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USAging is a Partner in the New National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families

With funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, ACL has awarded a new five-year cooperative agreement to Generations United (GU) for developing a new National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families. USAging will be one of the primary partners on the project, which also includes the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, ZERO TO THREE and Child Trends.

Total funding for the National Technical Assistance Center over the five-year project period is $9,950,000. The goal of the National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families is to measurably increase the capacity and effectiveness of states, territories, tribes/tribal organizations, nonprofits and other community-based organizations to serve and support families in which grandparents and other relatives are raising children of family members. USAging's role will involve providing resources, analysis and technical assistance to the Aging Network. 

Specifically, the NTAC will provide:
 
  1. Universal/general technical assistance, such as regional meetings, a new website, toolkits and other materials, a peer learning collaborative listserv, webinars, videos and podcasts;
  2. Targeted/specialized technical assistance provided by subject matter experts in response to requests from agencies, organizations and individual caregivers; and
  3. Intensive/sustained technical assistance to develop and document replicable models of collaboratively working across jurisdictions to break down silos and holistically support grandfamilies and kinship families. 
The development of the NTAC directly aligns with the mission of the ACL's Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, which has the mission “to identify, promote, coordinate, and disseminate information, resources and best practices to help grandparents and older relative caregivers of children meet the health, educational, nutritional and other needs of the children in their care, while maintaining their own physical, mental and emotional well-being.” Many of the NTAC's activities will address recommendations developed by the Council for improving support to grandfamilies and kinship families.

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