Recently, a two-year project funded by the AARP Foundation celebrated its successful completion and initiated plans for a national rollout. Over the past two years, the Prepare to Care Project, Cooperative Extension Services worked in partnership with state and local AARP offices in New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Wisconsin to identify the most effective outreach strategies for working with small business employers and distribute family caregiving information and educational programming. The project was known as the Prepare to Care--I'm Ready Are You?
The main effort of the project was to develop a toolkit for educators and caregiver professionals to assist them in understanding the programming options and supportive materials for implementing the Prepare to Care program in their community. The content of the Prepare to Care Workplace Toolkit provides background information on working with employers, different strategies to use when reaching employers, and how to support employees. The tools and templates provided in the Prepare to Care Workplace Toolkit are based on the lessons learned during the pilot implementation in the four states.
In New York, the project was headed by Denyse Variano, Senior Extension Resource Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension - Orange County and June P. Mead, Senior Extension Associate, Dept. of Human Development.
National distribution of Prepare to Care materials includes:
| 26,660 | Prepare to Care workbooks distributed |
| 1,597 | Prepare to Care checklists distributed |
| 650 | Prepare to Care bookmarks/paycheck insert distributed |
| 10,316 | Caring for Those You Care About tip sheets distributed |
| 6,724 | Prepare to Care Benefits Check-up fact sheet distribute |
| 2,949 | Prepare to Care: The Business Case for Employers distributed |
Further Information
For information about the "Prepare to Care" Toolkit and ordering information, visit the eXtension website for the Family Caregiving Community of Practice
To be notified when the Toolkit is available, send name, organization, mailing address, phone number and e-mail address to: Benefitsoutreach@aarp.org