Contact: Davisha Davis, Associate Director of Communications, davisha@caregiving.org, 315-708-6800
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2024 – With a pressing need for national and state-level action to support America’s 53 million family caregivers, the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) is launching the Caregiver Nation Network, an initiative that links leaders across 10 states and invests in their capacity to inform state and federal policy solutions to our nation’s care crisis. The network consists of leaders representing caregiver coalitions in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.
“As both advocates and caregivers, we understand how important it is to come together to promote awareness, education and tangible supports. Caregiving provides the backbone of our health and long-term care system, but often at a great toll to the many individuals serving in the shadows, struggling and alone. There are 53 million of us and we need to join our voices together,” said Heather Altman, Executive Director of the North Carolina Serious Illness Coalition, and Karen Appert, co-lead of the NC Caregiving Collaborative. “We look forward to using the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers as a framework to help advocate for improved supports for caregivers of individuals across the lifespan,” adds Altman and Appert.
NAC will provide support to state leaders across the network through:
- Collaborative Learning: State leaders will gain access to a vibrant online community and peer learning opportunities, fostering knowledge exchange and best practice sharing.
- Policy Expertise: The network will provide policy education and communications support, equipping leaders to champion caregiver needs at the state and national levels.
- Caregiving Data: Leaders will have access to data insights from Caregiving in the U.S., the nation’s leading research on family caregiving.
- National Stage: Leaders will attend a national advocacy summit in Washington, D.C. to educate policymakers about the urgent need for policy change.
“Caregiving is fulfilling and gratifying, but is stressful in every manner – including emotionally, financially, and physically. Caregivers and our caregiver system in Hawaii are in crisis,” said Gary Simon, a coalition leader and advocate from Hawaii. “The Caregiver Nation Network will be the rock upon which the Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition continues to build its statewide advocacy for implementing policies and programs in support of Hawaii’s family caregivers and their caregiver recipients, our beloved kupuna and our family members with disabilities.”
The Caregiver Nation Network builds on an earlier phase of work generously supported by Archstone Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Health Foundation for Western and Central New York, RRF Foundation for Aging, and St. David’s Foundation.
Current funders include Health Foundation for Western and Central New York and RRF Foundation for Aging. Grantmakers In Aging (GIA), a community of funders mobilizing money and ideas to strengthen policies, programs, and resources for all of us as we age, serves as the fiscal agent. The consortium of funders investing in the Caregiver Nation Network emerged from GIA’s Family Caregiving Funders Community, a robust network of 40 foundations that supports caregivers by funding programs, models of care, research, communication and awareness, training, education, and advocacy. The Network will also work with LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston as an evaluation partner.
“Caregiving is an urgent public health and economic issue that demands our attention,” said Lindsay A. Goldman, CEO of Grantmakers In Aging (GIA). “Without good care, the family life, health, careers options, and late-life security we all want is out of reach. GIA is proud to champion the work of grassroots advocates through the Caregiver Nation Network as they push for stronger policies, recognition, and support for all caregivers.”
The Caregiver Nation Network will enhance the critical work taking place in states across the country to increase the visibility of family caregivers and to transform care systems to be more accessible and equitable. It builds on the success of the #ActOnRAISE Campaign, an initiative to drive action on the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers supported by more than 100 partners and made possible by The John A. Hartford Foundation.
“Investing in family caregivers is investing in our nation’s future,” said Jason Resendez, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving. “The Caregiver Nation Network will unite state leaders in a shared mission to strengthen our care infrastructure and ensure all caregivers have the resources and support they deserve.”
For more information about the Caregiver Nation Network and how to get involved, please visit www.caregivernationnetwork.org.
About The National Alliance for Caregiving
Established in 1996, the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) is a national membership coalition that brings together more than 50 national healthcare companies and nonprofits, care innovators, caregiving advocacy organizations, and financial services leaders to advance a common agenda of building health, wealth, and equity for America’s 53 million family caregivers. From championing our nation’s first-ever national caregiving strategy to releasing new insights on the realities of caregiving, NAC works tirelessly to make caregiving more sustainable and equitable through agenda-setting research, programming, and policy change.
