Community Resource Connections Receives Grant

By -
“Beyond the Senior Annual Check-Up” Program

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation Board of Directors recently awarded a grant for $24,000 to support Community Resource Connections (CRC) in developing and piloting a screening and follow-up tool with senior citizens struggling to navigate the services and complications of Medicare systems.

CRC is planning to conduct a limited pilot project in the Blackduck area during the next year.  Following development of the various screening assessments, the Blackduck Service Center will work with about 30 seniors/couples to screen for services, provide case management services, make referrals, and conduct follow up with both clients and service providers. 

CRC believes that having this type of screening available will reduce the demands upon local service providers to determine eligibility for services, and free up more time to actually provide and organize the services, thus saving time and money. 

CRC Executive Director Ruth Sherman said, “This is a new and innovative effort that addresses the needs of elderly; enabling them to remain in the living arrangement of their choice for as long as reasonably possible.”

CRC will conduct a continuous evaluation process to find out what works, make adjustments to assessments, and eventually settle on a working model that can be expanded throughout the rest of Beltrami County, contingent upon future funding.

Jim Steenerson, NMF senior program officer – grants, stated that CRC is well-respected in Beltrami County, and has a solid reputation for good management and careful stewardship of resources. “The issue addressed through this proposal is very real and the opportunity to do something constructive is compelling,” he said. “If the project is successful, it could really help to bridge the coming gap in providing services for seniors.”

The Northwest Area Agency on Aging is providing support for this project, as they see it serving as a model for providing services more efficiently in their greater service area.  Similarly, the project is being watched by representatives from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, in the hope that it might be expanded statewide.

Steenerson added, “Support from the Area Agency on Aging is important, as their involvement could open doors for possible expansion of this model.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frank and Marg Marvin

By -
Image
In honor of NMF's upcoming 30th anniversary and National Philanthropy Month, we want to celebrate the contributions of our donors! We will be highlighting a donor a day for the month of November. Please be sure to check the blog often to read about the wonderful stories of giving back to the northwest region.  If you are interested in making a difference through the services of our community foundation, our development officers would be happy to assist you. Please contact Caryl Turnow or Lisa Peterson at 218-759-2057 to learn more. Frank and Marg Marvin, Warroad The year is 1931 and a frustrated Dorrance Johnston has a degree in Engineering with no jobs to be found. Persistent and not willing to give up, he offered to work for a year without pay just to get a foot in the door. This is a mere glimpse at who Margaret “Marg” (Johnston) Marvin’s father was. Marg was born and raised in Warroad, and then met her husband Frank Marvin in their shared hometown. Both of their f...
Read more

NMF Working to Address the Region's Child Care Needs

By -
Image
Ensuring families have access to quality child care is a high priority task for NMF. Our region has the third largest deficit for child care needs in the state. We are faced with 41% of families not having access to child care spots for their children. This means 41% of families are struggling to find safe and affordable child care for their children so they can go to work. The Center for Rural Policy and Development recently published a fact sheet that provides insight on this issue. The main barriers that they pointed out were the following: Until more can be done to increase wages and/or profits for both center and family providers, the child care shortage will continue Low pay for workforce makes recruitment and retention a major hurdle. Providers feel they can't raise rates because parents can't afford to pay more. Under this scenario, providers can't make a profit or be sustainable. The high startup costs make for very high barriers to entry for the av...
Read more

Peacemaker Resources Paves the Way for Lifelong Learning in the Classroom

By -
Image
(Left to right) Caige Jambor, Sharleen Zeman-Sperle, and Stacy Bender-Fayette, SEL Specialists at Peacemaker Resources, work together to plan the upcoming school year. The mission of  Peacemaker Resources  is to "foster communication, compassion and connection leading to respectful relationships and healthier individuals and communities" and they achieve this by bringing their  social emotional learning  curriculum to elementary and middle schools around the state. They were also a recipient of the  NMF Quality of Place award in 2016 .  What makes their curriculum distinctive?   Barb   Houg, Executive Director, says,  " Its preventative approach, its relevance for children of all ages, and its lifelong impact." The curriculum that Peacemaker Resources is bringing into schools includes a number of programs -  STAR (Students Teaching Attitudes of Respect) ,  Girls Lead ,  Cultural Responsiveness ,  SEL (Social ...
Read more