration between the local Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (S.A.L.T.), Northwest Piedmont Council of Governments and Area Agency on Aging, over 150 human service professionals and attorneys attended Senior Financial Safety Symposium classes to learn about fraud and scams targeting the elderly in their North Carolina region. The attendees were taught how to alert seniors and what the available community response for prevention and remedies were. Continuing educational credits were given to the attending administrators and attorneys. All speakers presented free of charge.

Using the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) theme as comparison between the successful drivers/teams to families, Texas’ Texoma Council of Governments and partners’ Family Self Sufficiency Program shows participants how to set goals, seek sponsorship and endure hardships to buckle into the driver’s seat and finish the race to independence. Participants are able to visualize the benefits of providing their own “NASCAR,” Nutrition, Automobile, Schooling, Childcare, Appearance and Rent/Utilities. Funding was provided by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The “You Can’t Beat Family” Campaign to Reduce Domestic Violence program by the Texoma Council of Governments, uses a Texas Silent Witness exhibit and training, as a catalyst to reach project goals. The exhibit displays 113 life-sized silhouettes representing female domestic violence victims who died in Texas during 2001. The display has been placed in public locations like schools. Training is designed for criminal justice professionals and the public at large. Funding comes from the Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office and the Office of the Governor.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council Area Agency on Aging’s Residential Repairs for the Elderly program is a joint community collaboration that provides a seamless system of using multiple funds to repair elderly persons or seniors’ residences. The program began ten years ago and has served 350 seniors. Every other year $50,000 from the Older American Act funds and over $100,000 from the Department of Energy Weatherization Program are used to provide program services.

The South Plains Association of Governments Area Agency on Aging (AAA) and Coalition of Community Assistance Volunteers project in Texas provides free federal tax return preparations and tax credits and financial training and outreach to low-income citizens, with special emphasis on non-English speaking, elderly and disabled individuals and families. In the program’s first year one rural and four urban tax preparation sites were established. The rural site alone was able to contribute to individuals a total of over $17,000 in tax credits and refunds.

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