National Minority Organizations Technical Assistance Centers Program
Authorizing Legislation: Section 215 of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended.
The Purpose of the Program and How it Works
The Administration on Aging (AoA) established the National Minority Aging Organizations (NMAO) Technical Assistance Centers Program to reduce or eliminate health disparities among racial and ethnic minority older individuals.
The promotion of positive health behaviors encourages healthier life styles and advances AoA’s mission and strategic priorities. Further, they implement the American Society on Aging’s priorities focused on integration of services and system changes that increase the capacity of the Aging Network and inter-agency collaboration as well as stimulate innovation on behalf of older adults.
Through the program, AoA entered into cooperative agreements with five NMAOs to promote strategies that encourage healthy behaviors among older individuals in the four major racial and ethnic minority groups. These organizations include:
- Asociacion Nacional Pro Personas Mayores (ANPPM),
- National Caucus and Center on the Black Aged, Inc. (NCBA),
- Boat People SoS, Inc. (BPSoS),
- National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) and
- Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA)
The five NMAOs design and disseminate front line health promotion and disease prevention information that is culturally and linguistically appropriate for older African American individuals, older Hispanic individuals, older Asian American and Pacific Islanders, and American Indian and Alaska Native elders.
Each project is piloting a practical, nontraditional, community-based intervention for reaching older individuals who experience barriers to accessing home and community-based services. Strategies are focusing on barriers due to language and low literacy as well as other barriers directly related to cultural diversity. The health promotion and disease prevention strategies developed under this program are incorporating the latest technology. This strategy facilitates the generation and dissemination of knowledge in forms that can assist racial and ethnic minority older individuals to practice positive health behaviors and strengthen their capacity to maintain active, independent life styles.
Back to top
Data Highlights Extensive Services Provided to Seniors
The goals and accomplishments for the five NMAO cooperative agreements are described briefly below:
Asociacion Nacional Pro Personas Mayores (AAPPM)
ANPPM’s Project Puente (“puente” is the Spanish word for “bridge”) designs community- based health interventions for limited English proficient Hispanic elders and their families. The objectives of Project Puente are promoting the concept that “knowledge is the best medicine” by using diverse language and culturally competent approaches to disease prevention, health education and training.
The fotonovela is a successful model of culturally competent material designed at a literacy level that is appropriate for use by older Hispanic
and their families. “Fotonovelas” are the words or booklet versions of telenovelas, Spanish television soap operas. Bilingual health promotion materials on diet, heart disease and diabetes have been developed and disseminated in the form of fotonovelas through targeted partnerships with local health care providers and Hispanic community-based organizations (CBOs).
One innovative method for reaching older Hispanic individuals and their families has been to make materials available at places they frequent such as panaderias (bakeries). Among other successes are the design of the Hispanic Family Caregiver’s Guide and The Community Caregiver’s Volunteer Training Program for faith-based organizations and churches who serve the Hispanic community.
National Caucus and Center on the Black Aged, Inc. (NCBA)
NCBA’s Healing Zone Project seeks to eliminate health disparities among older African Americans by building on a holistic “mind body spirit” concept. The collective goal of the project is to advance knowledge and increase the effectiveness of future efforts to eliminate health disparities among African American elders.
Healing Zone reaches its target population and helps older African Americans adopt healthier lifestyles by enlisting volunteers through a decentralized, community based approach. The project is conducted at five sites nationwide, including Group Ministries, Inc. of Baltimore and of Buffalo, and Area Agencies on Aging in Richmond, VA, Hinds County, MS and Detroit, MI.
Building on a strategy that enlists partnerships among faith- and community-based organizations, academia, and the Aging Network, each site has formed coalitions composed of three to five “Healing Circles.” Older participants and community health experts meet regularly in the Healing Circles to share health promotion and disease prevention information.
Accomplishments include a successful partnership with Group Ministries of Baltimore and Morgan State University Department of Gerontology (an HBCU). The partnership developed curricula to educate older African Americans about positive health behaviors by highlighting preventive measures that focused on stroke, osteoporosis, Medicaid, Medicare preventive health benefits, Alzheimers’s disease, tai chi, home safety, reflexology, and violence against women.
Results have been impressive. For example, seniors participating at the Baltimore site experienced a net weight loss of 128 pounds. Further, the project evaluation showed 69 percent of the seniors at the five sites lost weight after participating in the Healing Circles for 8 weeks, for a net loss of 417.2 pounds. In addition, 96.6% of senior participants expressed a desire to continue participating in the Healing Circles program.
Boat People SoS (BPSoS)
BPSoS Information and Referral for Immigrant Seniors Project is increasing the awareness of, and access to information about, positive health behaviors for Indo-Chinese (Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian) seniors and their families.
Accomplishments of BPSoS include:
- Through their national network, radio program and monthly newspaper, Mach Song, BPSoS has the capacity to reach over 250,000 people nationwide. During the past three months alone, BPSoS reached over 120,000 Vietnamese-American households, providing critical information about breast, cervical and prostate cancer.
- BPSoS actively supported Hepatitis B Awareness Month by broadcasting radio programs on this condition in 15 cities across the nation.
National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA)
- NAPCA has initiated assessment, piloted multilingual information meetings, and conducted interventions to improve access and availability of social and health services in elder Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities nationwide. The national organization is actively conducting the project in nine cities across the nation, including Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Orange County (CA), New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.
- NAPCA’s Web site provides access to an online diabetes screening tool. In addition to its toll free multilingual hotline, NAPCA publishes health promotion information in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
- NAPCA, along with its network of CBOs and government agencies, conducts interventions including distribution of linguistic and culturally competent health education materials, provides multilingual workshops and media releases on the importance of health screening and preventive services, and conducts one-on-one counseling and case referrals.
- Outreach and educational activities were initiated during the beginning of the project year to inform API elders and community-based service providers of preventive services available under Medicare Part D. This includes the “Welcome to Medicare” physical exam, diabetes screening, flu and pneumococcal immunizations.
Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA)
ITCA’s project goal is to increase access to current and newly developed health promotional materials for American Indian elders, caregivers, and Tribal, State and National Aging Programs. This goal will be accomplished by using updated technology and culturally competent services, and by networking with aging and educational programs.
The expected outcomes of the project include health promotion and disease prevention strategies for American Indians, establishment of a work group, and development of a plan to research, assess, collect, organize and replicate health promotional materials.
A major highlight of the project has been the funding of a sub-award to introduce the Chugachmiut, Inc. in Anchorage, AK to the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP). The CDSMP is an evidence-based program that targets American Indian elders. It is recognized as a best practice method for educating elders about taking control of their own wellness. Through this program, elders are receiving preventive health screenings and education in the prevention of chronic disease. This demonstration is unique because elders do not have to leave the village to receive care.
Back to top
Funding History
| FY 2005 |
$1,081,620* |
| FY 2006 |
$1,104,186 |
| FY 2007 |
$1,104,186 |
| FY 2008 |
$1,046,251 |
*Figure includes funds awarded to NICOA. NICOA did not receive any NMAO awards after FY 2005. ITCA did not receive an award in FY 2005. Figures for FY 2006, 2007 and 2008 include funds awarded to ITCA.
Back to top
Resources and Useful Links
For more information about health promotion and disease prevention for older individuals of Hispanic descent visit the Associacion Nacional Pro Personas Mayores .
For more information about health promotion and disease prevention for older African American Individuals visit the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc .
For more information about health promotion and disease prevention for older Indo-Chinese individuals visit Boat People SoS.
For more information about health promotion and disease prevention for older Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals visit the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging.
For more information about health promotion and disease prevention for older American Indians and Alaska Natives, visit the Technical Assistance Center for American Indian Elders.
To explore the Indian Health Service (HIS) Doctor’s Initiative that develops a process for the IHS to effectively and efficiently address chronic conditions, visit the program page of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service.
| Last Modified: 7/16/2009 8:52:27 AM |
|