Please join us in congratulating the seven organizations awarded grants by Archstone Foundation’s Board of Directors in the last quarter:
- Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging
- LeadingAge California
- Alzheimer’s Association
- The Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants
- Choice in Aging
- SAAHAS for Cause
- RAND Corporation
Collectively, these grants will support work toward our strategic plan, including efforts to address diversity, equity, and inclusion in aging, improve team care, and expand the capacity of direct service non-profits. Additionally, the Foundation has announced plans to begin a collaboration with RAND Corporation to create an innovative system to aid providers, policymakers, and philanthropists in making smarter decisions. By creating an open access data monitoring center and impact dashboard, we will be able to better evaluate the impact of our strategic priority: true integration of medical care and social support services – care coordination – to help improve the health of older Californians and their caregivers. This project will also focus on interweaving diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the work.
Meet the Grantees
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging
A two-year, $75,000 grant to Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging will support the Best Practice Caregiving (BPC) Phase III: Consumer Version project, focused on cultural adaptations of caregiving programs. Best Practice Caregiving Professional Version is an online resource where healthcare and community organizations, policymakers, and researchers can find comprehensive profiles and compare nearly 50 of the top evidence-based caregiving support programs that organizations can adopt and deliver in their communities. It will be the only comprehensive, free, easy-to-use, online resource for detailed and accurate information about the top, proven caregiving support programs in local communities. Support from Archstone Foundation will enable the Consumer Version to have a new emphasis on cultural adaptations of programs for caregivers from diverse communities. Archstone Foundation supported the first phase of this work in the initial development of Best Practice Caregiving. Funding for the Consumer Version has also been provided by The John A. Hartford Foundation and RRF Foundation for Aging.
LeadingAge California
A two-year, $125,000 grant to LeadingAge California will allow an expansion of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative. The organization will work with a 20-member equity cabinet to shape its goals and approach to addressing DEI, not only internally but also at member organizations, to ensure that the older adults served can age in safe and supportive environments regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation.
Teams
Alzheimer’s Association
A three-year, $595,192 grant to Alzheimer’s Association will increase access to early and accurate dementia diagnoses and enhance the quality of care in primary care. The focus will be on collaborating with primary care providers and their care teams at Federally Qualified Health Centers in California and similar community-based health care providers serving diverse and underserved populations, including rural populations. This project will also coordinate with Dementia Aware, a statewide project to train Medi-Cal providers at large health systems how to use cognitive screening instruments in their practices. Read more.
Capacity Building
Three new Capacity Building grants were made in the area of technology and IT systems. Although this Capacity Building round of funding was open to all direct service California non-profit organizations, we are very pleased that the organizations selected each have a focus on serving historically disadvantaged older adults of color.
The Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants
A $50,000 grant to The Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants will support the creation of a record-keeping and grants management database system for older adult services. This will enable the organization to streamline its work and help its older adult clients and their families enroll in public benefits and public utility discount programs, cross-check information and client data, reduce duplication of staff work, and help organizational efficiency.
Choice in Aging
A $50,000 grant to Choice in Aging will support its “Technology Boost,” an upgrade to the MSSP Care cloud-based system. Staff will make a systems implementation plan, develop modules for staff training and future onboarding processes, and utilize data for quality improvement.
SAAHAS for Cause
A $50,000 grant to SAAHAS for Cause will support its “TechUp,” a technology upgrade including switching to Salesforce for client tracking, staff training, and the creation of new procedures and policies to accompany the new technologies.
Impact Evaluation
RAND Corporation
A five-year, $1.295 million grant to RAND Corporation will support an impact evaluation of Archstone Foundation’s Three Ts strategic approach to improving the health and well-being of older Californians and their caregivers. Working in collaboration, RAND and the Foundation will create an impact dashboard and data monitoring center for understanding whether and how health, wellbeing, and external systems are changing across the state. The collaboration will yield a consolidated data dashboard to aid providers, policymakers, and philanthropic organizations in making smarter decisions. Crucially, the work will include a thorough analysis of our Three Ts strategic plan and interwoven commitment to improving health equity. A newly established Stakeholder Advisory Board comprised of older adults, caregivers, grantees, and decision makers, will provide input on the evaluation to help assure the new dashboard is useful, relevant, and accessible. Read more.
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Upcoming Request for Proposals
A new round of funding for capacity building — Supporting Diverse Communities and Advancing Racial and Health Equity for Older Adults through Capacity Building — will open on July 15. Grants for as much as $50,000 will be awarded for direct operational support to help nonprofits work more efficiently and effectively. This opportunity is specifically targeted to organizations serving low-income older people of color so that they can begin to reduce health disparities and advance racial equity through investments in organizational capacity building.
You can learn more about the upcoming capacity building request for proposals by joining a 30-minute “tweet chat” at 10 a.m. PT on Wednesday, July 20, 2002. Use #ArchstoneCB to join the conversation. Program officers will answer questions about the program, funding categories, the application process, and more.
Learn more here.
Mary Ellen Kullman, Tanisha Davis, Jasmine Lacsamana and Jolene Fassbinder contributed to this post.
