Advocacy Collaborative

National Caregiver Advocacy Collaborative

NAC’s work is supported by the National Caregiver Advocacy Collaborative, a network of state and national caregiving advocates working together to identify and address complex issues surrounding family caregiving across the lifespan.

In addition to sharing best practices and strategies, the Advocacy Collaborative helps advance caregiving policy priorities that support and improve the quality of life for all caregivers. Explore the National Caregiver Advocacy Collaborative’s Charter and monthly meeting materials to see how these advocates are creating sustainable change.

Collaborative Membership Directory

Defining the Caregiving Coalition

A caregiving coalition is a community of representatives that has come together to address the needs of family caregivers across the lifespan. These coalitions support family caregivers, both families of origin(s) or families of choice(s), with information and referral services, educational outreach and advocacy. A caregiving coalition presents a united voice working to meet the complex social, medical, physical, financial, spiritual, and emotional needs of family caregivers.

NAC offers resources and technical assistance to help state and local communities grow and sustain caregiving coalitions.

Developing a Unified Strategy to Support Family Caregivers

NAC’s 2019 Annual Conference of Caregiver Advocates convened to explore the need for a unified strategy to address family caregiving as a public health issue. NAC builds upon that work by convening advocates to share resources and collaborate on the implementation of key policy recommendations that are aligned with global, national and state priorities impacting family caregivers across the lifespan.

Collaborative News & Information Sharing

Grassroots advocates across the nation are working to improve the lives of family caregivers across the lifespan.

Coalition Building

Ever wanted to start your own family caregiver coalition? Ever wanted to improve the one you have? Our coalition guidebooks can help you with you establish, build, and sustain your family caregiving coalition. Written with input from caregiving coalitions across the U.S., these guidebooks cover the basics of setting up a non-profit, communications, funding, strategic planning, advocacy, and more. They are intended to be helpful both for the beginning advocate and for existing coalitions interested in growth and sustainability.

By way of background, these guides were developed from the 12 Keys guidebook, a collaborative effort under the direction of Helen Eltzeroth, Project Manager.

Planting the Seed Cover Image by the National Alliance for Caregiving
NAC-Guide-Growing-Your-Coalition Cover Photo

National Caregiver Advocacy Collaborative Meeting Materials

National Coalitions

NAC participates in public discussions about the needs of caregivers and policy solutions that may better support their care. Working with other non-profits, public-private partnerships, and influencers, members of the NAC team regularly engage in partnerships with other advocates for the aging and persons with disabilities to find cross-cutting solutions that will support caregiving.

NAC is proud to be a member of the following coalitions:

Congressional Caregiving Champions

Caregiving Champions Program-Logo
The Caregiving Champions program seeks to recognize leaders who have raised awareness of the issues facing family caregivers in our society. In general, Champions have incorporated family caregivers into their work on healthcare, healthcare reform, disability, aging, and long-term care issues.

On November 7, 2017, for National Family Caregiver Month, six members of the U.S. House of Representatives stepped away from busy schedules of attending hearings and crafting legislation to share deeply personal stories of their experiences with family caregiving. In addition to being legislators, they are daughters, sons, and spouses who have faced the immense challenges and invaluable rewards of caregiving. As such, they join the more than 34 million Americans counted by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP Public Policy Institute who care for a loved one 50 years or older. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) hosted Congressional Stories of Family Caregiving with the support of The John A. Hartford Foundation and in partnership with AARP, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the National Alliance for Caregiving.

Read more about the briefing.

 

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