About the Aging Initiative
Purpose
The overall purpose of all our work is to recruit and develop an expanded, competent workforce to provide social work services to optimize health and quality of life to diverse older adults and their families. This includes the recruitment and training of those who serve as leaders of organizations developing and providing social work, health, and other services to older adults. There is a current shortage of qualified staff. There is dramatically growing demand which will exacerbate this shortage. And there is a need for succession preparation to build a cadre of future leaders to step in to place as the current pioneering leaders move toward retirement or less intense work roles.
The AI has a membership of over 50 persons. The group has representation of leaders from schools of social work, county social service agencies and private non-profit organizations. Aging Initiative members are representative of the ethnic and geographic diversity of the state.
Mission
The overarching mission of the CalSWEC Aging Initiative (AI) is the development of a competent, diverse workforce to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population of aging Californians and their families. The AI promotes the development and dissemination of aging curriculum, promotes workforce development and leadership capacity, supports practice oriented research in aging, health and mental health, stimulates, and seeks funding for capacity development, supports planning for sustainability, and advocates for policies and legislation that enhance service provision to improve quality of life for aging Californians and their families.
Goals
1. Create and maintain a partnership of key stakeholders representing:
- public and private education and service provider communities,
- appropriate state, county and local agencies,
- representatives of older adults, families and caregivers
- key stakeholder groups, and
- the private sector.
2. Develop and implement a statewide workforce development strategy for geriatric/gerontological social work that includes specific strategies to:
a. advocate for and seek sustainable funding for aging workforce training,
b. build capacity,
c. create incentives,
d. attract students, and
e. improve the diversity of the workforce.
3. Expand competency-based geriatric/gerontological curriculum and specialization in California graduate schools of social work. Stimulate the development of a full continuum of competency-based geriatric/gerontological training and education programs at every level of education from high school through doctorate degree, and for use as employee in-service training.
4. Advocate for and advance programs, policies and legislation that support and fund the growing need to:
a. recruit and retain diverse, professionally trained geriatric / gerontological social workers,
b. further train existing workers employed in aging services agencies,
c. improve quality of life and support needs of older adults and their families,
d. utilize input from diverse aging consumer stakeholders in the process,
e. secure funding and lead and/or guide programs to achieve the above goals, one through three.
f. develop and contribute to legislative initiatives to further workforce development for older adults and families
5. Support research in aging, health, and mental health to advance best-practices knowledge development.
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