We’re driven to work within our community to find solutions to evolving challenges impacting Alaskans. Our efforts allow us to collaborate with public, private and nonprofit leaders—and we’re always grateful for their insights. Kevin Sullivan, our Community Impact Manager, meets with these people to further our collaboration.
Through research and conversations with community leaders, Kevin learned that caregivers in Alaska lacked access to support. However, Alaska 211 could partner with AARP to offer them much-needed referrals through the Caregiver Program. United Way Worldwide and AARP support it financially, offering subject-matter expertise and caregiver-specific resources.
“It was an exciting lead because it would allow us to leverage existing resources and increase access to supports for people that need it,” Kevin says. He’d been compiling recommendations to inform strategies to shape our ongoing impact in Alaska. “We’d identified gaps in access and supports for caregivers, but some gaps were just that people didn’t know where to go to ask for available help.”
Alaska 211 community resource specialists field calls from Alaskans who need connections. “When the specialists can, they refer the callers to organizations that provide the assistance they’re looking for,” says Kevin. Before we partnered with AARP on the Caregiver Program, we had fewer places to connect caregivers.
With the partnership, Alaska 211 has updated our database to make sure caregiver resources and services are entered and flagged. We don’t offer direct resources. We make sure Alaskan caregivers know how to reach organizations that offer support.
Community resource specialists have received calls from family, friends and even Alaskans who say, “I’ve been buying groceries for my neighbor, and they’re running out of money.” They ask how to get them food stamps. Thanks to the Caregiver Program, Alaska 211 has answers for many caregivers’ requests for help.