2010 National Family Caregiving Awards Program Accepting Applications

The National Alliance for Caregiving and MetLife Foundation are pleased to announce that applications are being accepted for the 2010 National Family Caregiving Awards Program. The request for applications is available online at http://web.raffa.com/nac/caregiver_awards.

Now in its fifth and final year, the program is intended to improve the quality of life of family caregivers by recognizing and supporting the important work of community agencies and other organizations that support family caregivers as a significant part of their mission. Each award will carry a cash value of $20,000 that will be designated for use in the awardee’s caregiver program.

The Award Categories:

* Caregiver Education Awards: Three awards will be given in the category of caregiver education. These awards will go to organizations that have developed exemplary training programs to educate caregivers on topics such as: assisting with activities of daily living, financial planning, time management, and caring for older adults with dementia.

* Caregiver Support Awards: Four awards will be given in the category of caregiver support. These awards will go to organizations that provide family caregiver support programs such as respite, counseling, or corporate eldercare in a truly innovative way. * Older Caregivers Caring for Adult Children with Disabilities: Two awards will be given to non-profit organizations that have established an innovative and effective program to meet the needs of older persons caring for their adult children with disabilities. Potential programs could include counseling to plan for the future needs after the parent dies or innovative support programs to address the immediate needs of the older caregiver.

In addition, two special recognition awards will also be presented, to award recipients that have already met the other criteria in the award category in which they have applied. One is the Alzheimer’s Recognition Award, which will be given to one of the above award recipients that innovatively support family caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s disease. The other is a Cultural Diversity Recognition Award, which will be given to one of the above award recipients that innovatively support family caregivers of diverse older adults.

The awards will be presented at a luncheon ceremony held at the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) 35th Annual Conference and Tradeshow, which will take place in St. Louis, Missouri on July 20. Travel and hotel costs for an awardee representative to attend this event will be paid for by the National Family Caregiving Awards program.

The deadline for applications is May 7, 2010. For additional information, contact Kathleen Cameron at kathleen56@caregiving.org.