Building and Maintaining Support Groups

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Building and Maintaining Support Groups

• Melinda Perez-Porter
• The Brookdale Foundation
• Relatives As Parents Program (RAPP)

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Relatives As Parents Program (RAPP)

• Began in 1996
• Purpose of RAPP
• To enable agencies to provide accessible,
  replicable, quality, cost-effective group and
  individual supportive services to relative
  caregivers
• To build and maintain support, educational and
  social groups for caregivers

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RAPP Model

• Seed grants (10,000 over a 2 year period)
• National Orientation and Training Conference
• On going technical assistance
• Web Chats, ListServ, Conference Calls,
  Telephone/E-mail Support, RAPP Lending Library,
  Site Bulletins, Annual RAPP Reporter

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RAPP Model (Continued)

• Community collaboration and intersystem linkages
• Leveraging resources
• Responsiveness to caregiver needs and community
  diversity
• Encourage the expansion of services to met
  childrens needs and
• Assure continuity of RAPP

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Relatives As Parents Program (RAPP)

• RAPP Accomplishments
• Expanded the support group model
• Provide services to children
• Created awareness of the issues faced by
  grandparents and other relatives raising
  children
• Developed resources and materials and
• Leveraged resources to expand and continue
  Relatives as Parents Programs

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Building Support Groups

• Be Responsive to Caregiver Needs Within Your
  Community
• Programmatic initiatives should respond to the
  needs of relative caregivers
• Caregiver questions
• At Support group meetings or with educational
  forums
• Childrens Needs
• Respite

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Building Support Groups

• Meeting dates and times should be regular, but
  flexible, to accommodate caregivers
• Referral sources and caregivers will always know
  what date/times the group meets one of the keys
  to successful referrals and attendance
• Support group, educational group, social group

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Building Support Groups

• Be creative when naming the groups so that
  caregivers will be willing to join
• Coffee and Conversation
• Chat and Chews

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Building Support Groups

• Advisory Committees are Important!
• Composed of professionals from a variety of
  backgrounds AND caregivers
• Meet regularly to identify issues confronted by
  caregivers, gaps in services and develop plans to
  address those issues and educate the community
• Conference Calls
• ListServs
• E-Newsletters

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Building Support Groups

• Help groups by offering
• Advice about programmatic initiatives
• Referrals
• Presentations at group meetings
• Articles for newsletters
• Marketing and
• Fundraising

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Building Support Groups

• Establish Trust!
• No matter how great your program is or what great
  services you offer, caregivers will not come if
  trust is not been established!
• Caregivers wont want to discuss their challenges
  with strangers until they have established a
  relationship with the groups facilitator and/or
  other group members

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Building Support Groups

• May take time!
• Childrens activities/events
• Social events for caregivers
• Intergenerational events
• Educational Forums
• Everyone gets to meet each other and talk in a
  non-threatening environment, during a fun event
  or educational presentation

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Building Support Groups

• Get your core group of caregivers
• They will help you with outreach and marketing
• Word of mouth, from caregivers who have been
  helped by the program, provides invaluable
  marketing

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Building Support Groups

• Establish Trust!
• With organizations that will be your referral
  sources
• Consistent meeting dates and times
• Programs that are responsive to caregiver needs
• Send newsletters, event and meeting announcements
• Keep them informed of program developments! (Best
  way to court them)

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Building Support Groups

• Program Incentives!
• Who doesnt like FREE stuff?
• Program incentives are just that anything that
  can be used to attract caregivers to your groups
  or events. Supermarket and grocery store gift
  certificates, movies tickets, or FOOD!
• Back to School Bashes
• Holiday Baskets
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings

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Building Support Groups

• Advertise, Advertise, Advertise!
• Who Doesnt Like FREE Publicity?
• AARP Support Group Database
• Generations United Support Group Database
• The State Fact Sheets!
• Local newspapers, cable and radio stations!
• Community organizations and faith-based
  communities
• Community Fairs, Display booths at malls, Info
  tables in Family/Juvenile Court/Department of
  Social Services

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Maintaining Support Groups

• Establish Collaborative Partners
• Collaborations help groups promote community
  awareness and access cash or in-kind assistance
• Help build and maintain groups by allowing them
  to grow and expand by partnering to provide
  services that would not otherwise be available
• Can assist with identifying community resources,
  outreach and fundraising.
• Do a community map!

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Maintaining Support Groups

• Grow With Your Group!
• LISTEN to caregivers and ask for their input
• Leverage Resources
• Use the funding you receive to interest other
  Funders
• Work with your collaborators to expand services
  and receive in-kind/cash assistance
• Expand Services to Meet Childrens Needs
• Caregivers will think twice about coming to
  meetings for themselves, but will come for the
  children
• Afford caregivers a break from caregiving
  responsibilities
• Benefit children they meet new friends in
  similar situations

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Maintaining Support Groups

• Never give up!