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SERVICES
Caregiver Training and Support
SERVICES
NANAY Community Center
SERVICES OFFERED:
- Standard Screening and Assessment
- Recreational activities
- Transport Service
- Counseling
- Education
- Conversational English
- Computer Classes
- Health Support
- Exercises
- Arts and Crafts
- Intergenerational Program
- Early Intervention
Standard Screening and Assessment are administered to each prospective client for the purpose of gathering information to determine need and/or eligibility for services.
Recreational activities such as bingo, movie and video shows, field trips and other relaxing social activities are scheduled regularly, to decrease the elder’s feeling of isolation and increase their socialization and community participation. Arts and crafts sessions are given once or twice a month to improve their hand dexterity. To promote social and cultural interaction, ballroom and folk-dancing lessons are also taught on once or twice a week, and elders are given the opportunity to perform in public during various community events.
Transport services are offered to those without means for transportation. Elders are picked up and brought to or from the NANAY's Community Center to access available support services, interact with other elders, and have an easier transition and acculturation period. Transport service is also provided for shopping and medical appointments.
Counseling sessions are given on a regular basis, to help the elders resolve their personal and family conflicts, and to discuss ways of improving their self-image in the community, discrimination in employment and housing, financial planning, living facilities, nursing home options, and Medicare/Medicaid,. They will also be counseled on Income Tax reporting, Access to social services, Domestic Violence, Family interaction and Self-improvement. Since language problems constitute a major impediment for among ethnic minority elders, one-on-one tutoring is held on Conversational English, to improve their communicative skills and allow them to integrate better with the community.
Educational seminars are scheduled on various topics that are of practical importance to the elders, including Medicare/Medicaid, the Living Will, Income Tax Reporting, Access to Social services, Domestic Violence, Accident and Injury Prevention, Enhancing Family Interaction, Stress Reduction and Self-improvement Techniques.
Computer classes are scheduled daily, at the NANAY's Community Center in North Miami where participants over 60 years old are given formal instructions and hands on experience on the use of computer, including Word Processing, Excel, e-mail interchanges, internet publishing and web surfing. This class is especially popular among elders, particularly caregivers, who are interested in accessing information through the Internet.
Health Support: NANAY's culturally linguistic and socially sensitive staff and health professional volunteers provide regular health screening sessions (blood pressure check-ups, blood sugar tests). Health seminars about aging, cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease/Parkinson’s disease and other common problems of the elderly will be given on a regular basis by medical experts and professionals. NANAY's goal is to reduce health disparities, improve the health status, and respond to the identified health care needs of isolated elders in the local community by providing them with health-related services.
Exercises: Soft aerobics and other exercise sessions are scheduled on a regular basis (at least twice a week). In the changing demographic and health care contexts of aged care, the creation of health promoting exercise programs for frail elderly people to improve wellbeing and quality of care is a common objective in community and residential aged care. Exercise can help older people avert a form of arthritis that can turn ordinary activities such as getting out of bed into a painful, perhaps impossible chore.
Arts and Crafts: Elders learn how to make flower arrangements, using proper balance and color combination, and how to make beautiful jewelry boxes from cardboard paper -- painting and pasting cut out flowers and angels on jewelry boxes, and basic paper folding for Origami, as well as clothing and toilet accessories.
Intergenerational Program: Through partnership with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, particularly North Miami Senior High School, young students 14-18 years old participate in intergenerational programs, discuss the problems associated with aging and become sensitive to the elders’ needs. Activities include an Intergenerational Elder-Youth Visitation and Fun Time, an Annual Intergenerational Picnic and Sports Fest, Elder-Youth Gift Exchange for Christmas, Intergenerational Valentine Dance, Intergenerational Luau and Intergenerational Cultural Program.
Early Intervention: A full-time Social Worker monitors and makes regular home visits to elders that are not able to access outside services in the community in order to assess and evaluate home situation and family dynamics that impinge on their ability to fully function in the home and interact with the outside environment. Elders at high risk for Adult Protective Services are referred to and linked with appropriate service agencies. The Social Worker will assess the needs of the elders for appropriate programs or services, will employ engagement and intervention techniques that encourage rather than deter help seeking behaviors (e.g. presenting problems, expression of problems, type of help sought, expectations of help and treatment options), will make arrangements for appointments, and will assist the clients with forms and paperwork requirement, as well as arrange for travel or escort services.
CAREGIVER TRAINING AND SUPPORT
Provide group counseling, training and peer support to assist caregivers in making decisions and solving problems related to their caregiving role (e.g., how to bathe people who have had strokes; what exercises work best for people with severe arthritis; how to cook meals for people with diabetes; how to manage the stress of caregiving).
Organize a caregiver support group to allow sharing of experiences with other caregivers and help manage stress, locate resources, prevent burnout and reduce feelings of isolation.
Basic computer sessions and computer Internet access to specific information on caregiver resources and other services are provided to caregivers so that they can learn to shop, form a caregiver discussion group / chat room, and access available supportive services or caregiver information through the Internet.
Schedule Family Caregivers Forums and Town Hall Meetings on a periodic basis as a public education program
Provide individual counseling for caregivers on special cases, regarding decisions and solving problems related to their caregiving role and individual management of stress, depression and personal problems related to caregiving.
NANAY's Caregiver Network
We realize the pressures and stresses that are attached to one's role of providing continued care to a loved one. Our goal is to provide our readers with practical and useful information that will help relieve some of the tensions associated with caregiving.
YOUTH PROGRAMS
After-school computer access is provided at the Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Center. Other activities include participation in positive youth development workshops and seminars, study groups, committee meetings and informal get-togethers. Essentially, NANAY has become a social laboratory for young people to reiterate, discuss and practice what the values they learn at home, in school or in church and to gain knowledge and skills about matters that are not adequately covered in other settings. One-on-one and small group counseling is provided regularly to help teens manage stress, resolve conflict, cope with personal loss and deal with difficult situations at home and in school. Volunteer professionals facilitate workshops and learning activities which help raise the youth’s self-esteem; improve their attitude and behavior toward themselves and people from different backgrounds; enhance their ability to study and get good grades; promote understanding in their relationships at home and in school; gain opportunities for community involvement; improve their skills in working within culturally diverse settings; and guide them in their quest to become good citizens and leaders.
ABOUT Nanay Housing Resource Center
A One-Stop Center where people with housing needs can get information about available resources, get help in identifying the right home and be guided by caring counselors to gain ownership of a quality home.
NHRC Mission:
Four critical barriers that keep people from achieving their housing goals:
- To develop affordable housing, counseling, education and other supportive services for the community that it serves within the contiguous Counties of Miami-Dade and Broward, located within the State of Florida.
- To advance community development programs that empower, transform and improve the lives of low and moderate income individuals and families.
Using a case management system, individuals and families meet confidentially with certified housing counselors to assess their housing needs and to design individual strategies for gaining access to housing. On the supply side, the Center connects with providers of "community housing" (developers, brokers, property owners) to create an inventory of available homes for purchase or rent.
- Insufficient income to support currently high rents and prices;
- Lack of knowledge as to how to access available subsidies and programs;
- Lack of a coherent system that aligns federal, state, local government and philanthropic resources;
- Individuals not knowing how debt and credit issues affect credit worthiness or how to repair credit (financial planning).
The NANAY Housing Resource Center (NHRC) is unique among housing counseling agencies in that it maintains an effective tracking system of its members (any one who has used its services to get housing) and recognizes the importance of maintaining a "post purchase" or on-going system of support for members--whether through loans for housing emergencies, guided access to pre-qualified plumbers, electricians and other home service technicians.
The NHRC serves to create strategic community partnerships with state and local governments, real estate developers, employers, and nonprofits through an alignment of effort and resources that will address the housing needs of individuals and families who have a hard time accessing the housing market.
In June 2004, NANAY established the NANAY Community Development Corporation (NANAY-CDC) to develop affordable housing, and homeownership counseling for low-moderate income families. In 2005, NANAY offered financial literacy program and asset-building strategies for low- and moderate-income families in North Miami. In 2006, NANAY-CDC opened its NHRC as a one-stop center wherepeople with housing needs can get information about available resources and access a support network that helps them sustain their housing after they buy or rent, qualify for home ownership, learn about government down payment assistance programs, learn ways to reduce their debts, and improve their living situation. In November 2006, NHRC hosted the "I Need Help in Housing" Fair that was attended by 200 participants. NANAY also partnered with Neighborhood Housing Services and Little Haiti Housing Association to form the Housing Partnership of North Miami, which was recently approved by North Miami CRA to provide homebuyer training, credit pre-qualification and purchase assistance services to prospective buyers of its afforable housing project. In May 2006, NANAY was also designated as one of the 20 Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Centers across the U.S., to provide state-of -the-art virtual technology for all youth and adult program participants. The initiative will offer financial and homeownership counseling, adult education, basic skills training, English as a second language education, entrepreneurial programs, literacy training, web-based interactive learning and leadership development for both elders and youth.
PROGRAM
- Homebuyer educational and counseling services include orientation seminars, pre-purchase counseling, homebuyer education classes, case management and social services referrals. Clients learn how to repair their credit and create a monthly budget; how to navigate the process of prequalification and pre-approval; and how to understand the different portions of their mortgage payment .
- NHRC conducts screening and assessment of all eligible applicants to determine the appropriate category or program of case management services that they need to meet the Miami-Dade County's criteria for the receipt of a home purchase subsidies.
- Post-purchase counseling will be given for those who have already achieved their dream of homeownership to insure that they can maintain their new homes; as well as group discussions led by members, themselves, to address the challenges of homeownership, increase homeowner's ability to deal with these challenges, identify their special needs, inform them about the various services and resources that are available, enable them to recognize signs of stress from homeownership, and improve their financial situation.
- Forums and town hall meetings are scheduled on a periodic basis as a public education program designed to increase awareness among homeowners regarding current legislation and government rulings related to housing and homeownership, and educate homeowners regarding ways to avoid foreclosure.
- The Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Center serves as a resource for clients to learn how to use computers in searching for information on homebuying.
NEWS ARTICLES
- HOPE for Homeowners in Danger of Foreclosure
- NANAY Housing Center Closes on First Home
- NANAY Holds Consumer Foreclosure Seminar
- North Miami Distributes Loans for Affordable Housing
- North Miami CRA Approves Housing Partnership for Homebuyer Training Services
- NANAY Holds Successful Housing Fair