New Grants Support Health and Aging Policy Leaders and Family Caregivers of Older Adults
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees has approved two grants totaling $2.13 million for projects that will lead to improved health for older adults through health care policy and practice change. Partnering with The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Board approved a $1.6 million grant to the Health and Aging Policy Fellows (HAPF) program to support an additional 44 fellows over the next three years who will bring geriatric expertise to policymakers and in turn receive intensive training in policymaking through placements at key agencies and offices in the federal government. The board also approved a $530,000, two-year grant to help co-support a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) study on family caregiving of older adults. Both projects will draw on the expertise of the Hartford Change AGEnts, an initiative that seeks to harness the collective strengths, resources, and expertise of the Hartford Foundation’s interprofessional community of more than 3,000 scholars, clinicians, and health system leaders to make changes in practice and service delivery that improve the health of older Americans.
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees has approved two grants totaling $2.13 million for projects that will lead to improved health for older adults through health care policy and practice change. Partnering with The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Board approved a $1.6 million grant to the Health and Aging Policy Fellows (HAPF) program to support an additional 44 fellows over the next three years who will bring geriatric expertise to policymakers and in turn receive intensive training in policymaking through placements at key agencies and offices in the federal government. The board also approved a $530,000, two-year grant to help co-support a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) study on family caregiving of older adults. Both projects will draw on the expertise of the Hartford Change AGEnts, an initiative that seeks to harness the collective strengths, resources, and expertise of the Hartford Foundation’s interprofessional community of more than 3,000 scholars, clinicians, and health system leaders to make changes in practice and service delivery that improve the health of older Americans.
Added to the 67 fellows who will have participated in the HAPF program’s first six cohorts, the new fellows will form a network of 111 aging-focused professionals who, individually and collectively, are poised to help shape policy that improves the health of older adults. The HAPF program is the nation’s only fellowship that targets aging and health issues. In addition to The Atlantic Philanthropies, which approved a $4.7 million HAPF grant in March, Hartford is joined in support of the program by the American Political Science Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute on Aging, and the Administration for Community Living, among others. The fellows will coordinate policy change efforts with the Hartford Change AGEnts initiative, a program that also lives within the Foundation’s Leadership in Action portfolio.
Hartford is also partnering with the Archstone Foundation and other funders to support the creation of an IOM report establishing a set of policy and practice-focused recommendations that address the needs of vulnerable older adults and the families who care for them. The grant provides $400,000 for the IOM to conduct a 22-month study and $130,000 to the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) over two years to support the Hartford Change AGEnts participation in the process. The IOM study will involve a committee of experts in family caregiving and related issues who will conduct an in-depth review of evidence and hold public sessions to hear from older adults, family caregivers, and a range of professionals involved in health care and caregiving. The newly formed Change AGEnts Dementia Caregiving Network will lead the initiative’s support by suggesting a set of issues to be addressed by the study, providing expertise in the IOM’s public sessions, and joining with GSA in mobilizing to disseminate report recommendations and move them toward implementation.