Project Title

CIAIP Technical Assistance Grant (CIAIP TAG)

Community

Headquartered in New York City, the CIAIP TAG worked with all 14 CIAIP grantees in a variety of ways to help them implement their aging in place initiatives, as described below.

Goals

The goals of the CIAIP TAG were to:

  1. Assist CIAIP grantees in implementing community initiatives to help older residents age in place, and
  2. Identify and disseminate lessons learned from the CIAIP initiatives throughout the field and beyond.

Selected Accomplishments

Goal 1: The CIAIP TAG Team consisted of a core group of CHCPR staff members, who managed the project overall, and a group of consultants with expertise in program development, community participation, evaluation, communications, partnerships, and sustainability issues, who worked with CHCPR to provide technical assistance using a variety of methods, including:

  • In person: Site visits and meetings at national conferences, such as annual American Society on Aging (ASA) Aging In America conferences and the CIAIP grantee meeting in Washington, D.C., were opportunities to meet with grantees in person. In the first two years of the program, TAG Team members made presentations at the ASA conferences with selected CIAIP grantees.
  • By telephone, individually: Grantees had open access to TAG Team members and were encouraged to call with questions and/or requests for assistance. In addition, the TAG conducted periodic “check-in” calls with grantees to follow their progress and address any assistance needs they had.
  • By telephone, collectively: The TAG Team convened monthly or bi-monthly conference calls with all grantees on a variety of topics, led by TAG Team members, invited presenters, and grantees themselves.
  • Electronically: The TAG Team created two websites for the CIAIP project, one open to the public, the other password protected for CIAIP grantees only. Tools and resources were routinely uploaded to the grantee website, which also included a blog and chat room for grantees. Many of these tools and resources were also uploaded to the public website. In addition, the TAG Team alerted grantees about funding opportunities, usually via email.
  • A CIAIP TAG advisory group, consisting of AoA Program Officers and a National Advisory Committee of distinguished aging experts, served as a sounding board for the TAG, provided valuable feedback and insights at the annual Advisory Group meetings, accompanied TAG members on site visits, and shared their impressions of the CIAIP grantees’ work with TAG Team members. The TAG stayed in close touch with AoA Program Officers to apprise them of grantees’ progress and any issues that needed resolution.

Products

Goal 2: The CIAIP TAG has prepared a series of publications to document the work of CIAIP grantees, discuss project implementation issues that grantees had in common, and provide others interested in implementing aging in place initiatives in their own communities lessons learned, resources, and tools. Click here for CIAIP TAG Publications, including an Overall Report, Grantee Project Descriptions, Case Studies, Practice Briefs, and other CIAIP TAG developed resources and tools.

Contact

Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), Center for Home Care Policy & Research
www.vnsny.org/research
www.ciaip.org

Mia Oberlink
CIAIP TAG Team Project Director
Senior Research Associate
Mia.Oberlink@vnsny.org