Minigrants to create Dementia-Capable Communities in WV

From the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services:

Connecting the DOTS (Dementia-Capable Outreach, Training and Supports) in WV: Community Grant Opportunity (Through a grant from the Administration on Aging: Creating and Sustaining Dementia-Capable Service Systems for People with Dementia and Their Family Caregivers)

Eligible applicant: Any West Virginia community that meets the criteria below. For the purpose of this grant, community is defined as a group of people who live in the same area (town, neighborhood) and/or groups that share common interests (Ex: faith communities, provider agencies, organizations, businesses), who want to work together to improve their community’s ability to provide services to individuals with dementia and their families.

Purpose: To improve quality of care and increase access to comprehensive, disease appropriate services for individuals with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia and family caregivers in pilot communities across the state. Funding available: Sixteen mini-grants of $10,000 per grantee, awarded in two rounds of grants.

Round One: The WV Bureau of Senior Services intends to fund up to eight community mini-grants in June 2016. Each grantee will receive $5,000 the first year of the grant period and another $5,000 for year two of the grant. A local in-kind match is required.

Round Two: The Bureau of Senior Services intends to award at least eight additional two-year mini-grants in November 2016. Announcement and application will be available in September.

Project timeline: The expected award date for Round One is June 29, 2016. This is a two-year project.

Scope of activities and outcomes:

Grantees must address the following objectives:

Improve knowledge and skills of family caregivers, provider agencies, and community gatekeepers.

• Host the Savvy Caregiver training (a multi-week, evidenced-based training for family caregivers of individuals with dementia that increases caregiving skills, knowledge, confidence and understanding and decreases caregiving’s adverse effects). Respite will be provided.
• Identify agencies, organizations and businesses that could benefit from dementia-capable training.
• Work with the DOTS Team to ensure that frontline employees at referring agencies have the knowledge and tools to connect families to the best available resources.

Develop dementia-capable pilot communities that will effectively serve and support individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia and their families.

• Form a community coalition; conduct a dementia-capable community needs assessment (provided); develop a work plan based on the results of the assessment that includes a direct service component.
• Implement the work plan with the assistance of the DOTS Leadership Team; evaluate outcomes and put measures in place to sustain effective change.

Application components and deadline: Each application must include a project narrative, project budget and budget narrative, including description of in-kind match. Round One application deadline is May 27, 2016.

Grant reviewers: A grant review team, comprised of members of the DOTS Leadership Team, will advise the WV Bureau of Senior Services on grant applications and awards.

To request a grant application or for more information: Please contact Nancy Cipoletti, WV Bureau of Senior Services, 304-558-3317 or nancy.j.cipoletti@wv.gov.