The Minnesota Department of Human Services today announced the newest recipients of grants that will help older adults maintain their health, independence and community involvement. 

By 2020, Minnesotans over age 65 will outnumber schoolchildren for the first time ever. The Live Well at Home grants announced today total $6,443,793 and will go to 45 organizations across the state to help this growing population of older Minnesotans stay in their homes for as long as possible. That’s what most people prefer, said Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead.  

“These grants help diverse communities throughout Minnesota provide services that help older Minnesotans navigate their everyday lives,” Harpstead said. “This can include familiar services such as transportation and caregiver assistance or creative approaches that support people in new ways.” 

Some notable projects and services funded in this round of grants include:

• Robotic companions with artificial intelligence as a new approach to lessening social isolation and depression among older adults in Minneapolis and Worthington
• Opportunities for youth to develop work skills by doing chores for veterans, American Indian elders and adults with disabilities in eastern Aitkin and western Carlton counties
• Livestreaming a Spanish-language program on healthy eating, exercise, appropriate use of medications and the health care system in Austin
• Help for older adults who are homeless to find stable housing in Mora
• Outreach to LGBTQ older adults in Hennepin County.

Here are the latest Live Well at Home grant recipients, listed alphabetically by region:

Central Minnesota

• Assumption Community Services, Stearns County, $231,381 to expand programs and services throughout Stearns County and the St. Cloud metro area.
• Foley Area C.A.R.E., Foley, $70,629 for education, volunteer recruitment and other services to help older adults remain healthy and living in their homes.
• Granite Falls Living at Home Block Nurse Program, $92,000 to provide transportation, in-home respite care, caregiver support groups and to work with Granite Falls paramedics to serve a population that does not qualify for traditional home health services.
• Habitat for Humanity, Douglas County, $192,269 to help very-low-income patients by making safety modifications to their homes after they receive medical care.
• Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Mora, $123,200 for its wellness center and to offer health education classes and to expand assistive living homemaking, personal care attendant and medication management services to the community.
• Paynesville Area Living at Home Block Nurse Program, $78,801 to continue providing and coordinating community-based services to older adults living in the Paynesville school district.

Northern Minnesota 

• Aitkin County CARE, $58,688 to expand outreach efforts to minority groups, including the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, LGBTQ elders and veterans.
• Argyle Living at Home Block Nurse Program, $100,000 to maintain and expand volunteer services for older adults and its role as the primary in-home services resource in the Argyle area.
• Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, Saint Louis County, $173,332 to assess nutrition risk, provide an ongoing connection to a care consultant and provide home aids and repairs to improve the physical safety of seniors living in Aurora, Biwabik, Eveleth, Gilbert, Hoyt Lakes, Mountain Iron and Virginia. 
• Care Partners of Cook County, $79,900 to provide care coordination, planning and chronic disease coaching; caregiver consultation and a support group; volunteer companionship, respite and transportation; and chore assistance. 
• Floodwood Services and Training, $40,541 to provide Adult Day Service (respite), caregiver support (individual or family counseling) and a new approach to rural chore services, with a focus on marginalized populations, such as those living outside city boundaries, people of color and veterans.
• Hubbard County Developmental Achievement Center, $67,331 to increase access to the programs and caregivers at Headwaters Adult Day Services by offering a scholarship program, providing lower cost transportation and hosting caregiver support meetings.
• Interfaith Volunteers, Crow Wing County, $ 99,568 to provide transportation, companionship and chore assistance; build ramps; and install grab bars for seniors in Crow Wing County. 
• Lakes and Pines Community Action Council, Mora, $315,260 to provide assistance to older adults who are experiencing homelessness, to stabilize their housing and reduce their risk of experiencing homelessness again. Also, $325,388 to assist homeowners with renovations or modifications that increase their ability to remain in their home and receive in-home services.
• Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership, $425,667 to restore and expand its homemaking and chore program for Mahnomen, Hubbard, Becker, Otter Tail and Wadena counties. 
• North Shore Area Partners, Silver Bay, $94,500 to provide assistance with activities of daily living, respite care and other home health care requiring nurse supervision. 
• Northwest Community Action, Badger, $258,800 to provide respite for caregivers and home modification services for adults 65 and older and volunteer management in Roseau, Kittson, Lake of the Woods and Marshall counties.
• Northwoods Caregivers, Red Lake Nation and Lake of the Woods, Cass, Hubbard, Beltrami, Koochiching and Clearwater counties, $347,715 for community-based services that will benefit the aging rural population, particularly people who are Native American, homeless, mentally ill and/or LGBTQ.
• Partners, Rothsay, $60,000 to sustain services in Rothsay, Carlisle and Foxhome and expand health promotion, service coordination and transportation.
• Pelican Rapids OAKS Living at Home Network, $78,795 to strengthen caregiver and companion services and relationships with a diverse older population and to expand services in rural Pelican Rapids.
• Something Cool, eastern Aitkin and western Carlton counties, $30,101 to provide chore services to veterans, American Indian elders and adults with disabilities. Services are innovative in that they are performed by teenage youth seeking to develop work skills. In addition, new intergenerational programming will increase socialization and reduce the effects of rural isolation among both youth and adults. 
• Tri-Community Living at Home Block Nurse Program, New Folden, $99,997 to provide home and community-based services to older adults and caregivers.
• Volunteer Services of Carlton County, $191,943 to expand its Communities Called to Care program to Aitkin County and Northern St. Louis County. The program will provide chore assistance, transportation, caregiver respite, caregiver counseling, caregiver support and education services, with a special focus on American Indians, veterans, LGBTQ and low-income older adults. 

Southern Minnesota 

• Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, Austin, $20,012 to provide group respite to seniors and their caregivers in Austin, and to live stream a Spanish-language program on healthy eating, exercise, appropriate use of medications and the health care system. 
• Ecumen, Worthington and Minneapolis, $50,585 to test a new approach to the mitigation of social isolation and depression among older adults through a partnership with Intuition Robotics, the inventors of ElliQ, a robotic companion with artificial intelligence. 
• Interfaith Caregivers Faith in Action, Faribault County, $139,795 for non-medical, volunteer-supported services, including transportation, homemaking and chore assistance, wellness education, dementia support and education, and caregiver support and respite.
• La Crescent Area Healthy Community Partnership, La Crescent, $107,369 to provide household help, transportation and other support to the aging population in Houston County.
• Spring Valley Living, Fillmore County, $350,000 to construct a memory care unit in Spring Valley Living that will improve the availability of services related to Alzheimer’s for families in southeastern Minnesota.

Twin Cities metro 

• Centro Tyrone Guzman, Minneapolis, $28,729 to develop and pilot a project that will engage low-income Latine elders in completing handicraft projects for youth programs, while generating revenue to help sustain Centro’s Wise Elders program. 
• East Side Elders, St. Paul, $181,624 to provide a variety of services, from chore and housekeeping to companion services, that allow older adults to remain in their homes for as long as possible.
• Ecumen, Worthington and Minneapolis, $50,585 to test a new approach to the mitigation of social isolation and depression among older adults through a partnership with Intuition Robotics, the inventors of ElliQ, a robotic companion with artificial intelligence. 
• Episcopal Home Care and Services, St. Paul, $486,212 to pilot an innovative home care delivery model—which uses a team rather than a single caregiver—to serve racially and economically diverse elders in St. Paul. 
• CAPIUSA, Minneapolis, $73,825 to expand cultural and linguistically appropriate support for low-income Hmong seniors and caregivers in Northwest Hennepin County. 
• Como Park Living at Home Block Nurse Program, St. Paul and Falcon Heights, $98,664 to provide transportation, chore support, nurse home visits, respite, caregiver education and other services.
• Hamline Midway Living at Home Block Nurse Program, St. Paul, $100,000 to expand transportation, caregiver support, blood pressure checks, information and referrals and service coordination.
• Korean Service Center, Minneapolis, $272,318 to provide a bilingual and bi-cultural driver to transport older adults to medical appointments or social services, 24-hour bedside care when family members are unable to provide it and educational workshops about managing diseases.
• Longfellow/Seward Healthy Seniors Program, Minneapolis, $98,000 to help at-risk older adults live independently as long as possible and to assess needs of older Somali residents and plan services for them.
• Nokomis Healthy Seniors Program, Minneapolis, $50,000 to help older adults in the greater Nokomis area of south Minneapolis remain independent with health, wellness and other services.
• North End-South Como Block Nurse Program, St. Paul, $90,000 for health and wellness activities, coordination of volunteer chore and transportation services, caregiver support and other services.
• Our Lady of Peace, St. Paul, $48,664 to expand home and community-based services in Highland Park and the southern half of Macalester-Groveland for older adults and their caregivers.
• Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, Minneapolis, $78,330 to expand capacity to make homes of older adults accessible.
• St. Anthony Park Area Seniors, St. Paul, $80,058 to continue providing services to older adults and to improve outreach and public awareness of its services.
• Senior Community Services, Minneapolis, Hennepin and Scott counties and rural communities statewide, $304,628 to implement an LGBTQ outreach effort in Hennepin County; to develop a mobile app that will support caregivers statewide, particularly in rural communities; and to provide chore assistance.
• Southeast Seniors Living at Home/Block Nurse Program, $89,398 for in-home nursing on a sliding fee scale, transportation, chore service coordination, homemaking and companionship services.
• Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota, St. Paul, $117,262 to provide interpretation and application assistance so that refugee/immigrant elders can access resources available to them and to provide social, recreational and volunteer opportunities, which help improve quality of life and fight the depression and isolation faced by many refugee/immigrant elders. 

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