Family Caregiver Alliance Awards 3 Organizations for Innovative Caregiving for Alzheimer’s Disease  

Awards have been granted to 3 organizations that created state-of-the-art programs to address the needs of individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD) and their caregivers. The organizations received the 2019 Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards from the Family Caregiver Alliance. 

The Giving Voice Initiative (GVI), based in Edina, MN, received an award for creative expression. The organization helps people with AD connect with their community by singing together. The GVI program uses a learning paradigm with music, trained music leaders, and social interaction for celebratory performances that show how to live well with dementia. GVI has inspired more than 40 choruses in the US, Canada, and Australia.   

Sweet Readers, based in New York City, also won for creative expression for its Sweet Readers for Adults and their Care Partners program. The program pairs middle school students with adults living with dementia and their care partners. Led by trained facilitators, the program serves nearly 800 individuals annually through weekly sessions in which they explore art, music, and poetry. More than 90% of the students expressed that the program taught them to “see the person behind the disease” and gave them more confidence in interacting with people living with dementia. 

The award winner for diverse/multicultural communities, Centro Tyrone Guzman in Minneapolis, MN, offers the Centro Wise Elders program, which engages community members via an informed and safe environment for Spanish-speaking individuals with AD. The organization pioneered programs for use in the Latino community, including House of Memories dementia awareness training, Montessori-inspired tools and strategies, and respite education and support tools (REST) in Spanish. 

Each winning organization received $20,000 for their programs. The awards are supported by The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation and the Helen Daniels Bader Fund.