Neighbors helping neighbors project

The purpose of this presentation is to describe a successful collaborative effort among two community agency, three Upstate New York Rural Villages and an academic nursing program.

The overall goal of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Project was to provide citizen leaders with information, tools, and resources to help them replicate the Community Care Neighborhood Network informal care-giving model according to their own particular community needs in Richford and Spencer New York. The evaluation of this project was built on the Donabedian Evaluation model of structure, process and outcome. Each of the communities was evaluated on how they met project objectives based on their individual style.

The 5 objectives identified for this project were:

1. Each group will complete an intensive local needs assessment

This objective had three identified activities, they were: a.) pinpoint specific needs of residents; b.) identify local residents' resources to help build the network; and c.) guide program development.

2. Each community will identify 16 participant leaders for this project

3. Each community will train 5-8 participants resulting in 16 participants with the leadership skills necessary to create or improve their own informal volunteer based care-giving network and social support programming.

4. Each community will develop a strategic action plan as an outcome of the training sessions which will guide the future of their organization. This plan will include: (i) the Mission; and (ii) Goals and action steps to guide future development, services and sustainability

5. Technical Assistance will be offered to each of the identified communities

The presentation will discuss how each of the objectives was met based on the Donabedian Paradigm. In addition, the barriers and facilitators of this collaborative project will be presented.