1. Caregiver Service Providers:  Working Together To Support Family Caregivers
Emily Farah-Miller, Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging
Kathy Gilbride, Central MN Council on Aging
Leanna Smith, Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging

2. Session Objectives
Learn how two Minnesota collaboratives share knowledge, promote caregiver services, and strengthen public policies for family caregivers. 
Learn steps to forming a caregiver collaboration, initiatives, and informational resources.

3. What is a caregiving coalition?
A community of representatives that has come together to address the needs of family caregivers across the lifespan.
Support family caregivers, both families of origin(s) or families of choice(s), with information and referral services, educational outreach and advocacy.
Presents a united voice working to meet the complex social, medical, physical, financial, spiritual, and emotional needs of family caregivers.
National Alliance on Caregiving defines it as.
A coalition is made up of organizations and agencies that come together to support caregivers. It might be the town’s senior center, businesses, government, the local chapter of Alzheimer’s groups, hospitals and an AARP state chapter.

4. Establishing and Growing Your Family Caregiving Coalition
Volume I Starting a coalition: creating a vision, mission, goals and objectives
Volume II Maintaining the coalition: strategic planning, decision making, projects and activities (available Summer 2013)
/uploads/2013/03/PlantingTheSeed_FINAL.pdf

5. Coalition Initiatives
Caregiver Coalition of San Diego
Free weekly webinars to caregivers and workplace education
AZ Caregiver Coalition
Statewide access point Caregiver Resource Line
Caregiving Coalition of Northeast Florida
Monthly newsletter and workshops
Caregiver Coalition of San Diego: California group offers free weekly webinars to caregivers along with web videos and seminars. Topic experts (Medicare, legal sources, wellness resources, conversations around difficult topics) will come to a company during lunchtime and give a presentation to employees.
Trained volunteers are ready to listen and work with you to find the resources you are seeking!
What makes these groups so effective is that NAC connects coalitions with one another. The coalitions share strategies and mentor one another. There are quarterly calls, an e-newsletter and webcasts. NAC will also give a coalition one-on-one counseling.
Every year, NAC holds a family caregiving coalition conference. At its 2013 meeting this March in Chicago, NAC rolled out a guide to help organizations start their own family coalition.

6. Coalition Initiatives
Coalition of Caring in New Hampshire
Annual statewide conference for family caregivers
Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition
Aging & Disability Issues 2013: A Guide for Hawaii’s Legislators, Organizations and Citizens
Educates legislators and the community about caregiving issues
Caregiver Coalition of San Diego: California group offers free weekly webinars to caregivers along with web videos and seminars. Topic experts (Medicare, legal sources, wellness resources, conversations around difficult topics) will come to a company during lunchtime and give a presentation to employees.
Trained volunteers are ready to listen and work with you to find the resources you are seeking!
What makes these groups so effective is that NAC connects coalitions with one another. The coalitions share strategies and mentor one another. There are quarterly calls, an e-newsletter and webcasts. NAC will also give a coalition one-on-one counseling.
Every year, NAC holds a family caregiving coalition conference. At its 2013 meeting this March in Chicago, NAC rolled out a guide to help organizations start their own family coalition.

7. Coalition Initiative Resources
Caregiver Coalition of San Diego
AZ Caregiver Coalition
Caregiving Coalition of Northeast Florida
Coalition of Caring NH
Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition
Booklet-Aging-Issues-2013_Hawaii-FC-Coalition.pdf

8. National Alliance for Caregiving
Sign up for the Caregiving Exchange E-Newsletter and listserv
Quarterly Family Caregiving Coalition Webinar
Recorded and available on website
Technical Assistance
Host Annual National Conference for Caregiving Coalitions