Abstract
While “livable communities,” also called “communities for a lifetime,” have expanded recently, they have not focused on low-income populations. This project, started during a Health and Aging Policy Fellowship, encouraged collaboration among federal agencies providing health, housing, transportation, and social services to improve chronic disease self-management education (CDSME) programs serving low-income under-served communities. Based at the Administration for Community Living, the project team partnered with the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, and Health Resources and Services Administration (via Federally Qualified Health Centers [FQHCs] and Health Workforce Development). All of these agencies serve vulnerable populations and have an opportunity to expand service to elders. Each agency serves people with chronic diseases (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, asthma, depression, anxiety), who would benefit from chronic disease self-management education (CDSME) programs. The project focused on evidence-based CDSME programs serving affordable housing residents, and aimed to expand the capacity of federal agencies to deliver these programs to elders and adults with disabilities. Steps included: reviewing literature on interagency partnerships, conducting stakeholder discussions, developing a webinar to highlight exemplary CDSME partnerships, as well as identifying facilitators and barriers to successful partnerships. The webinar highlighted exemplary evidence-based CDSME programs serving affordable housing residents in partnership with FQHCs, transportation, and social services. Approximately 1,360 people from multiple disciplines registered for the webinar, indicating significant interest in this current topic. The webinar included audience polling questions about facilitators and barriers to successful collaboration. The poster will present polling data as well as policy and practice recommendations.