Advancing Aging Network Capacity to Recognize and Support Family, Kinship and Tribal Caregivers

 Using the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers (the Strategy) as a road map, ACL will fund up to five (5) new cooperative agreements to eligible entities to work on a national level to further advance the development of state, community and tribal family caregiver support programs funded under the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), Title III-E and VI-C of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended. This new initiative is intended to advance NFCSP/NACSP development to more closely align it with the principles and concepts contained in the Strategy, thus better positioning the program to more effectively recognize, assist, includes, support and engage family caregivers and better meet the challenges and opportunities associated with supporting them.Five (5), four-year cooperative agreements, to eligible entities and their partners to develop, test, and disseminate new approaches for technical assistance, capacity building and other best practices in family caregiver support will be awarded. One (1) grant will be awarded in each of the five Priority/Goals in the Strategy: (1) increasing awareness and outreach; (2) advancing partnerships and engagement with care teams; (3) advancing services and supports; (4) strengthening financial and workplace security; and (5) solidifying a family caregiver national research and data collection agenda. No entity will receive more than one grant under this new initiative. Applicants to each priority area should be those well-positioned and with the requisite experience and capacity to address the respective issues and foster national advancements in those areas.The grantees will be expected to closely collaborate all activities and to align approaches with the concepts contained in the Strategy and its companion document First Principles: Cross-Cutting Considerations for Family Caregiver Support. Under these cooperative agreements, grantees will be working in very close coordination with the ACL Program Officer and a new Technical Assistance and Coordinating Center for Family Caregiver Support & Best Practices that is being established concurrently. Grantees will also be expected to work with other ACL-funded technical assistance centers as appropriate, and other collaborative initiatives as funding permits.