Minnesota grants use $4.4 million to fight dementia

Thirty-seven organizations across Minnesota will use $4.4 million in state grant funds to support creativity and innovation as they assist people suffering from dementia-related illness.

Increasing awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are the focus of the competitive grants administered by the Minnesota Board on Aging.

“We celebrate the wonderful ideas offered by these grant applicants,” said Maureen Schneider, chair of the Minnesota Board on Aging. “Families dealing with dementia-related issues need our love and support. Sharing these funds with so many providers can make a difference for caregivers and those living with dementia.”

The Minnesota Legislature has appropriated $750,000 in dementia grant funding each year since 2015. Additional one-time funding was recently added to support the expansion and improvement of respite services across the state.

Grants are listed below, by region.

Southern Minnesota

Bridges Health, Winona, $149,000. This project will utilize Winona State University health sciences students in integrating dementia awareness and caregiver support into its mobile operations, reaching three southeastern counties.
Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota, Winona, $31,000. Evidence-based health promotion and caregiving support programs for persons with memory loss and their family and friend caregivers will be offered in 10 counties in southern and southeastern Minnesota.
Family Service Rochester, Rochester, $132,000. Grant funds will allow continuing work to place dementia care specialists in senior centers and health care clinics to help caregivers identify and secure services and expand a pool of volunteer respite providers trained in Respite and Education Support Tools (REST).
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, $140,000. In partnership with Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, grant funds will support in-home, dementia-specific respite for up to 100 caregivers in eight southeastern Minnesota counties.
Madonna Towers – Benedictine Living Community, Rochester, $234,000. Project staff will take advanced dementia capability training and certification. Grant funds also support a sliding-scale overnight respite option for Rochester-area family and friend caregivers of people with dementia.

Central and northern Minnesota

A Home for the Day Adult Day Center, St. Cloud, $40,000. Grant funds will support adult day respite services and community outings, dementia education for family and friend caregivers and dementia education for staff, including REST respite training.
Age Well Arrowhead, Duluth, $250,000. Funding will support the hiring of 10 or more REST-certified respite care providers to increase the availability of in-home respite for dementia caregivers in the greater Duluth area.
Breath of Life Adult Day Service, Brainerd, $50,000. Grant funds will support bridge funding for adult day respite services for persons with dementia and their family and friend caregivers.
Central Minnesota Dementia Community Action Network, St. Cloud, $120,000. Funding will support comprehensive dementia education, screening and service navigation, dementia awareness education, and respite services for persons with dementia and their family-friend caregivers in Stearns, Benton and Wadena counties.
Community Partners Living at Home Program, Two Harbors, $114,000. The project will offer dementia education and awareness programming for the community and offer family and friend caregivers of persons with dementia engagement and respite support options to reduce isolation.
Health Equity Northland, Duluth, $50,000.With a focus on the African American and African heritage community, Health Equity Northland will increase dementia community awareness and education; adapt or create culturally relevant screening tools; conduct in-home wellness visits; and pilot strategies for culturally relevant activities and programs for people in Duluth care facilities.
Horizon Health, Pierz, $50,000. Serving primarily Morrison County, this effort will continue respite-focused outings for people with memory loss and their family or friend caregivers and expand this successful model into Todd County, an area lacking in dementia-specific services.
Koochiching Aging Options, International Falls, $39,000. Serving all of Koochiching County, grant funds will support continuing the Dementia Friendly initiative; offer one-to-one support and resource navigation for dementia caregivers; and increase the Connect Café and Memory Café attendance.
Lighthouse Center for Vital Living, Duluth, $80,000. This project will leverage expertise in adaptive technologies and occupational therapies to connect family and friend caregivers with assistive technology, caregiver resources and cognitive screening.
Montevideo Area Memory Loss Network, Montevideo, $49,000. Working in four counties, the project will offer dementia awareness and education via “Virtual Dementia Tours;” develop a weekly newspaper series about cognitive health, memory loss, support for caregivers and area resources; and launch a facilitated support group.
Northwoods Caregivers, Bemidji, $141,000. Grant funds will increase the availability of affordable respite and other supportive services to family and friend caregivers of persons with dementia in multiple northwestern Minnesota counties and Tribal areas.
Tri-Community Living at Home Program, Newfolden, $50,000. Serving far northwestern Minnesota, grant funds will enable the expansion of dementia capability services and caregiving support by piloting a Memory Café model; creating and distributing “Caregiving to Go” kits for dementia caregivers; and obtaining advanced staff training in dementia care and innovation.
Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Crookston, $50,000. Serving an 11-county area, this project will offer community dementia awareness and education sessions; provide staff training and dementia specialist credentialing; and pilot a peer-to-peer caregiver support group.
Volunteer Services of Carlton County, Carlton, $250,000. Funding will support 2,500 hours of respite service through the DayBreak Group Respite in Carlton and St. Louis counties and explore adding another group respite program for caregivers in Pine County.
Wadena County Public Health, Wadena, $50,000. Working with community and clinical partners, the project will provide dementia education, awareness and resources to residents and offer dementia caregivers access to caregiver education and support, including respite education.
Western Prairie Human Services, $24,000, Glenwood. Grant funds will enable this provider to offer a volunteer-powered Memory Makers group respite program in two locations.

Twin Cities

African Career, Education, and Resources (ACER), Brooklyn Park, $50,000. This project will develop a resource booklet to fill a gap in culturally informed dementia awareness, dementia education and care resources for the African immigrant community in Minnesota and elsewhere.
CAPI USA, Brooklyn Center, $179,000. Continued development of the Hmong Folk Chorus will provide socialization and caregiver respite for Hmong-speaking elders in the Twin Cities metro.
Centro Tyrone Guzman, Minneapolis, $50,000. Centro will create a new evidence-informed dementia awareness and care curriculum for the Spanish-speaking community. The project is in partnership with the University of Minnesota Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation.
Cherished Services, Fridley, $50,000. Cherished Services will provide culturally tailored dementia capability training to professional and family and friend caregivers of persons with memory loss in the East African community. The organization will also pilot CareConnect, a multi-language scheduling application.
Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), St. Paul, $120,000. CLUES will continue its flexible and accessible Mayores Mejores group program for isolated Latino elders that builds community, engages in brain-healthy activities and provides custom caregiver navigation support.
DARTS, West St. Paul, $195,000. DARTS will build on its two successful group dementia-capable respite locations, adding a third Breathing Space location in Dakota County to meet the needs of caregivers currently on wait lists for respite.
Division of Indian Work, Minneapolis, $150,000. Through its Mikwendaagozi (“To Be Remembered”) Project, the Division of Indian Work will develop culturally specific dementia education and resources to use in education sessions for non-Native providers.
Holistic Array of Authentic Services (HAAS), Golden Valley, $50,000. Funds will support culturally responsive dementia education and awareness, as well as respite education and support to older Oromo and Ethiopian adults and their family and friend caregivers in greater Minneapolis.
LiveLife Therapy Solutions, Bloomington, $34,000. Focusing on underserved dementia caregivers in rural areas, LiveLife Therapy Solutions will offer a series of presentations on the use of person-centered assistive technology to benefit people with dementia and their families and caregivers.
Metropolitan Community Services, Hopkins, $213,000. The grant project will enable an Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases awareness and caregiver support effort for Russian, Ukrainian and Uzbek-speaking persons and families in the Twin Cities.
North East Seniors for Better Living, St. Paul, $48,000. This project offers new, onsite respite programming for family and friend caregivers of persons with dementia living in the Greater East Side of St. Paul.
Renaissance Adult Day Care, Coon Rapids, $246,000. Funding will support an after-hours dementia-specific caregiver support group for families, enhanced staff training with cognitive therapies (including sensory and reminiscence therapies) and outreach to the area’s Ukrainian/Russian population.
SEWA-AIFW, Brooklyn Center, $264,000. Funds will help provide support for South Asians with dementia in the metro area while offering resources to their family and friend caregivers through support groups, practical education, cognitive screening and testing, and the piloting of a culturally tailored model of respite services.
Sod House Theater, St. Anthony, $59,000. “FIVE MORE MINUTES,” an original production portraying a couple’s experience with dementia, will travel to 10 or more Minnesota communities. Sod House Theater will also develop facilitated post-performance discussions.
Volunteers of America-Minnesota and Wisconsin, Minneapolis, $481,000. The project will pilot a culturally specific, holistic model of dementia care and serve 126 caregivers, mostly African American, with long-term support services. Volunteers will be trained using REST to provide care to 96 people with dementia over the two-year grant period.
Walker West Music Academy, St. Paul, $83,000. Twenty new caregivers and the people they provide care for will be enrolled in the acclaimed Amazing Grace Dementia Chorus. Family and friend caregiver choir participants will also receive tailored dementia-friendly tools and tactics from a music therapist.